Article originally appeared in Issue 12 of Retro Gamer magazine, January 2005

Notes at the end as usual.

Jeff Minter is impossible; he shouldn't still exist. For over twenty years he's been programming the most energetic, personal, fun and eccentrically llama based games. And he's still doing it. No multimillion pound development studio, no teams of junior programmers, just him, some furry beasties, and the machine. And the odd curry. With the complete Llamasoft archive due for release in the summer, and the definitive history written by the man himself still unravelling at excellent webzine Way of the Rodent (www.wayoftherodent.com), we quickly take this chance to get our own take on the life and career of one of Britain's software treasures. In the inspirational words of Knight Rider, One man can make a difference. Michael.

Origins

In 1981 Tadley, Hampshire was famed only as a centre for making the besom brooms so favoured by witches, and being near Basingstoke. Strange then that this name would be etched indelibly in the memories of school kids and teenagers the length of the country. But this was where Jeff Minter lived, this is where you sent off for the latest game or the Nature of the Beast Newsletter. This was the home of Llamasoft. And it was mainly due to illness.

That was what stopped Jeff from getting very far into his Polytechnic course, or anything energetic in fact, and convinced him to give computer games a serious go. It was one of the things he could do whilst recovering. He'd already "had a few bad experiences in the games biz", as he describes the ZX81 games he published through Dk'Tronics, and founded Llamasoft "to release stuff that I was happy with for reasonable prices."
"I always make games that I want to play, and I don't want anyone to be disappointed, having bought one." He didn't ever think it would go anywhere.

He began with a Defender clone on the Vic 20. Originally called 'Defenda', when it became clear that this cunning ruse was unlikely to fool Atari's lawyers for long it was changed to 'Andes Attack'. The humanoids had to be changed to Llamas, obviously, or it wouldn't have made any sense. Selling it from a table at a computer show, he didn't expect much response. He was therefore somewhat surprised when he sold the lot in the first morning. And immediately secured a licensing deal to sell a cartridge version in the US. Not bad going. He's still somewhat embarrassed about it, but it was a respectable game at a time when they were rare beasts. And it sold respectable quantities and made respectable money. Jeff, also known as Yak from his arcade high score table initials, thought he might be on to something here. He began selling games by mail order, and the name of Tadley began to spread.

His first real success would also be his own interpretation of a classic. He'd already written a ZX81 version of Centipede, which was surprisingly good considering he hadn't played the arcade version. And that it was on a ZX81. For the Vic he wanted a less cutesy version, and knocked something up in a week, naming it 'Grid Runner' after Ridley Scott's popular, but notably centipede free film, Blade Runner. His Americans distributors loved it, and kindly phoned him up at four o'clock in the morning to tell him so. A large number of other Americans liked it too, but fortunately they didn't all feel the need to phone. They did buy it in huge numbers however, sending it to number 1 in the Vic charts and putting Llamasoft on a firm footing. "Best week's work I ever did in my life" he says, not unreasonably.

The Commodore 64 was a natural next step, and proving that inspiration can come from the oddest places Llamasoft's next major hit was inspired by a review of a game of a sequence in a film. The film was The Empire Strikes Back, the game was from Parker Brothers, who can't have been over happy at having their AT-AT graphics described as giant mechanical camels in the review. Actually, as it was on the Atari VCS they were probably flattered it was recognisable as anything at all. Anyway, Jeff just cut out the middleman and made a game with camels, of the giant mutant variety rather than mechanical. They also had the added advantage of being easy to draw. The game was another hit in the UK, but there was some confusion with the US and somehow the same name was used for Gridrunner sequel Matrix. It's an understandable mistake, after all Matrix doesn't have any camels. Um.

