Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an English video game

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

and

programmer A programmer, computer programmer or coder is an author of computer source code someone with skill in computer programming. The professional titles Software development, ''software developer'' and Software engineering, ''software engineer' ...

who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the

ZX80 The Sinclair ZX80 is a home computer launched on 29 January 1980 by Science of Cambridge Ltd. (later to be better known as Sinclair Research). It is notable for being one of the first computers available in the United Kingdom for less than a hu ...

. Minter's games are

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...

s which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of

ruminant Ruminants are herbivorous grazing or browsing artiodactyls belonging to the suborder Ruminantia that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microb ...

s (

llama The llama (; or ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a List of meat animals, meat and pack animal by Inca empire, Andean cultures since the pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with ...

s, sheep,

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

s, etc.). Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including '' Trip-a-Tron''. Minter's works include the music visualisation program ''

Neon Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...

'' (2004) which is built into the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

console, and the video games ''

Gridrunner ''Gridrunner'' is a fixed shooter video game written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft for the VIC-20 in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore PET and Dragon 32. Many remakes and sequels ...

'', ''

Attack of the Mutant Camels ''Attack of the Mutant Camels'' is a surrealism, surrealist video game written by Jeff Minter and released for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers in 1983 by Minter's Llamasoft. The horizontally scrolling shooter is similar to the Atari ...

'', ''

Tempest 2000 is a 1994 tube shooter video game originally developed by Llamasoft and published by Atari Corporation for the Atari Jaguar. Part of Atari Corp.'s ''2000'' series, it is a Video game remake, remake of the 1981 arcade game ''Tempest (video game) ...

'', and ''

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

''.

Game development career

Pre-commercial career (early years)

Minter began programming computers at a young age. He wrote the game ''Deflex'' for the

Commodore PET The Commodore PET is a line of personal computers produced starting in 1977 by Commodore International. A single all-in-one case combines a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, Commodore BASIC in read-only memory, keyboard, monochrome monitor ...

in 1979. However it would not be until a long illness during a university year that Minter's talents would develop in any meaningful way. Following a three-month stint due to a sudden eruption of

pericarditis Pericarditis () is inflammation of the pericardium, the fibrous sac surrounding the heart. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp chest pain, which may also be felt in the shoulders, neck, or back. The pain is typically less severe whe ...

, in which Minter was restricted to lying on his back and was confined to his bed between November 1981 and January 1982, boredom led him to take up computer programming in earnest to pass the time."Business Born in Bed". Home Computing Weekly Issue 4, 29 March – 4 April 1983 on page 11 Upon recovery, Minter teamed up with Richard Jones, a fellow pupil, and together they started writing their own games on their school's Commodore PET. They soon parted ways. Jones went on to commercial projects, some of them in the software market (e.g., ''

Interceptor Micros Interceptor Micros, also known as Interceptor Software and later as Interceptor Group, was a British video game developer, developer/video game publisher, publisher of video games for various 8-bit and 16-bit computer systems popular in Western ...

'').

Commercial 8-bit games

In 1981 Minter started independently writing and selling video games for the

, the first machine he owned. Some were made for software company dk'tronics. These titles were sold as a package but this was not available for very long, as Minter left the company following a royalties dispute. He formed a partnership with his mother, Hazel Minter. Together they developed and commercially produced 20 games for the

ZX81 The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-c ...

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit entry level home computer that was sold by Commodore International, Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commod ...

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

, and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

. Having been studying physics at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

, success in the programming industry prompted him to drop his studies and take up video game development full-time. The following year, he founded the software house Llamasoft. His first Llamasoft game was a '' Defender'' clone for the VIC-20 called ''Andes Attack'' (US version: ''Aggressor''). In ''Andes Attack'', little llamas advanced upon and attacked the player instead of the spaceships from ''Defender''. As a fan of ''Defender'', Minter would

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

it again as ''Defender 2000''. Through the Brighton-based software house, Salamander Software, Minter had his games written for the Spectrum and other home microcomputers. It was Mr S.A. Tenquist who was responsible for the ZX Spectrum 16K version of ''

''. The conversion was released and published for Christmas 1983 by

Quicksilva Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s. Quicksilva was founded by Nick Lambert in 1980. The name Quicksilva was inspired by a particular guitar solo in a track on the album Happy Trails by Quicksilver Me ...

