Jeff Minter is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the ZX80. Minter's games are shoot 'em ups which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of ruminants. Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including Trip-a-Tron.
Shoot 'em ups are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character movement, while others allow a broader definition including characters on foot and a variety of perspectives.
Llamatron is a multidirectional shooter video game programmed by Jeff Minter of Llamasoft and released in 1991 for the Atari ST and Amiga and in 1992 for MS-DOS. Based on Robotron: 2084, players of Llamatron control the eponymous creature in an attempt to stop an alien invasion of Earth and rescue animals—referred to as "Beasties"—for points. Players advance by destroying all of the enemies on each level using a laser that fires automatically in the direction that the Llamatron is moving. Various power-ups exist to aid the player in defeating the wide variety of enemies and obstacles they face along the way.
Robotron: 2084 is a multidirectional shooter developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar of Vid Kidz and released in arcades by Williams Electronics in 1982. The game is set in the year 2084 in a fictional world where robots have turned against humans in a cybernetic revolt. The aim is to defeat endless waves of robots, rescue surviving humans, and earn as many points as possible.
Spheres of Chaos is a multidirectional shooter video game, created by Iain McLeod, with basic gameplay similar to the 1979 arcade game Asteroids. The game has bright colours and patterns, with many enemies on screen at once. The audio is similar to that of Robotron: 2084 and Defender. It was originally written for RISC OS on the Acorn Archimedes and released in 1993. In the 2000s it was ported to Linux, Microsoft Windows, and PS2 Linux. In October 2007, Spheres of Chaos was declared freeware.
Robotron 64 is a 1998 multidirectional shooter for the Nintendo 64. It is a port of Robotron X, which itself is an updated version of the 1982 dual-stick shooter Robotron: 2084. The game was originally scheduled to be released by Midway Games in the summer of 1997, but the game was put on hiatus before it would see a new publisher and a release date of January 5, 1998.
Smash TV is a 1990 arcade video game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams Electronics Games. It is a twin-stick shooter in the same vein as 1982's Robotron: 2084, which was also co-created by Jarvis. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Genesis, Master System, and Game Gear versions are titled Super Smash TV.
Shoot-'Em-Up Construction Kit is a game creation system for the Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST created by Sensible Software and published by Outlaw in 1987. It allows the user to make simple shoot 'em ups by drawing sprites and backgrounds and editing attack patterns. The advertising promoted the Kit with the phrase "By the programmers of Wizball and Parallax".
Blaster is a first-person rail shooter released as an arcade video game by Williams Electronics in 1983. It was developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar. A vague sequel to Robotron: 2084, the game is a shoot 'em up set in outer space. The goal is to destroy enemies, avoid obstacles, and rescue astronauts in twenty levels, to reach paradise.
Battle-Girl is a multidirectional shooter video game developed by Ultra/United Games and originally published in 1997 by Power Media for the Macintosh. In the game, players assume the role of the titular character taking control of her Soyuz 1183-A BattleCraft to save the Great Machine by eradicating malicious programmers released by Terminus, a weapon of Chaos. Its gameplay uses a two-joystick configuration reminiscent of Robotron: 2084.
Strike Force is a horizontally scrolling shooter released as an arcade video game by Midway in 1991. In the same way that 1990's Smash TV is a modernized reimagining of Robotron: 2084 with two-player simultaneous play, Strike Force is a modernized reimagining of Defender with two-player simultaneous play. Strike Force was not widely distributed and was not ported to any home systems.
Gridrunner is a fixed shooter video game written by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft for the VIC-20 in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Commodore PET and Dragon 32. Many remakes and sequels have followed, including versions for the Atari ST, Amiga, Pocket PC, Microsoft Windows, and iOS.
Bit.Trip Fate, marketed as BIT.TRIP FATE, is an arcade-style scrolling shooter music game developed by Gaijin Games and published by Aksys Games for the Wii's WiiWare download service.
Solar Minotaur Rescue Frenzy, shortened to Minotaur Rescue for the iOS App Store, is a multidirectional shooter for iOS developed by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin of Llamasoft and released in January 2011. It was Llamasoft's first iOS game. On the iPhone, the game supports up to two players at the same time. On an iPad, it supports up to four.
Caverns of Minos is a vertically-scrolling shooter for iOS developed by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin of Llamasoft and published via the App Store. It was announced on the Llamasoft blog on January 12, 2012. Its biggest influence is Caverns of Mars from 1981, but includes elements of Lunar Lander and Oids. It is the Minotaur Project game representing the Atari 8-bit computers.
Five A Day is multidirectional shooter for iOS devices developed by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin of Llamasoft and published via the Apple App Store. The game is a redevelopment of one of Minter's first attempts at iOS programming, and is loosely based on Time Pilot. Although it does not explicitly announce itself to be a Minotaur Project game, the distinctive font and coloration of the text appearing throughout the game is that of the Commodore 64. The game's title is taken from the 5 A Day healthy eating program.
Ziggurat, stylized as ZiGGURAT, is a retro-style arcade shooter video game developed by Action Button Entertainment for iOS platforms. As the world's last human fighting off incoming alien freaks from atop a ziggurat, the player uses touch controls to charge and shoot the enemies away, and dies if hit by an enemy. The game has 16-bit graphics style and an 8-bit chiptune soundtrack. Action Button designer Tim Rogers developed the game idea based on his experience with Angry Birds, which later led to his forming Action Button as a company with Ziggurat as its first release on February 17, 2012.
The Groove Coaster series is an iOS / Android and arcade rhythm game franchise developed by Matrix Software and published by Taito. The first Groove Coaster was released for iOS on July 28, 2011. This rhythm game follows a roller coaster type track on screen, where players must make the appropriate controller inputs. Like many rhythm games, a life bar is attached to the game play. Players gain or lose points on the bar depending on the input timings.
Ultratron is a top-down shooter video game developed and published by Puppy Games and released on March 18, 2013 for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It was also published by Curve Studios and released on May 8, 2015 for Xbox One, May 12, 2015 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and May 14, 2015 for Wii U.
Tomb of the Mask is a 2016 puzzle game developed by Happymagenta and published by Playgendary. It was released on February 9, 2016, for iOS, June 18, 2018 for Android, and October 27, 2021, for Nintendo Switch. A version for Apple Arcade, Tomb of the Mask+, was released in June 2024. It is an arcade-style puzzle game, divided into levels. The player moves the masked character through the obstacle-strewn areas to the exit, collecting coins along the way.
