Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story

Pretty awesome, very polished and comprehensive presentation of Jeff Minter's unique and fascinating career. Can remember discovering Jeff Minter through the UK Atari and Amiga game magazines which I obsessively bought whenever I could find them - which was not particularly easy in America, and not just because they came with floppies, but because they were bigger, glossier and filled with so much cool stuff about the programmers behind the exciting games that were coming from there. I can recall a picture of Jeff Minter's Atari that had a rainbow design through the keys and I thought that was just so damn cool. Also found a copy of Minter's Trip-O-Tron at World of Atari (held at Disneyland) which was an incredibly deep tool for creating visualizers. I knew much about Minter's career but hadn't played many of his earlier games so this is really a treat and re-inspires me to work on my own game ideas,. I just love the irreverance and eccentricities of his games and how they pull you into a world that is completely outside of your own. As I said before, big cheers to Digital Eclipse for the quality of presentation here, it's absolutely top notch visually and feels very crisp and fluid, and simple to maneuver with arrow keys. Getting in and out of games is very smooth.

I grew up being influenced greatly by especially the atmosphere of Jeff's games, and the fun come to life playing them. So he and his games has become part of my psyche and really stuff that defines you when you think about it. It's my pleasure and an honor for me to support Jeff and enjoy his visions of the art of coding and making himself and his games come to life in a never ending way, by buing and playing his games and productions etc. Btw. my first computer was a Commodore 64, and I got it just before the mid-80ies. I would recommend this piece of history greatly, and also commend the excellent way you can traverse Jeff's story in a unique and easy to navigate user-interface, and all the other stuff here. I have to find my joystick or go get a controller cheap in the coming week to enjoy everything this production has to offer you. Much love and respect, and never change Jeff.

Thank Llamas for autofire. 8/10 + Ingenious playability even on the earlier games. There is a spark of ingenuity in the controls or the action that makes them stand out. A sense of joy in the frentic and panic of tyring to work out what the hell to do in the games. Often very engaging audio and visuals despite the age of the games. - There will be times when you will not know what the hell is going on. Some the newer games from his great works are absent. I remember when I first got Mintered. Attack of the mutant camels. Yes, it's amazing he didn't get sued by Lucas for the similarity the first console Empire game but - particularly the 8 bit Atari version - was an audio visual feast. Tempest and Voidrunner are amongst the most addictive games you will ever play. There is shear ingenuity in Laser Zone and Rox. The more I look at his work, there is a depth and a simplicity in the best of the games he has made. Unlike the Atari 50 by Digital Eclipse, even at this early stage of owning this there is not one game that is not a game you can't dip in and out of. There is a down side - the likes of Idris Alpha are just plain confusing. There will be points where what I can only describe as Psychedelia overloads and you will not know what the hell is going on or what to do. I will enjoy - along with a lot of Digital Eclipse' work around gaming history - going through this unique designers history and hope that he is not yet over in his unique work.

Expertly and lovingly put together - (where is Jeff at the moment anyway??). I have the excellent Digital Eclipse Karateka too but that was one game. The way this goes right back to his teenage years is fantastic and you hear about those little interactions which shaped his life and career, first messing around with the PET and ZX80. Every first gen videogame fan, anyone who learned coding on an 8bit machine should have this. I never really liked his early games but from Iridis Alpha onwards I started to appreciate the genius. And is it just me or did Andrew Braybrook reuse a bunch of Minter's sound effects in Paradroid?? I haven't yet got to the 1990s on this so I don't know if the amazing and audacious Space Giraffe is emulated, but I can still play that on the xbox360 anyway. It deserves a bigger audience than it ever got on XBLA.

Yksi kaikkien aikojen omaperäisimmistä pelintekijöistä. Ei ole tinkinyt laamanhajuisista peleistään tuumaakaan. Tämä paketti on aivan loistava tapa tutustua miehen elämään ja tuotantoon. Toteutettu hienosti ja sisältöä juuri sopivasti ja useimpia pelejä pääsee pelaamaan. Llamatron on edelleen yksi maailman parhaista peleistä, päihittää alkuperäisen Robotronin helposti.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is another standout from Digital Eclipse - part documentary, part playable museum, and all-around fantastic. It tells the story of a true game design legend with care and depth, while giving you direct access to his most notable work all in one place. What really elevates it, though, is the sheer amount of supplemental content - videos, documents, and behind-the-scenes material that add rich context to Minter’s career, his creative process, and his impact on gaming history. It’s not just a collection of games; it’s an interactive archive that lets you understand why those games matter. Like Digital Eclipse’s other documentary releases, this hits a very high mark and continues to prove how compelling this format can be.

I only heard the name of the company back when I was in my teenage years studying and playing retro games via emulation. I was born in 82 and I'm not too familiar with his early works but I must say most of them are not that good. What I like here is seeing the passion of people who enjoy Jeff Minters Works who just understood it because it is an acquired taste not all of his games are for everybody especially not me but the reason why I recommend this collection Is it's nice to see the history of a developer who gained some ground somewhere. Most of his early works just scream hippie days. Tempest 2000 and Grid Runner are games I have played in times past and enjoyed thoroughly. I loved learning the history of this developer and I wish we could see more developer Stories like this with digital eclipse way of doing it. Tell me right now you wouldn't love to see a Yuzo Koshiro (ancient) or Chris Sutherland (RARE) story, I know I would. If you want to see a deep dive into a developer who contribute to the birth of gaming, you should get this collection. just be warned, it may not appeal to you because it really is an acquired taste. The history is plentiful and jeff? He's a creative mad man of the good kind. Humble guy who has lots to say.

Brilliant! Mad stuff, loud stuff, fun stuff and some great interviews etc. about it all! Loved reading through all the newsletters too it was nice and nostalgic.

Fantastic collection of earlier games from a designer who knows what game design should be and whose games just keep getting even better. The doc is interesting too as are the historicalmaterial scans.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minster Story is a game collection focusing on the oeuvre of a single developer and provides lots of literature, scans and videos for a museum experience. All of this succeeds at providing context for Jeff Minster's career and his games. However, I found very few of the games to be fun.