Jeff Minter facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jeff Minter
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Minter at the Game Developers Conference in 2007
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| Born | 22 April 1962 Reading, England
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| Other names | Yak |
| Occupation | Video game programmer Video game designer |
| Employer | Llamasoft (founder) |
| Known for |
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Jeff Minter is an English video game designer and programmer who is famous for creating unique and exciting games. He often uses the nickname Yak. In 1982, he started his own video game company called Llamasoft.
Minter is known for his love of animals like llamas, sheep, and camels, which often appear in his games. His games are usually fast-paced shoot 'em ups with bright, colorful, and swirling graphics. Some of his most famous creations include Gridrunner, Attack of the Mutant Camels, Tempest 2000, and the mind-bending Polybius. He also created Neon, a program that creates cool visuals to go along with music on the Xbox 360.
Contents
A Gamer's Journey Begins
Early Programming
Jeff Minter started programming computers when he was young. In 1979, he wrote a game called Deflex for the Commodore PET, an early personal computer. His skills really took off when he got sick and had to stay in bed for three months. To pass the time, he dove deep into computer programming.
After he recovered, Minter and a friend from school started making games on their school's computer. They soon went their separate ways, and Minter began his own journey into the world of video games.
Creating Llamasoft
In 1981, Minter began writing and selling games for the ZX80 computer. He soon decided to start his own company with his mother, Hazel. He named it Llamasoft because of his love for llamas.
Llamasoft's first game was Andes Attack, which was similar to the popular arcade game Defender. But in Minter's version, players had to protect llamas instead of people! His game Gridrunner became a huge hit in both the UK and the US. This success convinced him to leave his university studies to become a full-time game developer.
Throughout the 1980s, Minter created many popular games for computers like the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers. Some of these classic games include Attack of the Mutant Camels, Hover Bovver, and Sheep in Space.
Working with Big Companies
In the 1990s, Minter started working with major game companies like Atari. For the Atari Jaguar console, he created Tempest 2000 (1994), a modern remake of the classic arcade game Tempest. It was a huge success and is still considered one of the best games on the Jaguar. He also made Defender 2000 for the same console.
Minter also created the Virtual Light Machine (VLM), a program that generates amazing visual patterns. An early version was released for the Jaguar CD, and later versions were made for other systems, including the Xbox 360.
In 2007, Minter released Space Giraffe for the Xbox 360. This action game was another exciting take on the Tempest formula, filled with his signature colorful style.
The Minotaur Project
In 2010, Minter started a new series of games called The Minotaur Project. The goal was to create games for iOS devices, like the iPhone and iPad, that felt like classic games from the past but with modern improvements.
The series included titles like Minotaur Rescue, which was inspired by Atari 2600 games, and Minotron: 2112, a tribute to the arcade classic Robotron: 2084. However, Minter found it difficult to get noticed on the crowded mobile app stores. He decided to stop making mobile games and focus on other platforms.
Return to Console Gaming
TxK and a Legal Challenge
In 2014, Minter released TxK for the PlayStation Vita. The game was a spiritual successor to his hit Tempest 2000. It was praised by players and critics for its fast-paced, addictive gameplay.
However, the company Atari claimed that TxK was too similar to Tempest 2000, a game that Minter had created but Atari owned the rights to. Because of this legal issue, Minter was not able to release TxK on other consoles.
Polybius and Tempest 4000
Minter's next big project was Polybius, released in 2017 for the PlayStation 4. The game was designed to be an intense, fast-paced experience, especially with the PlayStation VR headset. The visuals were so stunning that the band Nine Inch Nails used them in their music video for the song "Less Than".
In a surprising turn, Atari and Llamasoft teamed up to create Tempest 4000. This official sequel to the Tempest series was released in 2018, allowing Minter to once again work on the franchise he helped make famous.
Most recently, Minter worked with the company Digital Eclipse to restore and complete Akka Arrh, a lost Atari arcade game from 1982. In 2023, Digital Eclipse also announced Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, a collection of 42 of Minter's games that tells the story of his amazing career.
Personal Life
Minter often goes by the nickname "Yak." He chose it a long time ago because the high score tables on arcade machines only had space for three letters. He thought a yak, a scruffy and hairy animal, was a lot like him.
He lives in Wales with his partner, Ivan "Giles" Zorzin, who also helps create Llamasoft's games. They have a small farm with four sheep, two goats, two llamas, and a dog. Minter's favorite animals are sheep, and he has kept them as pets for many years.
Famous Games by Jeff Minter
Minter has created dozens of games over his long career. Here are some of the most well-known ones.
Early Computer Games (1980s)
- Gridrunner (1982)
- Attack of the Mutant Camels (1983)
- Hover Bovver (1983)
- Revenge of the Mutant Camels (1984)
- Sheep in Space (1984)
- Iridis Alpha (1986)
- Trip-a-Tron (1988) - A "light synthesizer" for creating visuals.
Console and PC Games (1990s-Present)
- Llamatron: 2112 (1991)
- Tempest 2000 (1994)
- Defender 2000 (1995)
- Tempest 3000 (2000)
- Gridrunner++ (2002)
- Neon (2005)
- Space Giraffe (2007)
- TxK (2014)
- Polybius (2016)
- Tempest 4000 (2018)
- Moose Life (2020)
- Akka Arrh (2023)
