New homebrew called "Rocketeer"

[Games For Your Intellivision]

I'm not 'blowing off steam'. I am simply pointing out the facts.

 

Anyhow, I'm outta here

[B0B 1ob1aw]

I guess it was a good time to resurface from the underworld...

[mr_intv]

I think it's time for a bacon cheeseburger, with extra bacon, with a few Smoky Bacon potato chips. Then I'm going to brush my teeth with some good ole bacon flavoured tooth paste!

[Ignorama]

Please keep in mind that the Intellivision Dude doesnt like bacon

[sh3-rg]

Knowing Mark I can tell you what he wants as much as many of yourselves is to see his projects finished up and in the hands of the people who love the console!

He has a certain way of working on games that differs to the way some others work. He doesn't just have one project, plan it out, work through a list and then one day it's finished, released and project #2 begins. Mark works in a different way, he likes to have multiple projects (sometimes even on different hardware) and he jumps between them as the mood takes him. That seemed crazy to me at first but after talking it through with him I can see exactly where he's coming from. It's all about what makes it fun for the person making the games. Being from more the art and design side of things, jumping from project to project and mixing up styles and themes from day to day can lead to things bleeding into each other, but from a coding perspective I can see how it could work and help keep you active whenever you have the time.

That brings me on to another thing that doesn't always work in Mark's favour - his often hectic work schedule. The nature of his work with regards to hours he puts in is similar to mine in this respect, so I know exactly how it can affect how much time and effort you can offer to your projects when you might have half a month free followed by 15 days solid, 10 hours a day work and a bit of everything in between - it makes planning and scheduling this hobby stuff practically impossible.

Homebrews and very small scale commercial projects often suffer from setbacks resulting in delays to the ship date. When you look at what Mark has to do here before he can put out the first of his own games on his own carts, it really is a kind of Krypton Factor challenge. So not only has he got to do his paid work and pay the bills, he's got to devote a lot of his personal time to writing the games, designing hardware and managing potential customers and from personal experience I know which parts of that are fun and which are more a painful necessity :0)

I'm confident everything will sort itself out, the games and the new hardware devices will come along, it's just unfortunate that the time scale isn't close to what he thought he could work within back when he announced.. but again, that's nothing new when it comes to homebrews! Once he's fully on top of things I'm sure Mark can sit back and take a break from all this, safe in the knowledge that the next time he comes back to it a lot of the hurdles won't be there or maybe not nearly as difficult to defeat 2nd time around.

I know from chats with him that he's really fond of the Inty and its rock solid fanbase and I'd hate to think that there's potentially something bubbling under the surface here that's about to explode in a way that's going to result in people taking sides and lines being drawn in the sand - that kind of nonsense threatened to rip the 7800 community to ribbons not so long ago as troublesome 3rd parties played people off against each other. Further back you can see how something like that can utterly ruin a community for many, many years when you see what happened with the Jaguar kids.

Just saying please try to keep it real, support Mark in his efforts whether you're an Inty gamer, a homebrew collector, forum frequenter or game publisher, be fair to the guy and try to see things from his perspective as well as your own. Do that and I'm sure he'll stick around for years to come and help fill your shelves and rom folders with many more goodies :0) I know he'll really hate me for posting all this but I just wanted to give him a big old virtual manhug and remind him that 99.9% of the fans here love him to bits for what he's doing and to just keep at it!

ps...

 

 

Am I doing it right?

 

[Fushek]

Just saying please try to keep it real, support Mark in his efforts whether you're an Inty gamer, a homebrew collector, forum frequenter or game publisher, be fair to the guy and try to see things from his perspective as well as your own. Do that and I'm sure he'll stick around for years to come and help fill your shelves and rom folders with many more goodies :0) I know he'll really hate me for posting all this but I just wanted to give him a big old virtual manhug and remind him that 99.9% of the fans here love him to bits for what he's doing and to just keep at it!

No worries here ... for Mark, I think that we all have a Groovy kind of love

[slab0meat]

Just a couple of thoughts "out loud", and they may have been answered somewhere along the lines... I don't read every post in every thread.

 

- If someone works on multiple projects at once, and bounces between them based on time and mood, and the release date(s) become a guessing game, shouldn't the customers be charged once the game is done?

 

- I don't know the deal between Elektronite and Mr. Bee, but if there's some kind of contract to have work done, and this was set in place before GroovyBee's personal games were put up for sale, I would think the business contract takes precedence. I would also think I'm wrong, based on what I've just read, but it's still my opinion either way.

[B0B 1ob1aw]

I'm not taking sides, nor making judgements. I know I am going to piss somebody off, but from my long gone days in the software industry, taking money upfront for product that does not exist is the very definition "Vaporware" (a prime component of the 2000's dot.com crash).

 

Perhaps a more equitable situation is a 50% down, then 50% when committed to shipping. The homebrewer gets some seed money, and a back end motivation to finish the project.

[+cmart604]

These games will all get done and they'll be lots of fun to play. As someone who has bought north of 100 homebrew games on many platforms I can say with certainty that real life often gets in the way and these projects don't necessarily time out the way they were intended. That said, with one exception on the 2600, I've always seen the retro gaming goodness I was hoping for arrive in my mailbox.

 

I fully expect Mark will deliver all the games that are being discussed here and we will be very pleased with the results. I can't wait....actually I CAN wait. Oh, and one more thing....bacon.