Ltd., UK. Jeff Minter's original Commodore version was written in a week and marked his first commercial success both in the UK and in the US. Minter went on to develop a number of games for the

, and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

which were marketed by word of mouth and

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

advertisements. These included ''Gridrunner'', ''Abductor'', ''Matrix: Gridrunner 2'', ''Hellgate'', '' Hover Bovver'', ''

'', '' Revenge of the Mutant Camels'', ''Return of the Mutant Camels'', ''Laser Zone'', ''Mama Llama'', ''Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time'', '' Sheep in Space'', ''Voidrunner'', and ''Iridis Alpha''.

Post 8-bit work

In 1989, Minter helped in the production of the Konix Multisystem console. Minter worked for

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

and VM Labs. For Atari he produced ''Tempest 2000'' (1994) on the

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

. It was a remake of Dave Theurer's 1981 '' Tempest''. He followed it with '' Defender 2000'' (1995) on the Jaguar, a remake of the 1981 arcade game. Listing Minter in their "75 Most Important People in the Games Industry of 1995", '' Next Generation'' called him the Jaguar's "leading developer". Minter also produced the '' Virtual Light Machine'' (''VLM-1'') for the Jaguar CD add-on. For VM Labs he created the '' VLM-2'' and '' Tempest 3000''. Minter then wrote games for the

Pocket PC A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC) is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile operating system, which is based on Windows Embedded Compact, Windows CE/Windows Embedded Compact, and that has some of the abilities of modern ...

platform, some of which also have Windows conversions: ''Deflex'', '' Hover Bovver 2: Grand Theft Flymo'' (a reinterpretation of his own 1984 game, ''Hover Bovver''), and '' Gridrunner++''. In 2002, he began work on a

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

for the

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

to be called '' Unity''. Using the newest version of his '' VLM'', the ''VLM-3'' or ''

'', ''Unity'' was to combine the two main threads of Minter's prior career: light synthesis and classic arcade style shooting. Minter was involved in writing this game for

Lionhead Studios Lionhead Studios Limited was a British video game developer founded in July 1997 by Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley, Tim Rance, and Steve Jackson (British game designer), Steve Jackson. The company is best known for the ''Black & White (series), Bl ...

throughout 2003. The project was cancelled in December 2004. ''Neon'' has since been reprogrammed and significantly expanded and is used in

media visualisation. In 2007 Minter released '' Space Giraffe'', an action video game with similarities to '' Tempest''. ''Space Giraffe'' was released for Xbox 360 through

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

. In 2008 it was announced at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game trade fair and convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publication ...

that designers at Llamasoft were working on the visualisation aspects of the Xbox 360 version of '' Space Invaders Extreme''. The game was released in 2008. In December 2008 '' Space Giraffe'' was released for Windows. In September 2009 he released '' Gridrunner Revolution'' for Windows as a digital download.

The Minotaur Project

In 2010, frustrated with the delays surrounding the release of his titles, Minter was keen to return to a style of game development where games could be produced and released quickly. The

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

platform was chosen and Llamasoft announced that a series of games would be produced under the banner ''The Minotaur Project''. The idea behind the series is that Llamasoft would develop a game in the style of a past computer or console but without the constraints of the original hardware. On 5 January 2011 he released '' Minotaur Rescue'' for

iPhone 3GS The iPhone 3GS, stylized as , is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iPhone models, third generation of the iPhone and the successor to the iPhone 3G. It was unveiled on June 8, 2009 at the Apple Worldw ...

iPhone 4 The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the List of iPhone models, fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the iPhone 4s. Following a number of notable leaks, ...

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a po ...

(3rd generation), iPod Touch (4th generation), and

iPad The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...

