Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

On 8/11/2020 at 11:15 PM, woobman said:

I love my tempest from New Wave. I'm going to get Dragon's Lair as well. When they finally come out. Speaking of that...  Any chance of Dragon's Lair/Space Ace/ETC coming out on Amico? Not sure how you could Amico-fy it. But it never hurts to ask.

Ha!  You're exactly like me then!  Isn't the Tempest quality amazing!!

Haven't thought about Dragon's Lair & Space Ace although Don Bluth and Gary Goldman are very dear friends of mine who I've known for 25+ years.  Would be easy to do but would worry about the file size (all though movies).

On 8/12/2020 at 2:50 AM, N0mi said:

Hinting at the estimated price tag of the AMICO games and the gap compared to much higher priced games on the other systems for the best of reasons does not take into account that certain people will never stop complaining no matter what they paid for a game (even if they got it for free). There will always be the ones telling you how much that game sucked, how bad the sound and the ganeplay was and so on. 

True dat.

25 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Hey Wolfy62,

 

Did you end up buying the Thunder Castle shirt?  I forgot to ask you about that.

Its funny you should mention that.

I just received it yesterday!😃👍

* note: Thunder Castle game not included with shirt.

5 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I've asked a few folks what they want it to look like instead... but have yet to get an answer.

My suggestion would be to restrict the color palette more. In musical terms, you can use every note, but it usually sounds better if you have restrictions in the form of chords and scales. Look at the art direction in a game like Firewatch, for example. Start with a monochromatic "key" and add some split complementary "chords."

On 8/12/2020 at 8:26 AM, Zee said:

I didn't realize the lure of Earthworm Jim in the video game community. The intellivision "first look" video for EWJ4 has over 86K views, more than the August event itself has, that's kind of nuts.  Maybe Tommy knows what he's doing after all? 😄

Imagine that eh?

Nah... I must just be getting lucky.

p.s.  Up to 138K+ and growing.

On 8/12/2020 at 8:42 AM, MASTER260 said:

Hey, Tommy.  Has the upcoming release of Tron Ares affected positively or negatively with Disney granting you the license for Tron Deadly Discs?  Do you think that there's a good chance we'll be able to play as Ares in the remake in order to tie in with the movie?

Positive for sure!

7 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

It's awesome!  I bought 2 (gave one to a close friend).  Quality is really great.  I also HIGHLY recommend their Tempest machine.  Super high quality and real metal!!

I own everything that company has done.  Looking forward to the Dragon's Lair mini!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

I have all the machines too.

Dragons Lair should be here in a couple weeks and for sale on the New Wave Toys website at that time as well. Awesome!!!

5 minutes ago, wolfy62 said:

It funny you should mention that.

I just recieved it yesterday!😃👍

That's good to hear.  I hope you like the shirt.

On 8/12/2020 at 8:58 AM, Relicgamer said:

This is why people that dont get the Amico always miss the mark trying to prove their point. 

Just because a game from sony that has sharks in it doesn't mean it can be compared to Shark Shark. 

Lets see its a single player game with mature content.  Lol trolls gotta love their attempt to seem smart 

Not surprising.  Was banned from this thread for not being able to follow simple forum rules set forth by Atari Age.  I also blocked him on Twitter for continuing to make nasty remarks to me.

Starting to see a pattern with those handful of folks?  All were banned from this thread.  Not because of anything I did, or a mod did or anyone else... but because of something THEY did.  Yet instead, they prefer to stew in their negativity and take their failure out on me/us.  Shows the maturity level we're dealing with.

Strange bunch indeed.

14 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

Only barely on-topic but I found myself watching some Cornhole matches on YouTube and didn't understand the scoring or the lingo - this video helped a lot:

 

 

Thanks for this. I just found out that the way I play is apparently against the rules. I didn't know it HAD to be an underhand throw. I always go overhand, shooting the bag like a basketball. It has been a deadly accurate technique for me, but I guess I'll have to now learn to toss it properly.

On 8/12/2020 at 9:27 AM, IntelliMission said:

- Among the negative comments, a couple said that they would never play an "auto-runner". Others said the beach was not sinister enough for the usual EWJ scenery.

Yeah, I thought it was kinda funny that NOW the rumor is that EWJ is going to just be a "runner" game.  At first they were saying it was only going to be a bunch of mini-games.  Always changing the goal posts as we continue to rain on their hate parade.  

In regards to the beach level (saw a LOT of complaints about that) I guess they truly aren't EWJ fans then as clearly they didn't get the reference to this level (also cued by the opening music in our "first look" demo):

3 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Not surprising.  Was banned from this thread for not being able to follow simple forum rules set forth by Atari Age.  I also blocked him on Twitter for continuing to make nasty remarks to me.

Starting to see a pattern with those handful of folks?  All were banned from this thread.  Not because of anything I did, or a mod did or anyone else... but because of something THEY did.  Yet instead, they prefer to stew in their negativity and take their failure out on me/us.  Shows the maturity level we're dealing with.

Strange bunch indeed.