The 64 represents Llamasoft's golden age to many, and Jeff began producing completely original games, such as the Revenge of the Mutant Camels. They don't come much more original than that, featuring various beasties, Austrian skiers, phone booths, roll-ups and even many mini manic minters. There were more frantic shooters, more beasties, and complete tangents such as Hover Bovver (see boxout). Some were too radical, and difficult, for popular tastes, such as the split screen scrolling of Iridis Alpha, or the punishing Mama Llama (see boxout).There were also ports to other platforms, with friend Aaron Liddiment handling some Commodore 16/+4 and Atari versions and Salamander Software's Chris Clark covering the Spectrum. Jeff was also beginning to recognise some limitations in the art and music departments. Artist Mo Warden got a job after she sent Jeff a sketch for a half-human, half-goat creature from Brian Aldiss' Helliconia. The creature, and the sketches, were called Batalyx. "From the reaction, Jeff must have fallen off his chair when he saw them as he was using Batalyx as the working title of his next game, but hadn't mentioned it to anyone." Illustrator Steinar Lund also came on board to improve Llamasoft's 'interesting' homebrew packaging.

Jeff also started a distinctly different strand to his work. As part of the Compunet demo scene he tinker with little ideas then upload them for others to play. One little program he came up with was the realisation of an idea that had been bouncing around in his head for years. It was interactive, but not a game. It was musical, but didn't make sounds. It was something new, colours and patterns that you could 'play' along to music. It was Psychedelia.

With the right music and plenty of (Vimto - Ed) the effects became alive, an otherworldly visual interpretation of what you were hearing. That first program, published originally as a magazine type-in, would start another twenty years of experimentation. Colourspace on the Atari was dazzling watchers with images that didn't seem possible. Eventually this technology would be used by The Virtual Light Company was providing large scale light displays for the likes of The Shamen and Primal Scream, as well as feeding back into home based Virtual Light Machines that, for reasons we will see, sadly not many people ever got to use.

In 1984 Jeff also started his 'Nature of the Beast' newsletter to keep in touch with his growing following of fans. Write to Tadley, and you'd receive free copies of Jeff's informal musings. The thirteen, irregularly produced issues brought fan's into Jeff's world and are as fondly remembered as many of his games. We've dragged them across time itself, and placed them on the CD for your viewing pleasure.

Jeff was also a natural for the new breed of games magazines. He started writing a regular column in newly founded Zzap! 64. Described as "hairy, freaky, hilarious, unorthodox, irreverent, controversial" he tackled various niggles including the distribution problems that would sadly never leave him. Unfortunately there was a disagreement over the low review scores for Mama Llama in the very first issue, and this wasn't helped by Jeff's describing the new publication in The Nature of the Beast as "OK, not brilliant" containing "reviews reading like they were written BY 12-year-olds FOR 12-year olds". Reviewers themselves were "so amazingly primitive that they still believe in charts" who were, just to round it off, "mutants". Oddly Newsfield weren't happy and column being "banished" after only three issues. Relations remained sticky for several months, until the Sizzler Batalyx appeared. Julian Rignall signed off his comments with a sly "It's HYPER BRILL, okay twelve-year olds?" and soon Jeff was back with a developer's diary for Iridis Alpha.

The next major sighting of the wild Yak would be in Wales. Jeff had moved there in the last years of the 64 era (correspondence via Tadley, please) and by some quite unbelievably incredible coincidence this was suddenly the home of the next wave of arcade games for the home. It must have seemed like fate. The radical Konix Multi-System (See RG 8), even looked liked a sheepie's head, when the handlebars were extended. Well, a bit.

In the late eighties Jeff could be sighted in magazines and at trade shows riding the wild Power Chair. Until it broke down. Unfortunately Konix went the same way, and Jeff was left holding a nearly completed game for the greatest console that would never be.

The Atari Era

Konix was unfortunately not the only problem for plucky Llamasoft at this time. There was no problem with getting a game, the excellent Llamatron for the Atari ST was finished, but Jeff couldn't get anyone to distribute it.

So he gave it away. Easy. He added a nice little file explaining the concept of 'shareware' and suggesting you might like to send a cheque for a fiver to Tadley, if you liked the game. It worked. Thousands sent in payments, and their stories, from toddlers to pensioners. "I still get emotional about it to this day ... It was the goodwill of people that saved Llamasoft", Jeff would later put it. A small company called ID would later try the same technique and achieved some moderate success with Doom.

