Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story Review (SpentGladiator)
First of all, I will always show up for the Digital Eclipse interactive docmentaries, regardless of the topic. The timeline format is a genius method for archiving and communicating history in a logical, entertaining, and informative way.
I've played Tempest 2000 before, but otherwise I was not very familiar with Jeff Minter because I am not a 60 year old British man. I really only knew him by name and reputation. My experience with The Jeff Minter Story followed something of an upside down bell curve. The beginning was fascinating and promising. Some of the things Minter accomplished with such primitive equipment and limited programming knowledge are mind boggling (3d3d is particuarly impressive). As the story progressed though, I found myself surprised and disappointed. I had assumed, based on reputation, that Minter's games were more ground breaking than this. Nearly everything is derivative of better known games, and while he usually puts a twist on the gameplay, it is always to the game's detriment. Sometimes less is more. More alarmingly, he continues to port and iterate on the same games and concepts repeatedly. In particular I was shocked how many times he returned to the well of copying the 2600 Empire Strikes Back game (a game that is okay, but hardly an all-time great in its own right) to diminishing returns.
As I approached the end though, I began reflecting on everything I had played, read, and watched, trying to suss out why he was so regarded. There are a couple of things that come into relief in the latter half of the timeline that, I think, ultimately complete the arc and offer an explanation. The first is direct engagement with fans. Many of the zines/newsletters Minter published are included, and were perhaps my favorite inclusion, reading for all the world like a blog 20 years before that became a thing. The second is Minter's work on interactive visualizers. Watching and playing how he evolved this format from it's earliest, crudest beginnings, to modern platforms, was an absolute delight, and in my mind was his greatest creative accomplishment.
It's important to understand that documenting the history of gaming is a noble pursuit, whether a particular collection of games is enjoyable to me personally or not. Even though I didn't really enjoy the majority of the games included here, the experience was, as always for Digital Eclipse, worthwhile.