 

 

 

 

Indeed,  he started trolling me on Twitter,  didn't know who it was initially.  He posted this with a caption this or shark shark.  I quickly sais shark shark,  because in no way would I  1 play this with children and 2 its not multiplayer.  Dude never responded.  These guys are really that stupid that they continue to compare a family friendly console to a mature game. Neither work the same. Its easy to crush their arguments 

Since we're talking about games inspiring other games (Tarmin/Bard's Tale), does anyone remember the arcade game "Star Fire"?  I remember it distinctly because the local arcade had it and it was around 1978-79, I'm guessing, and I loved it because it was pretty much taken from Star Wars (the Millenium Falcon/TIE Fighter battle after our intrepid hereos escape the Death Star with the Princess).  Star Wars had come out a year or 2 before, with Star Wars mania still in full swing, so this was like finding the Holy Grail of video games!

Ok, where am i going with this?  Intellivision's Space Spartans always reminded me of Star Fire a lot but taken to a new level with a bit of strategy thrown in.  Did anyone else make that connection?

Tommy, any Space Spartan plans for the Amico?  You knew I was gonna ask...!  😁

This video was already posted a couple of times, but I wanted to throw out some time stamps on some interesting stuff that came up (hopefully didn't miss anything too major) for those short on bandwidth or time to watch the whole thing:

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=738 Is Warlords coming to Amico? Yes plus some specifics

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=1173 Are you doing anything specific to attract female gamers?

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=1733 Will the 6th game be edutainment? Also hints on a possible 7th choose-able free title

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=3940 Will different colored consoles have different games?

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=3531 When are extra controllers coming to retail?

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=4610 Will any game use two controllers for one person?

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=4640 Any Brain Age type games? Yes (and hints on using characters tied to the Intellivision world)

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=4710 Friends list leader boards? Yes and also family boards too

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=4934 Board games? Why Blank Slate, Telestrations & Inca Gold was chosen so far

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=5834 Production line capacity is looking like a minimum of 1500 per day

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=5948 How to get the GTO Red Edition?

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=6351 Exclusive announcement of the "Amico Lite" with keyboard attachment (parody)

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=8244 Possibility of Marvel/Comic based games?

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=8456 What about some indie comics?

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=8564 Two sports licenses were picked up this week. One is a major serious sports licenses, the other is sports related but more of a 'fun' sport

https://youtu.be/Qrjy0KZrzv8?t=10114 What is the team in Utah focusing on?

56 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I've asked a few folks what they want it to look like instead... but have yet to get an answer.

Tommy,

I think the way Astrosmash looks on Amico is fine.  I'm not big on graphics, they're overrated.  As long as the game is fun and has good controls, that's all that matters to me.  Also, I hope that musical score is going to be the in game music for Astrosmash that was used during the Amico event.  It sounded so epic.

31 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

Tommy,

 

I think the way Astrosmash looks on Amico is fine.  I'm not big on graphics, they're overrated.  As long as the game is fun and has good controls, that's all that matters to me.  Also, I hope that musical score is going to be the in game music for Astrosmash that was used during the Amico event.  It sounded so epic.

I agree with you, Intellivision Master.  I plugged in my "Intelliviison Flashback" and my 9-year old and I were playing a bunch of the original Intellivision games.  At first, my son (who has grown up with an Xbox in the house) looked dubious (me: "Welcome to 1981!"  lol) but 5 minutes later he was cracking up, laying mines and blowing my tanks up in Armor Battle and asking if we could play more games.  3 hours later, and well past his bedtime, we finished up and both had a grand ol' time.  For someone looking to spend quality time with their family, games don't need to look like Red Dead Redemption 2, or anything even close.  It's all about playability and fun.

When you look back on the game Adventure for the 2600, you were a square.  Maybe in the remake on Amico you are a triangle, lol.  But seriously I can't wait to see how the re-imagined Adventure is going to look.  Hopefully no dragons that resemble ducks, lol.

1 hour ago, Intellivision Master said:

Tommy,

 

I think the way Astrosmash looks on Amico is fine.  I'm not big on graphics, they're overrated.  As long as the game is fun and has good controls, that's all that matters to me.  Also, I hope that musical score is going to be the in game music for Astrosmash that was used during the Amico event.  It sounded so epic.

Astrosmash looks to have graphics more in a 1940s Saturday morning cartoon style (as in Road Runner/ Wile E Coyote timeframe) vs the more detailed and 3D effects of games like Moon Patrol and Battle Tanks, although the asteroids have more detail and texture than the ships and background. The ship and asteroids are high res while the background is more simplified and sometimes blurry, like the pyramids. It may be this variation in style that throws people. I think a 1940s style cartoon or comic book look would be great and almost seems like the inspiration from the splash screen, but it might help to have a more classic and consistent artwork style/resolution throughout the game. Otherwise, something with the level of detail throughout like MP and BT. 

The gameplay itself looks great. 