. On 2 March 2011 Llamasoft released their second iOS game, '' Minotron: 2112''. ''Minotron: 2112'' is a remake of the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

game '' Llamatron'' (which was inspired by the coin-op video game '' Robotron: 2084''). An iOS version of '' Deflex'' was also released although this was not specifically labeled as being part of the Minotaur Project. On 17 September 2011, Llamasoft released '' GoatUp'', their first platform game. On 27 January 2012 '' Caverns of Minos'' was released followed on 24 March by Gridrunner iOS. '' Super Ox Wars'', a shoot-em-up based on '' Ikaruga'', was released in July 2012; the final game in the series, '' GoatUp 2'' was released in March 2013, unique in that it is the only Llamasoft title to feature a

level editor A level editor (also known as a map, campaign or scenario editor) is a game development tool used to design Level (video games), levels, maps, campaigns and virtual worlds for a video game. An individual involved with the development of game levels ...

. Minter then announced his intention to abandon mobile development due to lack of discoverability, low turnover, and the dominance of

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

and

video game clone A video game clone is either a video game or a video game console very similar to, or heavily inspired by, a previous popular game or console. Clones are typically made to take financial advantage of the popularity of the cloned game or system, bu ...

s; he ultimately declared that, after accounting for his time, the Minotaur Project made a net loss. Minter stated on Twitter than "Returning to iOS would be like returning to the scene of a mugging" and "I would advise any dev valuing integrity and sanity to just get the hell out". As a result, the Minotaur Project games were not updated for 64-bit versions of iOS and were removed from the App Store while existing copies became unplayable on updated devices. The code framework for the Minotaur Project games enables them to be rebuilt for both Mac and PC versions. Gridrunner was released for the Mac in August 2012.

Return to console games

In April 2013 it was announced that Llamasoft had signed a deal with

Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (SIE) is an American video game and digital entertainment company that is a major subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Sony, Sony Group Corporation. It primarily operates the PlayStation brand of video game co ...

to create a tube shooter for the

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, then in other international territories on February 22, 2012, and was produced ...

called '' TxK''. The game would be Llamasoft's fourth tube shooter in two decades and was described as the spiritual successor of 1994's ''Tempest 2000'' for the Atari Jaguar. As Minter explained in his development blog the project goals were to create a more traditional, straightforward and accessible tube shooter than ''Space Giraffe'', to improve on the flaws from ''Tempest 2000'' and ''Tempest 3000'', and to evoke the neo-retro aesthetic without being cheesy. '' TxK'' was released on 11 February 2014, by digital download through PSN. At the beginning of 2015, Minter was threatened with legal action by

, claiming that ''TxK'' was too similar to ''Tempest 2000'' - a game that Minter himself wrote, but Atari owned the rights to. This raised several issues, including Atari claiming that Minter that had illegally copied material from his own source code and violated design copyrights on his own design traditions. Sony was unwilling to support Minter and as such future versions of ''TxK'' were blocked from release, although the PS Vita version remains available. Minter and Zorzin's first publicly available game for a modern home console, ''

'', was released on the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

on 9 May 2017. The game features extensive support for the

PlayStation VR The PlayStation VR (PS VR) is a virtual reality headset developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which was released in October 2016. The headset works with the company's PlayStation 4 video game console and is forward compatible with PlaySta ...

headset, based on Minter's experience building the unreleased VR version of ''TxK''. Shortly after release, Llamasoft were contacted by

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...

of the band

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

, asking to use visuals from ''Polybius'' as the basis for the music video for the song "

Less Than In mathematics, an inequality is a relation which makes a non-equal comparison between two numbers or other mathematical expressions. It is used most often to compare two numbers on the number line by their size. The main types of inequality ar ...

"; the video was released on 13 July the same year. In August 2017, Atari, SA issued a press release, announcing a partnership with Llamasoft to develop '' Tempest 4000'' on the

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

video game consoles and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

-based

personal computers A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

. It was released in July 2018. In March 2018, Minter announced that the framework for the Minotaur Project had also been ported to the

and stated an intention to release enhanced versions of the Minotaur Project games as console games in bundles under the name ''Minotaur Arcade''. In December 2018, Llamasoft released ''Minotaur Arcade Volume 1'' on Steam. This contained much enhanced versions of ''GoatUp'' and ''Gridrunner'' with support for playing on the

Oculus Rift Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets, virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality indust ...