Soon afterwards Jeff attracted the attention of a publisher again, Atari, who agreed to release Atomic Tadpoles vs. Savage Mutant Weirdoes from Basingstoke. Only if he renamed it Photon Storm though. Bah. Jeff would stick with Atari for many years, producing games for the ST and bizarrely its direct competitor the Amiga. Jeff's desire to work on the latest hardware, coupled with Atari's unfortunate ability to cancel or not sell its latest hardware lead to a quiet time for public releases. The TT030 and Falcon were released, but passed without much notice. The Panther didn't even get that far. Yak would come back into the public eye riding Atari's next big cat: The Jaguar. Meow. This would even tempt him to relocate from rainy valley to Sunnyvale.

Jeff's Jaguar version of Tempest 2000 is now legendary, but incredibly he didn't have access to an original Tempest machine for reference. I know its difficult, and your kids might not believe your crazy dad-rambles, but once upon a time Mame didn't actually exist. The version of the 'original' included with Tempest 2K was mostly from memory, which would explain some of the differences. The Jag also received a Virtual Light Machine for its CD player, and Jeff's less well known Defender 2000, but these couldn't prevent it being flattened by an oncoming Playstation.

Despite several job offers with large companies, one promising "a llama upon initial signing, with the option of a yak after six months" Jeff went underground and wouldn't be seen again for a few years when he cropped up again in Wales. Sunny California just couldn't compete with the weather, the curries, the beer and being back with his beasties.

The secret project turned out to be Nuon, a console hiding in a DVD player. Jeff provided Tempest 3000, and an updated Virtual Light Machine. Unfortunately people preferred DVD players hiding in their consoles, and Nuon failed to get very far. Nowadays Tempest 3K is about the only reason to own one, although opinions of it vary, with some highly impressed with the refinements over 2K, and some contending that there is too much visual clutter and the changes ruin that game's balance. Either way, it'll take you a lot of money to find out for yourself. To get a Nuon player you'll be lucky to see much change from £200. You could try emulation, and Nuance is Tempest 3K compatible, but you'll have to find a fast enough PC, which may require a time machine, so £200 begins to seem quite reasonable.

And so Jeff began again, with (Gnu) Llamasoft. In no time at all there were Pocket PC and PC versions of Deflex and Hover Bovver 2, and then the excellent Gridrunner++ (see boxout). Demos were on the now established shareware model (and on our cover CD). Full games are still just a fiver. That's right, the same price Llamatron had been all those years ago. I'll just say that again in case you missed it. You. Can. Buy. Gridrunner++. For. A. Fiver. I'll just wait for you to do that, then we can carry on.

Right, are we back? Goodwill kept Jeff afloat until along came help from an unexpected quarter. Peter Molyneux's studio had heard that he was available, and wondered what were his plans? Jeff described an idea that had been kicking around in his head for a few years, to fuse the two main strands of his development - manic shooters and light synths. The name? Unity. They liked what they heard, and so it came to pass that the Lionhead did lie down with the Llama. Jeff's future was secure, and set up with a Gamecube devkit and the resources of Lionhead behind him the future was bright.

Which should bring us neatly to a happy ending; The imminent release of the game that will unify the diverse strands of over twenty years of gaming heritage. It would prove that one man could still make the game, and that the industry is still receptive to the kind of endearing, quirky, personality filled games so many of us long for.

It isn't going to happen. Unity has just been cancelled. It just wasn't going to work out in time. Once again Llamasoft is looking for a new project, but Jeff seems upbeat. When I asked him about his future plans his reply was typical for the man who has been through so much, "Pretty much the same as always - develop more games, work on lightsynths. Maybe buy a donkey." Well, whatever it turns out to be, it'll be furry, funny, eccentric, unique, just like its creator.