1 hour ago, Swami said:

Astrosmash looks to have graphics more in a 1940s Saturday morning cartoon style vs the more detailed and 3D effects of games like Moon Patrol and Battle Tanks, although the asteroids have more detail and texture than the ships and background. The ship and asteroids are high res while the background is more simplified and sometimes blurry, like the pyramids. It may be this variation in style that throws people. I think a 1940s style cartoon or comic book look would be great and almost seems like the inspiration from the splash screen, but it might help to have a more classic and consistent artwork style/resolution throughout the game. Otherwise, something with the level of detail throughout like MP and BT

i agree, The background looks fine and cool to me. The ships and especially the giant asteroids just looked pasted on IMHO.  The layering is just too obvious and it really does look like a game being played over top a background ( which of course it is, but the art of the illusion to make this less obvious to the player is not there since there are almost two art styles being used here)..  The game elements IMHO need to bleed back and become part of the background a little more and take on more of the style of the background.  The background is on point, I just think the foreground and game elements need one or more passes to follow the art direction of the back and to blend better so you have one cohesive and eye pleasing game.  I think its doable.

1 other observation. The falling rocks look too big compared to everything else, perhaps shrink them to 75% size and do a quick pass.  The ufos and cannons are ok, the rocks just seem a little too big in relation to everything else on screen. again just my 2 cents

18 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

i agree, The background looks fine and cool to me. The ships and especially the giant asteroids just looked pasted on IMHO.  The layering is just too obvious and it really does look like a game being played over top a background ( which of course it is, but the art of the illusion to make this less obvious to the player is not there since there are almost two art styles being used here)..  The game elements IMHO need to bleed back and become part of the background a little more and take on more of the style of the background.  The background is on point, I just think the foreground and game elements need one or more passes to follow the art direction of the back and to blend better so you have one cohesive and eye pleasing game.  I think its doable.

Just to clarify the “ships”, since I didn’t differentiate between UFOs and player’s ships: the asteroids seem the most detailed and textured (near moon patrol 3D but a little cartoony), then the UFOs ( much simpler, but near 3D) then the ground ships you control which I’d call high def/detail classic cartoon, then the backgrounds which are like lower res/detail classic cartoon. 

3 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

 

Ha!  You're exactly like me then!  Isn't the Tempest quality amazing!!

Haven't thought about Dragon's Lair & Space Ace although Don Bluth and Gary Goldman are very dear friends of mine who I've known for 25+ years.  Would be easy to do but would worry about the file size (all though movies).

 

What about a new dragons lair  but not as a film but done in style of an animated film but in game form.amico should be able too pull sonething cool off.  Honestly no need to port just the original dragons lair game.  Its on everything from all disc vaded consoles to dvd bluray players.  But something in that world  with so e quick time elements and other gameplay styles oh and  a simple yet humorous  story oh and multi player. Would  be awesome. 

Hi @Tommy Tallarico, Just wanna say how impressed I am. Not only are you always answering every single question that is asked of you, but you're also answering very generously and giving a lot of insight on the ins and outs of the video game industry: hardware and software, but also business-related questions as well. And you're even taking the time to answer the more "shady/salty" questions - I know some of them i read were formulated in such a way that they would've got under my skin, but your answers were always respectful and perfect!

And I aint even talking about the different webcasts you and some of your contributors have participated in (Scott was amazing on the Amico All Access podcast this week!)

It's very refreshing to see and don't know of anyone in the business that has been so generous with the community. Thank you so much for this!

I've studied and worked in I.T. for the past 30 years, and I feel I just majored in video games by following this forum in the past months!

P.S.: As of now, I'll also be only sleeping 4 hours every night.
 

Cheers!

22 minutes ago, bigdaddygamestudio said:

i agree, The background looks fine and cool to me. The ships and especially the giant asteroids just looked pasted on IMHO.  The layering is just too obvious and it really does look like a game being played over top a background ( which of course it is, but the art of the illusion to make this less obvious to the player is not there since there are almost two art styles being used here)..  The game elements IMHO need to bleed back and become part of the background a little more and take on more of the style of the background.  The background is on point, I just think the foreground and game elements need one or more passes to follow the art direction of the back and to blend better so you have one cohesive and eye pleasing game.  I think its doable.

Still not finalized visuals . We are still playing a work in progress.  Compare the first demo to the 2nd one for instance. 

@Urlu Berlu Coincidentally, I think you need less hours of sleep if you go to bet before 00h. I am sleeping too many hours since I started going to bed at 2AM some weeks ago. While only some people can sleep 4 hours (that's genetical, so don't try this at home), sleeping 6 ours is actually better than sleeping 9.

So yeah, I also need to Tallaricise myself in this regard.

15 minutes ago, Nolagamer said:

Still not finalized visuals . We are still playing a work in progress.  Compare the first demo to the 2nd one for instance. 

I fully understand that, and they may well be seeing the same thing Im seeing, but it doesnt hurt to leave feedback. I've been in the software game for 20+ years, feedback is a great help because sometimes you get and are so close to a project you can begin to miss the obvious .  Sort of like going nose blind.