| Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Digital Eclipse |
| Publisher(s) | Digital Eclipse |
| Series | Gold Master |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | 2024 |
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is an interactive documentary and compilation video game developed by Digital Eclipse. The release chronicles the software of British developer Jeff Minter and 48 of his programs developed between 1981 to 1994. It is the second release in Digital Eclipse's Gold Master Series that began with The Making of Karateka (2023), which chronicled the history of the game Karateka (1984).
Like Digital Eclipse's Atari 50 (2022) and The Making of Karateka, features an interactive timeline that allows users to play the game as well view text, documentary footage, and photography involving the games. Some games, such as 3D 3D have updated control schemes and can be played in their original form or with enhancements such as modern control schemes and updated frame rates.
It is set for release in 2024 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X׀S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Content
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story highlights Minter's career ranging from for platforms that were primarily popular in Europe. [1] [2] It goes through 42 games from 1981 to 1994 across eight different video game platforms. Among the games are two of Minter's " light synthesizer" programs: Psychedelia and Colourspace. [1] [2] Digital Eclipse adjusted several games to be playing on contemporary control pads. [3] Some games, such as 3D 3D are playable in their original form, as well as being updated to have boosted frame rate and contemporary First-person shooter-based controls. [4] The most recent game on the list is Tempest 2000 (1994), with Digital Eclipse's editorial director Chris Kohler saying that the Jaguar was the extent of what they could emulate, as material for systems like the Nuon was "a bridge too far". [5]
The games are displayed in an interactive timeline which offers the games in along with video interviews, photos, and text quotes about the games. [2] Minter included much of his own collection of Llamasoft-related material in the release, going through his own catalogue of British video game magazines as well as reaching out to others to find material not in his own archive. [6] Video footage in the features Minter, industry peers, youtubers, journalists such as Gary Penn of Zzap!64. [6]
Development
In 2023, Digital Eclipse announced they would adapt the interactive documentary and historical timeline format used in their Atari 50 (2022) into further products under their Gold Master Series branding. Kohler stated that the audience immediately picked up the idea of going through a timeline within Atari 50 and following the history, which gave the team at Digital Eclipse the confidence to continue with the format. The first Gold Master Series release was The Making of Karateka (2023), which chronicled the history of Karateka (1984) which also received favorable reviews. [7] [8] [9]
Digital Eclipse announced on Double Fine's Day of the Devs livestream in December of 2023 that the next release in the series would be titled Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story focusing on the career of video game designer Jeff Minter. [10] [11] Digital Eclipse's studio head Mike Mika described Minter as "the last indie developer", and that he was the last generation of bedroom coders that founded the British computer game industry. While most developers started this form and went on to form large companies, Minter continued to develop games on his own. Mika also stated that before entering the game industry, Minter had reached out and helped him get started. [2]
New work was done to create emulation of consoles such as the Commodore VIC-20, Sinclair Spectrum and Sinclair ZX81. [6] To emulate the Atari ST games, work was done to port these games to the Atari Jaguar as they both share hardware. These ports of the games are originally fan works. [3] Kohler said that without the fanbase for these games archiving and creating fan ports, these games Llamasoft would not be able to keep working as it was just a two-person operation. [3] The Konix Multisystem, a British console that never released was emulated based on technical specifications of the system and Minter's source code for Attack of the Mutant Camels '89. [3]
Unlike previous projects, Digitial Elcipse partnered with filmmaker Paul Docherty who was developing a documentary titled Heart of Neon about Minter. Kohler and Docherty collaborated on collecting footage to apply into this release. [12] Minter only commented on item to be changed during development, which involved a stock image of tea, which depicted a milk-free cup with he bag left, leading to Minter providing his own image saying "you would never seven need to know that I used PG Tips to make the tea in that shot, but I guarantee you that's what's in there." [6] Other games, such as the political Bomb Buenos Aires is address and released in a form described as "less controversial" by Retro Gamer. [3]
Games
There are 48 games available in the collection. [1]
| Title | Sinclair ZX81 | Commodore VIC-20 | Commodore 64 | Sinclair Spectrum | Atari 8-bit | Konix Multi-System | Atari ST | Atari Jaguar | Other | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3D 3D | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Centipede | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Abductor | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Andes Attack | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Deflex V | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Gridrunner | — | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | |
| Hellgate | — | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Laser Zone | — | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Matrix: Gridrunner 2 | — | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time | — | Yes | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Ratman | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Ancipital | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Attack of the Mutant Camels | — | — | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | |
| Batalyx | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Hover Bovver | — | — | Yes | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | |
| Iridis Alpha | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Mama Llama | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Psychedelia | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Revenge of the Mutant Camels | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | |
| Revenge of the Mutant Camels II | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Rox 64 | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Sheep in Space | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Voidrunner | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| City Bomb | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Headbangers Heaven | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Rox III | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Superdeflex | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Colourspace | — | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | |
| Turboflex | — | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | — | |
| Attack of the Mutant Camels '89 | — | — | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | — | Unreleased demo [1] |
| Llamatron: 2112 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | |
| Super Gridrunner | — | — | — | — | — | — | Yes | — | — | |
| Tempest 2000 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Yes | — | |
| Gridrunner Remastered | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Yes | Updated graphical version of Gridrunner. [1] |
Release
The game is set for release in 2024 and was published by Digital Eclipse. [2] It will made available for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X׀S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Physical copies will be available from Limited Run Games. [5]
Sources
Notes
References
- "Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story". Digital Eclipse. Atari SA. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- "Day of the Devs". Double Fine. Archived from the original on February 4, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- "The Making of Karateka". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on February 10, 2024. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- Handley, Zoey (December 6, 2023). "Digital Eclipse's Next Gold Master game is Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story". Destructoid. Archived from the original on January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
- Romano, Sal (July 11, 2023). "Digital Eclipse announces The Making of Karateka for PS5, Xbox Series, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC – first entry in Gold Master Series". Gematsu. Archived from the original on July 19, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
- Thorpe, Nick. "The Making of: Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story". Retro Gamer. No. 256.
- Webster, Andrew (August 29, 2023). "Digital Eclipse is Preserving Classic Games in the Most Entertaining Way Possible". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 29, 2023. Retrieved August 29, 2023.