Jeff Minter is one of the best-known games developers in the retro gaming scene. Jeff’s been developing his unique twists on arcade games since 1979, when he wrote his very first game, Deflex, for the Commodore PET, but his first published game would be for the ZX81, in 1981.
Jeff Minter would go on to have a long and distinguished career developing his spins on arcade games, which would often feature animals such as llamas, goats and camels, and have a psychedelic look and feel.
Jeff Minter created games for a number of 8-bit home computers before his unofficial arcade reworkings started to get official status in 1994, when he worked with Atari on an update of Tempest titled Tempest 2000.
Jeff Minter’s games and career were recently celebrated in Digital Eclipse’s Gold Master series, when they released Llamasosoft: The Jeff Minter Story.
And now, Jeff Minter’s long-term partners Atari are celebrating his career and promoting his new upcoming 80s-inspired game, I, Robot, by holding ‘I, Rebel: A Jeff Minter Game Jam,’
‘I, Rebel: A Jeff Minter Game Jam’ will run from April 11 to 11:59 pm EST on April 18. In the event, entrants are tasked with channeling their inner Minter, crafting a game that both takes inspiration from Jeff’s hypnotic style while also being uniquely theirs — to be judged by the legendary indie developer himself! The game jam is free to enter and is both digital and global — everyone from everywhere is welcome to participate! Besides honoring the spirit of Minter’s design philosophy, devs must also incorporate a surprise theme, which will be emailed prior to the April 11 start date.
Jeff Minter, along with judges at Atari and Digital Eclipse, will pick three winners to receive a mystery prize pack from Atari valued at over $500. All participants will also receive a digital copy of Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, an interactive documentary and collection of Jeff’s games, to play and get inspired. Participants who submit completed games will also receive a digital copy of I, Robot, Jeff’s newest game for Atari after the game jam concludes.
If you think you can create a psychedelic arcade experience worthy of those created by Jeff Minter, you can sign up to I, Rebel: A Jeff Minter Game Jam at this link.