[Kiwi]

I do find myself hard to complete a project when it is near completion. I have started and made many other projects on the side that's also waiting for me to complete them. I have so many flash animation not finished, flash game not finish, Cinema 4D project not finish but good beginning. There's just SO many ideas that takes over my reality sometime that I don't know where to hit the needle and I get nervous. It's like chaining a pandora box shut and trying to let one idea come out at a time. At least I keep Notepad++ open in the background taunting me to write code. It kinda a bad habit I have starting new project and not get it done, but I have to force myself try to get something done. I just have to force myself to not start new project and get the game finished then focus on the next one. There's a lot of anxiety that come into play that either make me nervous or get a boot in the butt and try to focus. There's issue that I am so tired that I can barely focus since I have to wake up at 4am to go to work. There's days that my brain is not processing, these are day I do graphics. I can kinda see it from Groovybee's point of view. Come on Groovybee!!! You can do it!!!

[mjarnold7]

Just a couple of thoughts "out loud", and they may have been answered somewhere along the lines... I don't read every post in every thread.

 

- If someone works on multiple projects at once, and bounces between them based on time and mood, and the release date(s) become a guessing game, shouldn't the customers be charged once the game is done?

 

- I don't know the deal between Elektronite and Mr. Bee, but if there's some kind of contract to have work done, and this was set in place before GroovyBee's personal games were put up for sale, I would think the business contract takes precedence. I would also think I'm wrong, based on what I've just read, but it's still my opinion either way.

This is the best point I have read yet, totally agree. I don't think Willy was trying to make anyone mad by making his point either, in my view if his contract was earlier, he has a valid argument. As a collector of course I want to see ALL the releases. This is a forum, so I think it's good to hear all opinions!

[ghsqb]

I am thankful that we have people like Groovy that are willing to use their talents to create games for us, and I don't mind paying in advance to help defray costs to make these projects happen.

 

The delays really don't bother me, but I understand that not everyone feels that way, and I agree that they have the right to say so.

 

Having said that, I am sure groovy is working hard, and I know he is taking the time to make the games as good as they can be as opposed to rushing them out before he feels they are ready.

 

My .02

[Rev]

I love the Intellivision!!!!!

 

I would like to take this time to announce the release of........

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Make it so, Number One!

[+SoulBuster]

Engage!

[Utopia]

I love the Intellivision!!!!!

 

I would like to take this time to announce the release of........

I'll take five of whatever it is and you can ship it whenever it suits but preferably this year!

By the way, Pac Man and Sears Utopia arrived today. Thanks Rev!

[Binth]

I bought an OpenPandora I know what it means to wait

 

At least we don't always have to wait "two more months"...

[108 Stars]

Groovy is not doing this as a business, but as a hobby. And fans usually do not pay up front for homebrews so the dev gets his work hours paid, but so that the homebrewer does not have to pay the substantial sum the parts for all the carts etc cost and then wait to get the money back. Paying a game in advance and wait is much easier than paying for a whole production run and wait to get the money back.

 

He's a person, not a company with a budget.

 

Homebrew-scenes are based on trust, and more often than not games are delayed.

Groovy has a proven track record of both making good on his promises and working on many things at the same time. That's not new, his habit of jumping between projects is old news. Doing so guarantees the man's motivation and results in a better game than if he slavishly followed a schedule set in stone just wishing a project was finally over.

 

It's unfortunate if Elektronite is unhappy, but that doesn't justify spreading the issues here in public; that's unprofessional and one has to wonder what the intentions of such behavior are. Elektronite and GroovyBee both try to do a service to the community, and seeding distrust is shortsighted and can only be negative for fans.

[fsuinnc]

I understand the part about this being a hobby for Groovy. I am a little unhappy that I have paid money and waited several months longer than I had anticipated. However, I do not personally feel that I have been intentionally duped or cheated or anything like that. I am just excited to see these games and was hoping they would have been done by now. I think it might work better for me if the coding of the games was completed before the pre-sale and then the money of the sale would be used to by the actual equipment, parts, etc. for building the games. Perhaps it wouldn't make a difference but maybe I think it would keep my emotions more on the excited side rather than letting the disappointment start to set in. On the other hand, perhaps Groovy works better under pressure and feels that having the money in hand is an incentive to complete the project. In truth, if the next thing Groovy posted was a pre-sale for another new game, I would send him the money without thinking twice.

 

OK, I am still very excited about Rocketeer, and Mars Mini and all the other games in the process and I hope somehow it all comes together for everyone soon. (maybe the Holiday season?)

Edited September 12, 2013 by fsuinnc

[+JasonlikesINTV]

I think the best motivator may be a slow uniform clap that gradually speeds up and becomes more random. Or possibly chanting Groovy over and over. Someone send Groovy some bacon

[mjarnold7]

Well, I guess I would prefer a game in hand and paying when the items are ready, to be honest, I have never paid for a game in advance before Groovy.....so it was a little hard for me to do, but I did it and hope Groovy comes thru with the product (hopefully sooner than later). Elektronite has a business, and has produced some solid games with boxes, inserts, etc.....at not a lot more in cost, so I think you should cut the Elektronite guys a little slack here.....just sayin!

[Rev]

I have full trust in groovy's abilities. And also in Elektronite.

 

Anyone that is unhappy with paying for a game and not getting a game, let me know and I will take your spot on the list and refund you the money. Yes, I am a hoarder!!!!! I already have paid for 5 or 6 copies of both of his pre-orders.

 

woohoo!

[Ignorama]

I dont know why here is any doubt IF the game will be released. Serious, this is getting ridiculous if it comes to a point when we distrust in the release of the game, ists just delayed and nothing more.

[mjarnold7]

I never said IF the game is released, just pointing out facts and differences between Elektronite and Groovy.....

[doomguy]

I'm just a lurker, but would like to point out that I count 19 unfinished titles and 2 finished from Groovy's own profile page here. Not a good track record.