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Catching Up With Jeff Minter

Posted by Zonk on from the he-really-whips-the-llamas-ass dept.

Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield has a nice interview up today with Jeff Minter, 50% of the indie gaming force that is Llamasoft. He was the creative force behind the visualization for the Xbox 360, and is currently working on the title Space Giraffe for Live Arcade. They touch on Minter's work ethic, past projects, and a canceled GameCube project that never quite made it out the door. They also, of course, discuss Minter's plans for the future: "One thing I would like to explore in the future is making music more involved with the game, so that the type of music you put on would determine how the level played. Some music might create a more chilled level, whereas heavy metal and heavy techno might be more intense. I've got so many ideas, but we can't do them all on the first outing."

24 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. music is a great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Some music might create a more chilled level, whereas heavy metal and heavy techno might be more intense. I've got so many ideas, but we can't do them all on the first outing
     
    What happens when you play some Barry Manilow? Does the toon just curl up and die?

    1. Re:music is a great idea by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, but the grue gets a twinkle in its eye and the supply crates contain various contraceptives.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:music is a great idea by montyzooooma · · Score: 2, Funny
      "No, but the grue gets a twinkle in its eye and the supply crates contain various contraceptives."

      I think you're confusing Barry Manilow and Barry White. Well, I seriously hope you're confusing them.

    3. Re:music is a great idea by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 1

      Now I have my glasses on I see the error of my ways.
      The original poster was correct.

      That will teach me to RTFC before I post (mind you, this is slash...)

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. And when... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ... new mutant camels?

  3. Too many ideas... by OriginalArlen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Jeff's been generating amazing ideas at an amazing rate since the early 80s - sadly AFAIK none of them have really gone anywhere, as others have said he's had the touch of death for consoles too numerous to mention :(

    --

    Everything I needed to know about life, I learnt from Blake's Seven
    1. Re:Too many ideas... by spun · · Score: 1

      He certainly has `the curse of Minter`. He talks and talks and talks, like any waster. He got lucky 20 years ago when you could knock up a game with a bit of assembler, some home made graphics and the odd bleep, but things have moved on a little since then. He hasn't.

      For instance, nowadays it's okay to be a total dick, whereas back in the day, geeks didn't generally talk shit about people they've never met.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    2. Re:Too many ideas... by Duds · · Score: 1

      He got lucky 20 years ago when you could knock up a game with a bit of assembler, some home made graphics and the odd bleep, but things have moved on a little since then. He hasn't.

      Plus he's releasing the damn thing on XBLA arcade, where half the point is to have not moved on!

    3. Re:Too many ideas... by Threni · · Score: 2, Funny

      You've never met him? I've met him several times, and I've disassembled his code. The first instruction of Llamatron is wrong, and it goes downhill from there.

  4. Re:The Dead/Failed Console Predictor by ElephanTS · · Score: 1

    Yeah, and did you see what happened to the Vic20 as well. Kiss-of-death, the guy.

    --
    spoonerize "magic trackpad"
  5. Hey Jeff, say hi to Ben for me by DrSkwid · · Score: 1

    I've not seen him for ages, Daglish that is.

    I owe him 100 quid too :)

    Last bloke I owed money to died so I'm hoping that's not a pattern :)

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
    1. Re:Hey Jeff, say hi to Ben for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Mick Jagger just called me looking for the $100 I owe him. Oh, and wanted me to say that you're a namedropper.

  6. Re:Doesn't it work the other way around? by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's the beauty of the idea, and the reason why Jeff Minter is still regarded as a gaming genius: his completely off-the-wall ideas have a tendency to become common-place after a few years. Procedural worlds? Check. Music that controls the game? Check. Yes, the devil is in the detail, but that's the other reason he is a gaming genius: he gets stuff to work that other people simply theorize about.

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  7. Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy... by cliveholloway · · Score: 1

    ...stole way too much of my childhood.

    Where's Jack Thompson when you really need him?

    --
    -- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
    1. Re:Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy... by Dogtanian · · Score: 1

      ...stole way too much of my childhood. That was Matthew Smith, not Jeff Minter.
      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  8. Blending music into games by joeflies · · Score: 1
    Other music games that I can think of One of the first (that I can remember) where music played an integral part of how the game was played was Loom from lucas arts. Unfortunately not a lot of people played it, and when people think of early Lucas Arts now, they only recall Maniac Mansion.

    A more recent example was Rez, which came out on Dreamcast which too relegated it to cult status, and the PS2 version is very rare considering how high the demand for the game remains. Music didn't change the gameplay, but rather the music was paced by the players actions. A very short, very fun and highly visual game (I'm sure Tempest 2000 fans would be proud), one that deserves a sequel.

  9. Been done (sort of) by kn0tw0rk · · Score: 1

    For music that determines how the game plays, you could say DDR is already like that, but the music is selected and the steps are already been determined. I think the game by codemasters called Dance Factory generates the steps for any music cd that you put in. But a non-dance game seeding the game style from the music has still yet to be done, as far as I know.

    --
    See my art -> http://herbevore.deviantart.com
  10. Re:The Dead/Failed Console Predictor by bodgit · · Score: 1

    Jaguar
    Neon
    GameCube
    Xbox 360


    ITYM Nuon. Anyway who cares if the Jaguar overall was a flop? I have Tempest 2000 and a hacked spinner controller, I can quite happily let the two become permanently fused to my Jaguar.


  11. Re:Jeff Who? by CelticLo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar, (or the version for the Nuon), which is what Space Giraffe in the article has evolved from.

  12. Re:Jeff Who? by CelticLo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's all about playability, and changing the game mechanics to fit the game. And fluffy animals. Jeff is one of the few people who will take a classic game gendre and make his version play different. For instance Sheep in Space for the C64 was a Defender clone. Until you pushed the joystick upwards and your sheep flipped upside down and the gravity started pulling him towards the land speeding above. This is the step he's taken with Space Giraffe. Underneath it looks like his past work on Tempest, but the gameplay is different. Try playing it like Tempest and you'll get swamped in no time at all, learn the new method and you'll be hooked for life. Fluffy animals? Well that's his life, and in the games he gets off with it because it's cute, he's eccentric, and his coding is so good that your fluffy animal is the best thing you've flown!

  13. The Gnu Logo by kisrael · · Score: 1

    Wow. Is it just me, or does that photo in the article make it look like he was the model for
    The GNU Logo?

    --
    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  14. Suuuure... by BruceTheBruce · · Score: 1

    I'll believe he can complete a game when, well, when sheep fly. It seems he lost his knack for COMPLETING games a long time ago, which is a real shame. I have many fond memories of llamatron.

    1. Re:Suuuure... by CelticLo · · Score: 1

      A) He's only ever had one game cancelled. "Unity". And that was because it was over ambitious for a console which had reached the end of it's life. (Read the article, it's all there)

      B) Space Giraffe is going to be released within a matter of weeks. His blog and others have vid of the beta working, details of the main code being done, just more levels being added, and the code has been in M$s hands for a month now. (And that info is all available from the wiki link above too)

  15. A Unique Fellow by Volzeron · · Score: 1
    In the early 1990's, I had the opportunity to drive Mr. Minter from an E3 convention back to LAX one evening. During this trip, we had time to talk as we were alone in the "Atari Taxi". He really is quite smart and is very interesting but he has a rather unusual fascination with sheep. Yeah. That's about all I should say about that.

    I did get a signed Tempest 2000 Soundtrack CD out of it as I broke several traffic laws to make sure he didn't miss his plane.