Hover Bovver (CBM 64 version)

Not your typical Llamasoft game this. It doesn't feature many of the usual beasties, just a daft dog. Clues are there though, with a Llama on the title screen, and a llama shaped flowerbed as one of the levels. Its also not Jeff's normal, frantic pace. The Idea was in fact co-developed with his dad, based on a conversation over breakfast in a Birmingham guesthouse. There was very nearly a tie-in with Flymo, but they pulled out at the last minute leaving Jeff to rename everything to 'Airmo'. Luckily he got to keep a free lawnmower used to decorate a show stand. So that's alright then.

It's essentially a maze game, and close to Pac Man in approach and in its wide appeal. Your task as horticultural recidivist Gordon Bennett is to mow a series of lawns whilst avoiding having your 'borrowed' mower repossessed by its original owner. You are helped and hindered by your daft dog, who careers around randomly until he gets annoyed with the mower. He then homes in relentlessly and tries to bite the thing. Mow over the flowerbeds and you'll also incur the additional wrath of the gardener. Through cunning use of hedges, flowerbed, and dog position, you can trap your opponents and continue your mowing in peace for a while. And if that fails, you can set the dog on them. It's what fire buttons were invented for.

Presentation as always was excellent, with animations before each 'life' showing you obtaining your mower from a very suburban looking house. There was also a full musical score. Jeff's college mate James Lisney's jaunty arrangement of 'English Country Garden' is unforgettable. Sometimes so unforgettable that it keeps running around your head when you've finished playing. Jeff soon learned to keep the game music quiet after listening all day at a show. You have been warned.

Despite its deviations from the beastie formula and its relaxed pace, Hover Bovver contains many of the typical Llamasoft elements. It is eccentrically British. What other nation could possibly produce a lawnmowing game? Hover Bovver sparked an entire garden game genre. It also takes a number of simple rules, and makes something challenging, satisfying and fair. It's easy to see how the neighbours, Rover and the gardener move and interact. It's the challenge of using that knowledge that makes the game.

Hover Bovver has proved perennially popular, and Jeff started, but didn't complete, Intellivision and Game Boy Colour versions. It was one of the titles picked for an iDigicon remake, and sequel Hover Bovver 2 is available for PC and Pocket PC. Keeping the same design elements, it's a surprisingly different game. Faster to play, and with more pick ups, its highly enjoyable in its own right.

Mama Llama (CBM 64)

In a similar vein to Revenge of the Mutant Camels, Mama Llama contained a number of innovations, but also marked a turning point in Llamasoft games. Generally considered the hardest of the bunch, there were very polarised reactions. "It's one of the least loved, but also very loved because its so bloody hard." As Llamasoft archivist Mark Rayson puts it. The learning curve is certainly cliff-like, and Jeff now admits it might be a little difficult. It's certainly not the first Llamasoft game you should ever feel like trying. At the time Jeff described it as "like acid rock in the 60s … weird experimental stuff that was definitely not chart music", an extremely apt comparison that is as true today as it ever was.

It was certainly an extremely original game packed with novel concepts. The most obvious experiment was the 'Killdroid' system, an invincible satellite that you could steer around to protect your llama family. The game was originally designed to use traditional bullets, but that just didn't sit well with the inertial motion routines used in every other object. Having the user control the Killdroid satellite directly provided a consistent, inertial answer, and a spiritual link to shooters such as Gradius. If you had difficulty controlling the game, you could choose between the different characters that varied the gameplay settings until they were more to your taste.

The way you approached each level was also a game in itself. It was, quite literally, not as linear as previous shooters. Instead of being presented with the levels one after the other, as in Revenge, the chosen level was based on a grid of a hundred sectors. Not only did this give you some control over what you got to fight, there was an added layer of strategy. As you moved through the game and completed levels the density of aliens in all the other sectors would increase. This allowed you to choose to tackle levels you found difficult early on, before the level of opposition built up too much. You also skip certain levels altogether, or apply bombs to control the level of opposition in a sector before you even arrived. This level of player control over the game was unprecedented, and would be highly unusual even by today's standards.

Despite all this assistance however its far beyond my mortal playing capability. "My highest on Mama Llama is maybe ten levels" admits Mark. So how is the walkthrough for his archive going? "We have a guy whose videoing now. He's basically 80% of Mama Llama complete on video. That's bloody good." I'll say.