but also playable in 2D. A PlayStation 4 version of ''Minotaur Arcade Volume 1'' was released in October 2019. Minter revisited the enhanced Minotaur Arcade framework to produce an original game, '' Moose Life'', released on Steam in August 2020 and on Playstation 4 in February 2021. In December 2022, Minter announced that he had been contracted to produce a complete and up-to-date version of Atari's abandoned 1982 prototype arcade machine '' Akka Arrh'', the original version of which had become available to the wider public as part of the recently published collection '' Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration''. In 2023,

Digital Eclipse Digital Eclipse Entertainment Partners Co. is an American video game developer based in Emeryville, California. Founded by Andrew Ayre in 1992, the company found success developing commercial Video game emulation, emulations of arcade games for ...

announced that they would be compiling 42 of Minter's games and releasing them as '' Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story'', the second entry in their ''Gold Master Series''.

Other appearances

Minter appeared in the interactive film '' Black Mirror: Bandersnatch'', released in December 2018. The film is based around the 1980s video game industry in the United Kingdom; Minter played Jerome F. Davies, the author of the titular ''Bandersnatch'' novel, who murdered his wife. Minter also contributed to the documentary film ''From Bedrooms to Billions''. Minter appears extremely briefly as a background character in '' Ashens and the Polybius Heist''.

Personal life

In online forums and informal game credits pages Minter usually signs as "Yak", which is, in his own words

a pseudonym chosen a long time ago, back in the days when high score tables on coin-op machines only held three letters, and I settled on Yak because the yak is a scruffy hairy beast – a lot like me ;-).

Since 2015, Minter has used the name "Yak" relatively rarely, usually signing as "Stinky Ox" or "Jeff

Minotaur In Greek mythology, the Minotaur (, ''Mīnṓtauros''), also known as Asterion, is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "par ...

". He lives in Wales with his partner Ivan "Giles" Zorzin, four sheep, two goats, two llamas and a dog. Although Minter is synonymous with Llamasoft, Zorzin is jointly responsible for the recent titles. Minter likes Indian food, particularly chicken vindaloo. Sheep are his favourite animal; he has kept them as pets for many years.

Games

Second- and third generation games

* '' Deflex'' (

) * ''Centipede'' (

, 1982) * ''3D Labyrinth'' (VIC-20, 1982) * ''Abductor'' (VIC-20, 1982) * ''Andes Attack'' (VIC-20, 1982) a.k.a. ''Defenda'' * ''Bomb Buenos Aires'' (VIC-20, 1982;

, 1988) a.k.a. ''Aggressor'', ''Bomber'', ''Blitzkrieg'' * ''City Bomber'' (

, 1982) * ''

'' (VIC-20,

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

, ZX Spectrum, 1982; C64, 1983) * ''Matrix: Gridrunner 2'' (VIC-20, 1982; Atari 8-bit and C64, 1983; C16, 1986) * ''Rat Man'' (VIC-20, 1982) * ''Rox III'' (VIC-20/ZX Spectrum, 1982) * ''Super Deflex'' (ZX Spectrum, 1982) * ''Turboflex'' (Atari 8-bit, 1982) * ''

'' (Atari 8-bit and C64, 1983) a.k.a. ''Advance of the Megacamel'' * ''Headbangers Heaven'' (ZX Spectrum, 1983) * '' Hover Bovver'' (C64, 1983; Atari 8-bit, 1984; Galaxians/Scramble hardware, 2022) * ''Laser Zone'' (VIC-20/C64, 1983; C16, 1986) * ''Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time'' (VIC-20, 1983; C64, 1984) a.k.a. ''Meta-Llamas'' * '' Revenge of the Mutant Camels'' (C64, 1984) * ''Rox 64'' (C64, 1983) * ''

Traxx Alstom Traxx (sold as Bombardier TRAXX before 2021) is a modular product platform of mainline diesel-electric and electric locomotives. It was produced originally by Bombardier Transportation and later Alstom, and was built in both freight an ...

