Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master Series continues with a look at one of videogames’ most known figures, Jeff Minter, in yet another excellent game-doc chronicling the life of a ridiculously fascinating developer I was not really familiar with prior. While my personal history with Karateka, the game whose development was the subject of the very first entry in this exceptional series, was quite deep, I had little to no idea about the work of Jeff Minter prior to watching (and playing) volume two of this series.

After spending a quality three or so hours delving into it, I can easily call myself a fan of Llamasoft and the revolutionary work that Minter, or as he tends to refer to himself as, The Yak, has developed over the last 40 or so years. It’s an inspiring story that worked to fuel the dreams of many aspiring game creators during the 1980s, and seeing how active he still is these days, I’m sure that’s still the case for those just starting out in 2024. 

Much like a lot of game designers from the time, he started out of his family home out in the boonies, mostly making copies of popular arcade games, porting them to the popular home computers of the time, namely Commodore 64 and Sinclair. But it didn’t take long before his company grew into the larger than life entity that amassed hundreds of adoring fans all over the UK. His trademark silliness that started with his company’s name, based on what he affectionately calls one of his “beasties”, the llama, who starred in a number of his titles throughout his career. Whether they were the main character or a power-up to be picked up, there has always been a place for animals in Minter’s games. Or how he came up with a deadly hamster in response to a young fan’s letter.

One prime example is his Attack of the Mutant Camels titles, increasingly more creative affairs that involved arcade shooting, insane visuals and the constant improvements in both his game design skills and frankly insane creativity when it came to scenarios. While a whole lot of his ideas ended up being loved wholeheartedly by players and critics alike, that was certainly not the case for all of his games. Llama Mama, for instance, proved to be a little too far out of left field, leaving a whole bunch of people scratching their heads as to what Minter wanted to convey with such out there ideas. Granted, it had its share of fans who dedicated the necessary time in order to “get it”, but those were few and far between.

Another interesting aspect of Minter’s career is his flexibility when it came to systems to which he programmed his games for. As the technology field shifted between a number of computers, Jeff kept active in mostly all of them, porting his games to just about every type of computer out in the UK, and even going as far as taking his creations to the USA, where Atari still reigned with the ST. Then again, a few of his bets backfired. That was the case of some consoles that never got off the ground, leaving him with prototypes that would never see the light of day until Digital Eclipse unearthed them. Being more feature-rich than the already meaty The Making of Karateka, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story does an incredible job of chronicling his life with games not only with videos and text, but most importantly, his many games.

That’s something that was slightly disappointing with the previous volume, wherein Jordan Mechner’s early, basest games didn’t quite make the cut for a variety of reasons. Here, we get to play a whole bunch of unique titles and truly get a sense of his evolution as a creator. Some aren’t even games per se, but visual toys where players can try to sync in with music in psychedelic affairs, which are ridiculously fun to tool around with. Perhaps the best part of this whole thing is getting to see Minter himself talking about his journey, and it’s where the real meat is. I just get a huge kick out of listening to people go on about what they are passionate about, and that’s exactly what this is.

Similarly, in fact, the two auteurs share a common bond with their parents, who in Jeff’s case were vital to his career in games. His mother helped with the finances in his struggling company, and his father, well, he helped him by playing his games and presenting them to the public in trade shows all around the country. After getting diagnosed with heart disease, Minter ended up dropping from college and devoting his time to creating games, and none of that would’ve happened without his mom and dad, and it’s (pun not intended) heart-warming to hear his stories.

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is yet another solid hit by Digital Eclipse. Whether or not you have any history with the name, you’ll be sure to get to know him inside and out with this documentary. Getting to see the thought process that led him from merely cloning games to eventually creating Gridrunner, which is an idea that’s still being iterated now, some 40 odd years later (it even gets a remastered version developed by Digital Eclipse’s own Mike Mika, much like Karateka in did), or witnessing the (slight) rise and fall of his vision with the Atari Jaguar, or his obsession with Tempest, there’s no bit in this documentary game that is not entertaining to watch and play. One thing’s definitely for sure: the stakes are high in regards to what is next for the Gold Master Series.

Graphics: 9.0 There’s a clear evolutionary line to the look and feel of Minter’s work all throughout this doc, which coupled with the sleek design of the menus and high production values for all the interviews help make it a very compelling package. Digital Eclipse did a nice job in emulating the psychedelic feel of his games with their intros and outros.	Gameplay: 8.0 Getting to play through most of Llamasoft’s catalog and seeing the evolution of Jeff’s skill as a designer is very very fascinating, and there’s bound to be a vastly different favorite game to everyone jumping into this. I for one adored the idea and execution behind the lawnmower game he put together with his dad.
Sound: 7.0 Okay, besides all the beeps and boops from the platforms where his games were released in the 1980s, there’s not much going on in regards to sound here, let’s be honest. Still, there’s an undeniable charm to the entire thing, for as primitive as it obviously is in comparison to today’s games.	Fun Factor: 8.0 Your mileage may vary when it comes to “fun” here. I did have a ball getting to know such an oddball character not only via his work, but seeing the actual products that he put out the more skilled he got as a designer. Then again, the games themselves might be a minute-long or hours depending on how much you’re into this specific period in gaming history and Minter’s ideas.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on PS5.

A copy of Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story was provided by the publisher.