Gridrunner++ (PC - Mac OS X and Mobile Phone soon)

Jeff's most recent game, and one of his most playable and accessible If you've never experienced Llamasoft, this is an excellent place to start, showing that the ideas that have been powering Jeff's games for the over twenty years are still going strong.

This is only the most recent in the long and distinguished Gridrunner series, originally inspired by a desire to make a not so cutesy version of Centipede. You'd be hard pressed to spot the influence now. It keeps the archetypal Gridrunner X-Y Cannon. firing regularly to keep you on the move, and the main enemies are vaguely centipedal, if that's a word. But there's typical Minter diversity and humour to be found. This time you'll be battling everything from footballs to giant Mutley heads, and will see many familiar symbols and characters along the way. The mine laying Uridium ship is a particular nemesis of mine, but I won't go on too much and spoil the surprises. Of course there are also sheepies to save, or be saved by, who will lend a helping, er, hoof. Eventually you'll get an ever so useful sheepie head for backup. Nice. This is pure shooting in action, and all the better for it, and with the dying creatures leave a legacy of laser mines to be mopped up sharply if you don't want the screen filling with deadly unpleasantness, you have to be on your toes.

Although it gets pretty (how did I get this far without saying it?) hairy at times, the influence of Jeff accessibility is clear. The controls use the mouse and do away with manual firing of the main gun altogether. And it works splendidly, removing the need for the costly RSI treatment you'd need to pump out that volume of shots by hand. So well does it work in fact that I didn't even notice the high powerered zapper smart bomb until well into the game. It's the right mouse button, if you were wondering. Couple this with different game modes, starting from any level you've seen, continuing from your 'best' point, and the useful power-up recovery method to save embarrassing sheeplessness, and you've got a game that challenges rather than frustrates. It's truly a player's game, and would recommend everyone to get a copy. Best value ever, as its only a fiver.

Community - YakYak, Camels at the Edge of Time & Retrovision

No history of Llamasoft could be complete without talking about Jeff's flock of fans: the Llamasofties. Jeff has always been close to his fans, and The Internet has brought even more of them together than The Nature of the Beast. Llamasofties are an active, creative bunch who have produced many projects and spin offs with a separate and distinct life of their own. Here is just a selection.

YakYak (www.yakyak.org)
The YakYak forums are the place to talk all things Llamasoft and beyond. You'll find Yak there most days, along with pretty much everyone else mentioned here. The forum is a natural successor to the original Nature of the Beast newsletters, and his pre-blog blog, the Grunting Ox. It's a very welcoming community, and with regular socials, meets and contributions and collaborations with the projects below, very busy. Started to run alongside the Nu-Llamasoft website it now has over a thousand members, and has grown beyond the original brief. Its popularity surprised Yak. "I honestly thought we'd get about 50 members tops", he recalls. Not that he's unhappy. "It's an entity shared between the members in its own right, and I think it is probably the best thing ever to emerge from Llamasoft, games"

Camels at the Edge of Time (www.llamasoftarchive.org)
2006 will see the re-release of the complete Llamasoft archive, Camels at the Edge of Time. Cateot to its friends, it began at the end of the last millennium when Justin Leask was making a repository for Jeff's 'Nature of the Beast' newsletters. He linked up with Mark Rayson, who had also started putting together some archive material. Together they thought the combined material should go further. "Lets create an archive of exactly what Llamasoft always has been since 1981" as Mark puts it. A simple idea, but as it turned out, this would go an awful lot further.

Working together they produced the first archive, christened it, and unleashed it as both and archive CD and website in 2002. As well as the Nature of The Beast, the original site contained several sections of Llamasoft games, of course, which Jeff has kindly released to the public domain at the end of 1996, and accompanied them with a few SID tunes, some type-in pokes, a game high-scores table and the instructions for Jaguar VLM and Colourspace.

There was more missing than present however, and appeals went out for material to plug the holes. And plugged they were. Hosting problems caused the original site to be moved to the care of Stephen Morton (aka MedwayPVB), and provided a chance for a redesign. This is now nearing completion, and the re-release is scheduled for next summer. A tiny, unfinished sample can be found and rummaged through on the CD.

