Steve Ettinger & Rick Levine Intellivision Programmers

[IntellivisionDude]

Today i had the honor and privilege to have Steve Ettinger (Intellivision Programmer of Chip Shot, Slam Dunk, Hover Force, Body Slam, Spiker, and Deep Pockets) to comment on my Chip Shot Super Pro Golf Youtube video. I think it is so awesome an icon such as him laid down some knowledge and tips and tricks on one of my videos. I feel all gitty.

 

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments=1&v=Fyiuk5uko4E

 

And if you don't want to go there i'll post them below. My original posts and his replies

 

 

You can say that again. But one thing i keep forgetting is, that even though this game is on a system made long before the Nes, this game was released in 1987, 2 years after the launch of the NES, and NES Golf. So it could be possible they got some ideas from it.

IntellivisionDude

 

@IntellivisionDude - you're right - I was inspired by the Nintendo arcade machine (among other games of that era), but the challenge was getting it all 'in there' given the limited capabilities of the Intellivision. The original Intellivision Golf game had 9 holes, and no real 'extras' to speak of. I wanted to make sure this updated version had waaaaay more holes, a driving range, a putting green, wind, contours on the green, a 'close up' when you were on the green, etc.

settinger14

 

Also - I should point out that you're not 'swinging' correctly. You have to press & hold on the backswing, releasing the button before it goes off the back end of the swing gage (which you're mostly doing right), but then you have to press it *AGAIN* a second time to control whether the shot goes straight, or hooks, or slices. If you press it again BEFORE it reaches the ball position, the shot will hook (to the left). if you press it again towards the end of the gage, it will slice (right).

settinger14

 

@settinger14 Wow, i am honored to see an actual Intellivision Programmer comment on one of my videos. Thanks so much. You did an amazing job on Chip Shot and Slam Dunk. This is just awesome. :-)

IntellivisionDude

 

 

@IntellivisionDude - haha, no worries! I also did Hover Force, Body Slam, Spiker, and Deep Pockets (unreleased).

 

Here's some fun trivia for you on Chip Shot:

 

If you make a shot from 33 yards away or farther, the golfer guy will faint! You can make this happen on the practice putting green if the hole is near the edge of the screen - keep hitting the ball farther away from the hole (on a straight line with the 'break' in order to make the actual 'real' put easier to line up), then make it.

settinger14

 

 

 

Separate Comment

 

 

 

Pretty advance looking golf game on the Intelly.

jboypacman

 

Sure is, have you seen my video for Slam Dunk Super Pro Basketball? That is also advanced, and my second favorite Intellivision game.

IntellivisionDude

 

 

@IntellivisionDude - well, thanks!  I wrote that one too! As a huge basketball fan, I had a blast working on that one. I especially enjoyed coming up with the fake names for the players (many of which were indications of the real pro players whose stats were used in that game!)

settinger14

 

 

As an added bonus. I recently ran across a video of Truckin a good friend of mine (Croooow111) uploaded a couple of years ago and Programmer Rick Levine was telling stories in the comments.

 

http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments=1&v=w3WUrTLkoq8

 

 

 

I'm happy to hear from a few Truckin' fans out there! I made the game because I love driving and wanted to share that with gamers. At the time, I often travelled between San Francisco and Los Angeles on I-5, a freeway with numerous trucks.

ricklevYT

 

I'm the designer and programmer of Microsurgeon and Truckin'. It's nice to still see so many great comments about the game! I'll be speaking about Microsurgeon at the upcoming "Games for Health" conference.

ricklevYT

 

Forever immortalized in the pop culture history of video games,still refered to in the next 50 years when the topic is history of games, a interesting thought to reflect on i am sure. I dug the Microsurgeon game at the time but I was a 2600/colecovison dude, so I didnt play alot of these games, but I do remember the review of truckin' in electronic games magazine i think it was,that went on and on about how deep the game was...

 

Well done to you, enjoy your digital immortality.

KAISERKRAUT

 

@ricklevYT This is probably the Intellivision game that got me the most, ever. I was about 12/13 when playing it, and it anticipated the lust for travelling that affected me in the following years and still does, I kept imagining myself travelling across the huge landscapes of USA (I live in Italy) and it was so exciting. Thanks for this all times fave o'mine.

