Minter talks Space Giraffe

By Robert Purchese Published 10 January, 2007

Almost at testing stage.

More details have emerged of Jeff Minter's XBLA game, Space Giraffe.

So far, work on the engine has finished and fundamental gameplay mechanics are in and doing what they should. The next few weeks will see levels fleshed out (over 100, apparently), the difficulty curve assessed, new enemy types added and display graphics tweaked. Minter also expects the game to begin resembling an Xbox Live Arcade title, adding high-scores and achievements to the package.

On his LiveJournal, below the picture of him hugging a sheep, Jeff is confident of the game's progress, reckoning it's fast approaching the first testing phase.

"Looking forward now over the next few weeks to actually shaping this into an actual game with a beginning, an end, lives, hi-scores, achievements and such - something I can actually ship out to guinea pigs to play and get coherent feedback about."

Space Giraffe is a psychedelic shooter which follows on from popular Atari Jaguar title Tempest 2000. It will cost you about 400 Microsoft points and is expected to launch sometime this year.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (35) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jiveguy #1 5 years ago

    Is the swearing still in it?

  • Serraphin #2 5 years ago

    Minter... I never got the whole llama thing.

    What is 400 MSoft points in real money? can I exchange nectar points for those??

  • Uncle_Fishboy #3 5 years ago

    SHIT

  • jonsaan #4 5 years ago

    oooooh gimme gimme gimme. Hurry up Jeff. I can't wait!

  • old_man #5 5 years ago

    I can't wait to play this.

  • speedjack #6 5 years ago

    No swearywords... sorry.

    Minter just puts them in as placeholders.
    Edited by speedjack at 10/01/07 @ 13:16

  • penhalion #7 5 years ago

    Play what? Have you seen this!

  • schoozzzmmii #8 5 years ago

    The guy might be a maverick who doesn't always hit the mark but at least he's out there doing something different. Less than five quid to keep bedroom coding alive and kicking and throwing out interesting niche titles like this is money well spent in my opinion :)

  • Jesus: Action Figure #9 5 years ago

    =)

  • bluebird #10 5 years ago

    Tempest 2000 is still one of the best games I ever played, still as much fun today as it was then. Imported the PS1 version (which was only slightly inferior to the Jag version) to include it in my arcade cabinet, still playing it today!

  • Eldritch #11 5 years ago

    Minter is my hero. When I asked him for an autograph, he wrote "Flossie sez Bah!". Class!

  • T4RG4 #12 5 years ago

    Doing something different? Same fucking thing every time!

  • Tyronne #13 5 years ago

    This might well be the first game I have actually paid for points wise, Minter`s games over the past 20 years have given me loads of hours of fun and he deserves all he gets for this :)

  • Beano #14 5 years ago

    Minter seems like a very slow working developer... maybe he should lay of the weed... naaah ;)

  • schoozzzmmii #15 5 years ago

    Doing something different? Same fucking thing every time!

    Firstly, I meant different to what everyone else is doing. Though I guess Grid wars and Mutant Storm are pretty close in some ways.

    Secondly, this man brought us Gridrunner++ and Tempest 2000. Anyone who thinks these two games are the same obviously hasn't played them. They're both shooters. So are Gradius V, Ikaruga and R-Type and I reckon there's room for a few more! But hey, not your thing? Then don't buy it you fool.
    Edited by schoozzzmmii at 10/01/07 @ 14:22

  • chiz #16 5 years ago

    Doing something different? Same fucking thing every time!

    You Sir, are a nob

  • pjmaybe #17 5 years ago

    This and Worms. That's it. That's all they'll get dosh out of me for.

    And this'd better be the hippy trippy minter mindfuck I want it to be or else!

    Peej

  • faux_carnation #18 5 years ago

    Has this got anything to do with Revenge of the Mutant Camels?

  • Brodie #19 5 years ago

    I'm DEFINITELY having a bit of this. Between this and Geometry Wars my fried synapses can finally give up, and leave me a trippy shooter playing automoton shell stuck on the couch.

    Which is just what I always wanted to be when I grew up.

  • T4RG4 #20 5 years ago

    Agreed - he does something different from most people, but I think some people here are fans of 'wacky' Minter rather than his games which is quite tiring.

  • jellyhead #21 5 years ago

    Bluebird, i *love* the trippy bonus levels where you have to fly through the shapes to score the bonus points. Hot damn, i love Tempest 2k!
    / reminisces

  • thedaveeyres #22 5 years ago

    This is severly tempting me into buying an xbox 360.

  • juggler #23 5 years ago

    This is severly tempting me into buying an xbox 360

    Me too. Really.