There will be two forms of the archive The Internet version will be open to everyone, and for the dedicated there will be an enhanced DVD release. What's in it now? According to Mark, it's complete "Every single game, every single sound effect, every single sprite, every single cover scan, every single instruction scan, every single nature of the beast". And if that's not enough there will be magazine articles, adverts, and early Compunet and graphics demos. And the walkthroughs. Mark? "We're going to feature every game screen from every [Llamasoft] game ever written". Ambitious? "There's a hundred levels in Ancipital. There'll be three pictures from each level."

But this is just the Internet version, the DVD will go even further. As well as additional special features, including such minutiae as pictures of Jeff's original development machines, there will be video walkthroughs. For every level. Of every game. Ouch. Quite a task putting that lot together, but for Mark, PVB and the volunteers of YakYak, it's a pleasure.

Retrovision (www.retrovision.org.uk)
Not content with his archiving, Mark Rayson has another colour to his head. He's founder and organiser of one of the biggest Retro gaming events in the UK. And once again Llamasofties have been involved from the very early days.

RV started in late 2001 in Oxford, a combination of Mark's fifteen years of collecting consoles and arcade cabinets, a pub basement with many electrical sockets, a bottle of wine, and an enthusiastic response from YakYakers. It was a free day of play, or £3 to non-Llamasofties. Organised in only three months, the response was heartening; some turned up with their own consoles, and even cabs, in tow; Yak came along to play, drink and mingle.

The RV motto is 'we came to play', and that's what its all about. Getting your hands on the machines, playing the old games and having a laugh while you do it. Alternating between public and special Llamasoftie events, RV has expanded every year and has taken on a distinct life of its own.

RV 5 will be the biggest yet. Four days of play, plus an expanded musical link up with Back In Time. And as usual Jeff and the Llamasofties will be in attendance. It's being held from 11th-14th of February, in Frome, Somerset. If you hurry to the website, there may still be some tickets. Look out for Mark. Can't miss him. Guy with the green head.

Remakes (www.idigicon.com)
In 2000 long time Llamasoft fan George Bray though of an excellent use for the new Blitz Basic package that his employers Guildhall Leisure were distributing. He'd been in contact with Yak for several years, discussing aspects of the games industry and previous projects, but now he suggested remaking the Llamasoft back catalogue for the PC. "If you're serious, yeah", was the response, which resulted in Blitz coded versions of Gridrunner, Hover Bovver, Ancipital, Revenge of the Mutant Camels II and the tricky Iridis Alpha. The remaking program is going well at the now renamed iDigicon, and has expanded to non-Llamasoft games such as Elite's Kokotoni Wilf and Dr Franken, and George is now looking for more games to remake. So if you're a successful 80s game designer, why not drop him a line? Demos for the iDigicon remakes can be found on our cover CD.

Softography

Should probably present as chart. Obviously better than this one. I thought boxes with lines, but hell what do I know? I'm a writer, dammit. Anyway, I've organised it into 'threads' of common game ideas, with each thread in roughly chronological order. I did have dates for many of these, but they're so all over the place it was just cluttering it up. I mean Deflex, ZX81 (1981) and Pocket PC (2002)? Where the hell do you put that? Anyway. The threads:

HOWEVER There are cross links!

Early Vic Games Thread (Good start: not really a thread, just preamble)
Rat Man - Vic 20
Headbanger's Heaven - Vic 20, Spectrum
Traxx - Vic 20, Spectrum
City Bomber - Vic 20, Spectrum
Viva Vic - Vic 20 Compilation

Centipedesque Thread
Centipede - ZX81
Gridrunner - Vic 20, CBM 64, Spectrum, Atari 8-bit, C16/+4, PC remake
Gridrunner 2 / Matrix / Attack of the Mutant Camels - Vic 20, Atari 8-bits, CBM 64, C16/+4, Spectrum
Void Runner - CBM 64, C16/+4, MSX
Super Gridrunner - ST, Amiga
Gridrunner++- PC, Mac OS X and mobile phone

