Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

2 minutes ago, woobman said:

I see your space RV and give you Arc II, Complete with a Jetpack and a talking monkey.. Enjoy.

 

I got a pair of aces and you throw down a royal flush - forgot about this one, such a cringe classic of scifi.

Tommy,

According to Wikipedia, Imagic did a version of Star Wars The Arcade Game.  Not sure how different it is compared to the actual arcade version.  But is there any chance we'll see the Imagic port on Amico if possible?  Of course it all depends on Disney since they own the rights to Star Wars.

2 hours ago, vongruetz said:

I think constraints and limitations are helpful in pushing creative people to do more with less. There are so many examples where constrained resources ended up helping to make the end product better.

Some of my favorite examples:

Jaws.  Thanks to a malfunctioning mechanical shark, Spielberg had to use techniques that hinted at the shark being there, without actually showing the shark. The end result made the whole movie a lot more suspenseful. 

 

Raiders of the Lost Ark: The day they were going to film a big chase scene through the streets of Cairo, Harrison Ford had come down with the flu. Instead of filming the chase scene, they just had Indy shoot the swordsman and be done with it. The end result was one of the most memorable scenes in any movie.

 

Journey (the game): Originally to be set in the jungle, the developers quickly realized it would be too expensive to make. They changed it to desert setting, and today I couldn't imagine that game being set anywhere else.

 

Star Wars: When George Lucas had all the resources in the world, he made the prequels. When he didn't, he made good Star Wars movies.

 

Some people think, "Well if they just had more money they could have made it better" and while sometimes that is true, quite a few times it's the opposite.  

TOTALLY 100% THIS!!!!!!!!!

It certainly translates to video game music over the decades as well.

I find a lot of modern game music is more about production and live orchestras than memorable melodies.  Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, Castlevania, Zelda, Tetris... had NOTHING but 4 - 6 "voices/channels" so the melody and counter melodies HAD to be great and memorable... especially since we only had about 1 - 2 minutes per song!

We are VERY MUCH taking this approach with all of our Amico games... and quite frankly... most of the developers LOVE it!  Brings them back to a time when they needed to be crafty and work things out in a different way... which (as stated in the original vongruetz comment above) opens doors for other wonderful things that wouldn't have been there.

1 hour ago, GrudgeQ said:

a mini discussion on where Tommy should sign the Founder edition

For my part, I think in the front, under the controllers is the best place you can have and the safest choice.

Those who don't want the signature to be visible all the time it will be perfect for them.

And those who want to easily show the signature without having to take Amico in their hands with the wire connected and the controllers that can fall,

they will only have to raise the controllers and show their precious ... !  😁 That's my vote.

3 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

8 minutes ago, woobman said:

ey.. Enjoy.

 

I got a pair of aces and you throw down a royal flush - forgot about this one, such a cringe classic of scifi.

To be fair... This was pure luck. No skill on my part. Somehow I had the Krofft Supershow theme stuck in my head. And all the wonderful shows that would make amazing Amico games. HR Puffinstuff. Lidsville. ISIS. Hinting to Tommy.. You could probably get license for cheap.  I'd love to see an adventure game based on the The world of Sid and Marty Krofft Amusement park in Atlanta.  There is very little out there on it. But it sounded like it could only come from the 70s.

I thought Arc II was part of one of the Krofft shows. Found it.. Then shortly after.. The postings with the pics happened. I was playing catch up with postings.

I won one hand. I think I know who would take the rest.

We need Krofft games on the Amico.. That would really set you apart from the rest. Go REAL Retro.  That is just a start. I can think of may other Kids shows from then that would make good games. Just the intro to Vegetable Soup would be amazing to see.. Let alone anything based on the show itself. Apologies in advance for those adventurous enough to click that last link. 

Speaking of Sid & Marty Krofft, they did a remake of Land of the Lost in 1991.  I always liked that version.  It would be cool to have a Land of the Lost game on the Amico.

11 minutes ago, LePionnier said:

For my part, I think in the front, under the controllers is the best place you can have and the safest choice.

Those who don't want the signature to be visible all the time it will be perfect for them.

And those who want to easily show the signature without having to take Amico in their hands with the wire connected and the controllers that can fall,

they will only have to raise the controllers and show their precious ... !  😁 That's my vote.

i agree with this While I wouldnt mind the sig in front, I could see some people could have an issue there, under the controllers I think is a good compromise to keep everyone happy

57 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I find a lot of modern game music is more about production and live orchestras than memorable melodies.  Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, Castlevania, Zelda, Tetris... had NOTHING but 4 - 6 "voices/channels" so the melody and counter melodies HAD to be great and memorable... especially since we only had about 1 - 2 minutes per song!

Agree 100% with this, there is a lot of beauty in brevity. 

Greatest video game opening ever IMHO

1 hour ago, Relicgamer said:

If you haven't seen the interview Jeremy did with Tommy yet I suggest you do it was really good. 

https://youtu.be/uXgiF4lh_GM

Yeah!  Really great questions!

Lots of great info that has never been asked or talked about before.

Thanks @SuperJeremyWorld!!!

1 hour ago, woobman said:

I know Tommy has mentioned that they are starting on the next round of game development soon. And we have a good idea about what is coming on Launch Day* and soon thereafter. I'm hoping that there will be a few of these kind of moments: "Wait.. He never told us that"!  I say we start hinting at what we'd like to see. Then count the WTBS's we get from Tommy.

There are LOTS of surprises coming!  More info about "when" is coming soon!

