Tempest 2000 dev Jeff Minter will be the subject of Digital Eclipse's next interactive documentary
Packing in over 40 games and a whole lot of history
Influential British developer Jeff Minter, whose four-decade career spans the likes of Tempest 2000, Polybius, Space Giraffe and Revenge of the Mutant Camels, will be the focus of the next interactive documentary from the folks behind the roundly excellent Making of Karateka and Atari 50.
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story will trace Minter’s output across eight platforms from the Sinclair ZX81 through to Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar, with Digital Eclipse contributing new game Gridrunner Remastered, a revamped version of Minter’s Commodore 64 shooter.
Alongside more than 40 playable games will be two of Minter’s light synthesisers to play with, plus a previously unseen demo of Attack of the Mutant Camels ‘89 for the unreleased Konix Multi-System video game console.
As with Digital Eclipse’s previous interactive docs, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story will feature interactive timelines filled with development materials, design documents, photographs and videos tracing Minter’s distinctive inspirations and games, including commentary from Minter himself.
While Digital Eclipse are no strangers to collecting video game history - having put out collections of classic Disney games, SNK and Street Fighter titles, Mega Man, and TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection among others - Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story will be their second instalment in the Gold Master series of interactive docs, which debuted earlier this year with a look at Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner’s ambitious Karateka.
Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story will be released next year. A feature documentary film about Minter, Heart of Neon, has also been in the works for several years, with director Paul Docherty contributing over an hour of footage to the playable doc.