Defenderesque Thread
Andes Attack / Aggressor / Defenda - Vic 20, Atari ST
Attack of the Mutant Camels / Advance of the Mega Camels - Atari 8-bits, CBM 64, (Unreleased '89 version for Konix)
Sheep in Space - CBM 64
Iridis Alpha - CBM 64, PC remake
Defender II - ST, Amiga
Llamazap - Atari Falcon
Defender 2000 - Atari Jaguar

Beasties Thread - Branch off from Defenderesque Thread after Attack of the Mutant Camels
Revenge of the Mutant Camels - CBM 64 ST, Amiga (Atari TT030 remix), PC .
Mama Llama - CBM 64
Return of the Mutant Camels/ Revenge 2 - CBM 64, ST and Amiga, PC Remake
Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time - Vic 20, Spectrum, CBM 64
Batalyx - CBM 64
Ancipital - CBM 64
Yak's Progress - (CBM 64 compilation)
Llamatron - ST, Amiga, PC (Rude Llamatron on Atari TT030)
Hardcore - ST (Only demo, never completed)

Lightsynth Thread
Psychedelia - Vic 20, CBM 64, Spectrum, MSX, C16/+4. Also available as type-in hex dump.
Colourspace - Atari 8-bits, BBC B, ST
Trip-a-tron - ST, Amiga
Virtual Light Machine - Atari Jaguar
Virtual Light Machine 2 - Nuon
Virtual Light Machine 3 - Gamecube (unreleased)

Edge Shooters Thread
Abductor - Vic 20
Laser Zone - Vic 20, CBM 64, Spectrum, C16/+4
Hell Gate - Vic 20, CBM 64, C16/+4
Photon Storm / Atomic Tadpoles vs. Savage Mutant Weirdoes from Basingstoke - ST, Amiga
Tempest 2000 - Atari Jaguar
Tempest 3000 - Nuon

Deflex Thread
Deflex - ZX81, PC, Pocket PC
Super Deflex - Spectrum
Turboflex - Atari 8-bit

Mowing Thread
Hover Bovver - CBM 64, Atari 8-bit (prototype Spectrum, Intellivision and GBC versions)
Hover Bovver 2 - PC, Pocket PC

Rox(x) Thread
Roxx 3 - Vic 20, Spectrum
Rox 64 - CBM 64 also as type-in listing & PC remake

And Finally - Bring Centipedesque, Defenderesque, Edge Shooter and Lightsynth threads together to make:
Unity - Gamecube (Cancelled)

Notes from Modern Times

Ah, Llamasoft. I pitched half-a-dozen features to editor Martyn, with this as the safe, easy option. Guess which one got commissioned (Not his fault though)? I wasn't looking forward to writing it, not because it isn't an interesting topic, but it's been covered so completely before (not least by the man himself). Finding something new to say was difficult, so I tried to get more space for the modern goings on surrounding Jeff.

Hurrah! Though, as this was the cover feature for its issue, and I provided pretty much all the CD content. Bah! Though, as not only was my lovely softography diagram never used, neither were most of the post 8-bit Llamasoft games I'd included in my submission, having carefully got copyright clearance for them and pried them free from various pirate disks (with help from PVB. Cheers, PVB!)

The magazine tag line also implied I'd gone to Wales to talk to Jeff, whereas there was no danger of anything so rash or exciting happening in reality. I just PMed him some questions on the Yak Yak forum.

Secret Minter Fact! On asking Jeff if he'd ever owned a tallking car, it was revealed that he'd once driven an Austin Maestro with a sythesised voice. Secret! Minter! Fact!

Oh, and Unity was cancelled a day or two before deadline, which luckily for me meant I could change the ending to avoid looking like a complete chump for not knowing something that, by the time the magazine appeared, would have happened weeks ago.

Oh, and George Bray at iDigicon offered a pile of Llamasoft remakes as a competition prize, but we never took him up on it. Wisely, in retrospect.

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