  • mattigan #24 5 years ago

    Get one then, you won't be dissapointed.

  • smelly #25 5 years ago

    Am i the only one who thinks that minter is even more over-rated than molyneux?

    Hmm.. But at least jeff writes his own games on his own...

  • smelly #26 5 years ago

    >Get one then, you won't be dissapointed.

    ... If you only like fps and racing games...

  • Kiigan #27 5 years ago

    Groan. With tedious predictability, any mention of Jeff Minter results in a few weenies trying to piss on our chips. I think I'll try to describe the phenomenon. I shall call it "Kiigan's Law":

    "As any thread regarding Jeff Minter progresses, the likelihood of someone saying something about being 'over-rated' or making the same tedious 'I hope he doesn't kill off this console too, haha' joke approaches 1."

    The simple truth is, Llamasoft does their thing, and that thing has an audience. If it isn't your bag, fine, but considering the amount of modern games that have zero personality, which are designed by committee and subjected to endless sanitization, subjugated to the whims of marketing idiots... just be proud of the fact that the UK games industry produced guys like Jeff. There aren't many like him, and there aren't many games you can pick up nowadays and know instantly who made it. True originals don't come along every day, but Jeff and the other folk in Llamasoft are among the last of a dying breed - a small, independent team of bedroom coders with a vision. Enjoy their work, or don't, but if you don't perhaps you can at least enjoy the fact that outfits like Llamasoft can somehow still exist in this crazy business - and lots of us are really happy about that fact. Jeff's success was an inspiration for lots of budding young bedroom coders desperate to make games.

    Space Giraffe looks like a right laugh. Personally, I really miss the days when you could play someone's game and get a sense of the personality behind it, their sense of humour etc.

  • bioreit #28 5 years ago

    @Smelly

    ... If you only like fps and racing games...

    And RPGs (Kameo, Oblivion, Phantasy Star Universe, Final Fantasy XI, Mass Effect, Dead Rising [does this count? Not an FPS or racer, mind]).

    And all the sport games (FIFA, Pro EVO, NBA 2007 and 2K7, Smackdown VS RAW).

    Oh, and technically, games like Gears of War, Just Cause, Tomb Raider, Rainbow Six: Vegas and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter are all THIRD-person shooters, so :p

    And yeah, gotta love all that racing and shooting in Viva Pinata.

    Just to drag this in for comparisons' sake (and I have a sneaking suspicion you favour the brand - may be wrong though) - buy a PS3 by all means...

    ...if you only like Japanese RPGs with gender-ambiguous male-leads and twenty minutes of actual gameplay per four hours of admittedly beautiful, non-interactive, non-skippable cut-scene and chav-oriented racing games...

    Edit below

    Goddammit, so busy with the flaming, forgot to quote on-topic...

    Jeff? Love the guy. Tempest 2000 is almost convincing me to stump up the cash for an Atari Jaguar off Ebuyer - the world needs more Jeff Minters.

    And way more llamas than are currently available.
    Edited by bioreit at 10/01/07 @ 22:20

  • skuzzbag #29 5 years ago

    @Kiigan

    +10

    Is Matthew Smith (Manic Miner) still writing games? He was a hippy as well.

  • smelly #30 5 years ago

    @bioreit : I was kidding!

  • NegativeZero #31 5 years ago

    Jeff: once you're done with this, can we get Tempest for XBL? Please?

  • Khanivor #32 5 years ago

    Even if it sucks I am buying this. I'll think of it as buying Jeff a couple of pints in way of thanks.

    And spot on Kiigan, spot on son!
    Edited by Khanivor at 11/01/07 @ 08:01

  • barnard666 #33 5 years ago

    I agree with above, (buying jeff a pint) I want to believe that people can survive outside the standard confines of the industry, doing really out-there weird crap. I like the fact that its bonkers.

    its like some of thise stupid sonic youth records (noise for 30 minutes), you appreciate it because it it exists, not because its good, I just smile because such non conforming stupidity gets as far along so it can reach and confound the mainstream consumer.

  • Dizzy #34 5 years ago

    "Jeff: once you're done with this, can we get Tempest for XBL? Please"

    Err??? Dude this *is* Tempest for XBLA. Also you are getting the original Tempest as well on XBLA (with an "enhanced mode";) so no complaining! ;)

  • bluebird #35 5 years ago

    @jellyhead: shame the trippy jamaican music would get better just the moment you were about to finish the section eh! great game yes :-) I also have the (crappy port) PC version, which does have better CD soundtracks, so you can hear the whole thing. Not the same without the melt-o-vision tho...