Susan Arendt
Culture

Jeff Minter's Animal Obsession Explained

Jeff Minter is known for many things: he’s the creator of upcoming XBLA title Space Giraffe, his Tempest 2000 is the only reason to own a Jaguar, and he has a curious obsession with ungulates. Reviewing Minter’s world is like taking a quick trip though the zoo–his LiveJournal name is "StinkyGoat," his development company is […]

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Jeff Minter is known for many things: he's the creator of upcoming XBLA title Space Giraffe, his Tempest 2000 is the only reason to own a Jaguar, and he has a curious obsession with ungulates. Reviewing Minter's world is like taking a quick trip though the zoo--his LiveJournal name is "StinkyGoat," his development company is named Llamasoft, and Flossie the Prettiest Sheep in the World makes an appearance in many of his games. Heck, the guy's nickname is Yak. His fans have wondered for years just where this fondness for goats and llamas came from, and now, thanks to his keynote at GDC, we know: the pages of Computer and VideoGames magazine. Hwa?

"I happened to be flicking through
Computer and VideoGames magazine and there was a review of Empire
Strikes Back on Atari 2600. They described the walkers as "giant mechanical camels" and me being me I thought, "hello, that sounds like a brilliant idea." So you can basically blame CVG for a whole torrent of beastie games that came after.

So CVG is to blame for Attack of the Mutant Camels? Ok, I'm fine with that.

GDC: Minter Blames CVG for Animal Obsession [CVG]