Arsenico971

 

@Arsenico971 At least it gave you some idea of how things work here (except the accidents, which would be a heavy burden on anyone in real life). I think this game, plus several famous flicks like Convoy had inspired my older brother into a life of trucking (also have a dad whose done the same too).

sygo7g

 

@Arsenico971 This game was my way of sharing my love of travel. I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Truckin'.

ricklevYT

 

@ricklevYT I remember Microsurgeon myself, but it was the Truckin' game that forever cemented that part of my older brother's psyche since he first played that darn game a quarter century ago!

 

I remember getting slightly excited whenever we passed by "Toledo" in the game, despite Toledo not being a major stopping point anyway.

sygo7g

 

@sygo7g I've never been a trucker, but I've always been fascinated by trucks and truckers. It's always quite a sight when I see a convoy of trucks day or night along a major freeway like I-40, I-10, I-75, etc.

ricklevYT

 

@ricklevYT True enough. I just more or less fell out of favor with the whole thing, yet I live in a family of truck drivers (except for me and my younger brother who don't have anything else to do). I do understand the feeling you have. Mine was having long trips with my dad in his semi going through turnpikes and other highways around several states.

sygo7g

 

@ricklevYT dude i liked microsurgen and i grew up with that but this is kinda bad though i dont really think it was yopur best but good job on muicrosurgean

123stephenno

[+cmart604]

Very cool, nice to see someone checking out how much his work is still apreciated many moons later. He definitely had a hand in a number of great INTV releases.

[Rev]

intellivisiondude might have the most popular intellivision youtube account? any other big ones?

[ed1475]

Wow! That's really cool.

[IntellivisionDude]

Just bumping an old random topic.

[IntellivisionDude]

I'm so glad i saved the comments from Rick Levine because Croooow111 took down the Truckin video. I was afraid history was lost. I was just now searching to see if i ever posted it here.

[JasonlikesINTV]

Have they seen your drunken work?

[IntellivisionDude]

Have they seen your drunken work?

 

I hope not.

[Carl Mueller Jr]

Chip Shop Golf is one of my favorites – one that my son and I used to play together frequently. It definitely has a level of sophistication not seen in many other Intellivision games. The menu system is slick, and I love the use of the half-width font. I actually considered doing a bit of reverse-engineering on it, enough to be able to add my own courses that my son and I could then play. And by the way, I've seen the fainting golfer on more than one occasion! It was so unexpected, it nearly made me faint…

The work that Steve Ettinger and David Warhol at Intellivision Corp. was truly astounding.

And "Truckin'" has the distinguished status of being the first Intellivision game ever emulated! Thanks to Rick and his programming, which interfaced with the graphics hardware directly – I was able to gain an understanding of the Intellivision's internals long before I ever received a dump of the EXEC. Truckin' was running nearly 100% correctly within two weeks of my having started the project. It was truly a marvel!

[IntellivisionDude]

And by the way, I've seen the fainting golfer on more than one occasion! It was so unexpected, it nearly made me faint…

 

Back when i was younger and actually good at the game i got the fainting golfer a few times. I feel the video i did, didn't do the game justice. I was out of practice and didn't bother practicing before i did the video. But if i remember right, even when i was younger i got impatient a lot and ruined quite a few good games. Sometimes after you get into a funk and keep failing to hit the ball properly i would just say Screw IT. This game can frustrate you easily if you are not precise and if you don't have the patience. lol

[Games For Your Intellivision]

I was one of the first people to get to play with your emulator, and if it had not been for seeing Truckin' working, I would not have been motivated to get the Exec dumped.

 

It was an exciting time working on tech info for the world's first Intellivision emulator.

[Oscar G.]

This information is very interesting Intellivision Dude! Thank you for posting it.

 

Chip Shot is one of the games I missed back at the time but by reading the comments here it seems a quality title that is worth discovering.

 

Cheers!

[Intymike]

Maybe someone should send Steve Ettinger a copy of Deep Pockets.

[+cmart604]

I've said this many times before, but Chip Shot really is an underrated game IMHO. I missed it back in the day and play it quite often now that I've discovered it.

[Rev]

mike, send him your copy