'' (VIC-20/ZX Spectrum, 1983) * ''Ancipital'' (C64, 1984) * ''Hellgate'' (VIC-20/C64, 1984) * ''

Psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

'' (VIC-20/ZX Spectrum/C64/

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

, 1984), light synthesizer. * '' Sheep in Space'' (C64, 1984) * ''Batalyx'' (C64, 1985) * ''Colourspace'' (Atari 8-bit, 1985), light synthesizer. * ''Mama Llama'' (C64, 1985) * ''Yak's Progress'' (C64, 1985) - compilation of eight previously released titles. * ''Iridis Alpha'' (C64, 1986) * ''Made in France II'' (C64, 1987) * ''Return of the Mutant Camels'' (C64, 1987; Atari 8-bit, 1988) a.k.a. ''Revenge of the Mutant Camels 2'' * ''Voidrunner'' (C64/

, 1987)

Fourth generation games

* '' Trip-a-Tron'' (Amiga/Atari ST, 1988) * ''Super Gridrunner'' (Amiga, 1989; Atari ST, 1991) * ''Defender II'' (Amiga/Atari ST, 1990) * ''Photon Storm'' (Amiga/Atari ST, 1990) * '' Llamatron: 2112'' (Amiga/Atari ST, 1991; PC, 1992) * ''Revenge of the Mutant Camels'' (Amiga/Atari ST, 1991; PC, 1994) enhanced re-release * ''Hardcore'' (Atari ST, 1992)

Fifth generation games

* ''

'' (

Atari Jaguar The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. It is in the fifth generation of video game consoles, and it competed with Fourth generation of video game consoles, fo ...

, 1994) * '' Virtual Light Machine'' (Atari Jaguar, 1994) a.k.a. ''VLM-1'' * '' Defender 2000'' (Atari Jaguar, 1995) * ''Llamazap'' (

Atari Falcon The Atari Falcon030 (usually shortened to Atari Falcon), released in 1992, is the final personal computer from Atari Corporation. A high-end model of the Atari ST line, the machine is based on a Motorola 68030 CPU and a Motorola 56001 digital s ...

, 1995) * '' Tempest 3000'' ( Nuon DVD, 2000) * '' VLM-2'' (Nuon DVD, 2000) * '' Gridrunner++'' (PC, 2002) * '' Hover Bovver 2: Grand Theft Flymo'' (PC, 2002)

Sixth generation games

* '' Unity'' ( GCN, Cancelled)

Seventh generation games

* ''

'' (

, 2005) a.k.a. ''VLM-3'' * '' Space Giraffe'' (Xbox 360, 2007; PC, 2008) * '' Space Invaders Extreme'' (Xbox 360, 2009) * '' Gridrunner Revolution'' (PC, 2009)

The Minotaur Project

* '' Minotaur Rescue'', (2011) Represents the

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

. * '' Minotron: 2112'', (2011) Represents the Mattel Intellivision. * '' GoatUp'', (2011) Represents the

. * '' Caverns of Minos'', (2012) Represents the

. * '' Gridrunner iOS'', Represents arcade games of Namco System 86 era. First Minotaur Project title to be released on the Mac. * '' Five A Day'' * '' Super Ox Wars'', Represents the Namco Galaga platform. Llamasoft's first vertical scrolling shooter. * '' Deflex'', Puzzle game and a remake of one of Llamasoft's earliest titles. * '' GoatUp 2'', Sequel to ''GoatUp''. Platform game with level editor built-in.

Eighth generation games

* '' TxK'' (

, 2014) * ''Minotaur Rescue VR'' (

, 2014) * ''

'' ( PS4,

, PC,

, 2016) * '' Tempest 4000'' (PC, PS4,

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

, Atari VCS 800) * ''Minotaur Arcade Vol. 1'' (combines voxel-based remakes of Gridrunner iOS and GoatUp) (PC, PS4) * '' Moose Life'' (PC, PS4) * '' Akka Arrh'' (PC, PS4, PS5,

, Atari VCS 800)

Ninth generation games

* ''I, Robot'' (PC, PS5, PS4,

Xbox Series X The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...

, Xbox Series S,

Atari VCS The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...

, 2025)

References

External links

Llamasoft official website

The Inquirer article on his early games
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Minter, Jeff 1962 births Alumni of the University of East Anglia English video game designers British video game programmers English computer programmers Living people People from Reading, Berkshire VJ (video performance artists)