1 hour ago, Intellivision Master said:

Tommy,

 

According to Wikipedia, Imagic did a version of Star Wars The Arcade Game.  Not sure how different it is compared to the actual arcade version.  But is there any chance we'll see the Imagic port on Amico if possible?  Of course it all depends on Disney since they own the rights to Star Wars.

Would be difficult in year one.  Need to get our installed base way up there before starting to think about anything Star Wars related.  "Someone" has the exclusive video game rights... so we would need to get them on board first.

ok, one follow up question for Tommy from my question last night.

If Spielberg hadnt Yokoed up the band after Earthworm Jim2, what if anything was being talked about as the next game by the team?

12 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

ok, one follow up question for Tommy from my question last night.

 

If Spielberg hadnt Yokoed up the band after Earthworm Jim2, what if anything was being talked about as the next game by the team?

Earthworm Jim 3 and Wild 9. 

EWJ 3-D was farmed out to Viz in Scotland and was horrible!  Had nothing to do with us.

But Wild 9 has a lot of the team spirit in that one.  Totally recommend checking it out!

One of the programmers for that one... (brace yourself @Michael Garvey)... JOHN ALVARADO!!!!!!

Make sure to check out the logos at the beginning.  Tron fans will recognize something (I didn't do the audio for that logo, but I know who did). 

The voice for my logo is the famous Don LaFontaine.  The most famous trailer voice in the world!  Unfortunately he passed away just over 10 years ago. 

The character Wex is a cross between me & David Perry and you may recognize his voice as well.  

God... I can't believe this was over 23 years ago we were working on this!

Amazing to "hear" this now as well... knowing how little we had to work with back then.  Still sounds pretty good! 

On 6/25/2020 at 12:43 PM, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Would be difficult in year one.  Need to get our installed base way up there before starting to think about anything Star Wars related.  "Someone" has the exclusive video game rights... so we would need to get them on board first.

 

 

 

No worries, I understand. 🙂

1 hour ago, woobman said:

I see your space RV and give you Arc II, Complete with a Jetpack and a talking monkey.. Enjoy.

 

 

Dang it. Now Im going to have to hunt them down and watch them with my son lol

1 hour ago, LePionnier said:

For my part, I think in the front, under the controllers is the best place you can have and the safest choice.

Those who don't want the signature to be visible all the time it will be perfect for them.

And those who want to easily show the signature without having to take Amico in their hands with the wire connected and the controllers that can fall,

they will only have to raise the controllers and show their precious ... !  😁 That's my vote.

 

The problem I see with having it under the controllers is that you're going to be picking up and putting down the controllers in that spot. There's going to be a lot of rubbing, and there's a really good chance the signature will get scuffed or rubbed off.

I vote to have it on the front.

1 hour ago, LePionnier said:

For my part, I think in the front, under the controllers is the best place you can have and the safest choice.

Those who don't want the signature to be visible all the time it will be perfect for them.

And those who want to easily show the signature without having to take Amico in their hands with the wire connected and the controllers that can fall,

they will only have to raise the controllers and show their precious ... !  😁 That's my vote.

 

I do.  Right on the corner front trim. What's the point if its hidden.  Also over time the controllers could wear the signature off

37 minutes ago, Relicgamer said:

I do.  Right on the corner front trim. What's the point if its hidden.  Also over time the controllers could wear the signature off

Agreed. I would stay way from that location for that very reason. 

2 hours ago, SuperJeremyWorld said:

Hey all, the live comment replay from last night just finished processing, so here's the link if you care to watch. *Now with embedding* 😂 

I have gotten so much great feedback on this. Thank you to all who tuned in or submitted questions. It was awesome!

 

 

Jeremy you did an amazing job, it was an awesome interview and you had so many great questions, I loved it so much.  

31 minutes ago, OEB_Pete said:

Jeremy you did an amazing job, it was an awesome interview and you had so many great questions, I loved it so much.  

Thanks Pete! You are the Amico YouTube master so that means a lot!

1 hour ago, vongruetz said:

The problem I see with having it under the controllers is that you're going to be picking up and putting down the controllers in that spot. There's going to be a lot of rubbing, and there's a really good chance the signature will get scuffed or rubbed off.

 

I vote to have it on the front.

Yeah, but by that time, Tommy might be caught up in some scandal that involves picking his nose in public 20 years ago and gets cancelled, so you wouldn't want it to last.

3 hours ago, woobman said:

To be fair... This was pure luck. No skill on my part. Somehow I had the Krofft Supershow theme stuck in my head. And all the wonderful shows that would make amazing Amico games. HR Puffinstuff. Lidsville. ISIS. Hinting to Tommy.. You could probably get license for cheap.  I'd love to see an adventure game based on the The world of Sid and Marty Krofft Amusement park in Atlanta.  There is very little out there on it. But it sounded like it could only come from the 70s.

 

I thought Arc II was part of one of the Krofft shows. Found it.. Then shortly after.. The postings with the pics happened. I was playing catch up with postings.

 

I won one hand. I think I know who would take the rest.

 

We need Krofft games on the Amico.. That would really set you apart from the rest. Go REAL Retro.  That is just a start. I can think of may other Kids shows from then that would make good games. Just the intro to Vegetable Soup would be amazing to see.. Let alone anything based on the show itself. Apologies in advance for those adventurous enough to click that last link. 

 

 

 

Long story,I know Marty......

5 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

 

 

 

What's up with the giant trophy/wedding cake on the roof? It looks like they forgot and left it up there. "Yo man, you got the Captain's cake?" "Aww sh!#..."

5 hours ago, woobman said:

I see your space RV and give you Arc II, Complete with a Jetpack and a talking monkey.. Enjoy.

 

 

The intro:

"Manned by a crew of highly trained young people."

Zero respect and love for the chimp.