Prompting this reaction were apparent Live Arcade statistics, revealing that in one week Frogger on XBLA outsold Space Giraffe. Minter is clearly taking the lack of his game's success a bit hard, but we hope that he doesn't let the sheer popularity of retro titles push him away from any future development.
Minter's angry ranting was posted at 1:45 am, his time. In the event that he sobers up and removes the post, we've copied his frothy words for your perusal. Check out all the anti-retro spite after the break.
[Via CVG]
Jeff Minter's original blog post, in its entirety, follows:
Subject: jesus fucking christ
Body:
not seeing a lot of reason to continue even trying to make games, at this point, when a remake of Frogger, one of the worst games in the history of old arcade games, can outsell Space Giraffe that we put so much love and effort into, by more than ten to one, in one week.
OK, we get the message. All you want on that channel is remakes of old, shite arcade games and crap you vaguely remember playing on your Amiga.
We'll shut up trying to do anything new then.
Sorry for even trying.
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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Well maybe if he designed games that were actually games instead of giant epileptic seizures, people would actually play them.
What? He thought just because he put a game on a successful console for once that people would just flock to him? That pulsing images of J Allard would become all the rage?
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2.) People like to understand what the fuck is going on in the games they play.
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He's sad that nobody bought his game. I'm sad it sucked so bad because I wanted it to be cool.
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Geometry Wars certainly had a huge amount of visual flare, what with all the exlposions, black holes, background bending, and particles, particles, particles. But I could still tell what could (and likely would) kill me and what was just pretty graphics. Space Giraffe failed on that account.
It was only $5, so I was tempted to buy it anyway, but I figured it would just collect virtual dust like Mutant Storm and Bomberman.
You know, except for Geometry Wars, Puzzle Quest, UNO, Exit, Catan, Hexic, E4, Cloning Clyde, and Assault Heroes.
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I kid, XBLA rules!
Granted it's an old style but it's fun let's not forget Boom Boom Rocket either
Like Frogger, it was better fifteen years ago. Except back then it was called Tempest, and it wasn't so loaded up with random lights flashing in the background that I couldn't see the game I was supposedly playing.
But you know this already, since you helped program the excellent Tempest 2000 a few years back. Funny how you knock retro games, considering you keep making the same one over and over again. Calling it "Space Giraffe" and beating me over the head with your "light synthesizer" doesn't change the fact that it's an old game in an annoying costume.
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On the surface you think it might be an update of Tempest, but it's not. In fact, the gameplay is far deeper. So much so, that I couldn't get into the mechanics of how to play.
Couple that with the over-powering graphics, and you have a game that tries hard, but may be too out there for most people.
If the game were to not have such complicated backgrounds and it was easier to see what you were doing, there's no doubt in my mind it would have done a lot better. There were times I had no idea where I was, or what was going on.
I don't mean to be so critical. I like innovation. I like originality. I like games that overwhelm the senses. Every Extended Extreme overwhelms the senses, but it still playable.
For what it's worth, I hope Jeff Minter doesn't give up. He does have talent, and I'd like to see more from him.
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In his defense though he's most likely drunk off his ass.
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He is so overrated as a developer.
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'm not going to be writing about game development here any more after this. Yes, I had a bit of a rant the other night because frankly yes, it is a bit disappointing to see a repackaged MAME rom doing much better than original content, but hey, that's how it goes. People are more inclined to buy stuff they remember rather than stuff that's new.
We're invested in XBLA now, and we *need* to re-use the SG framework for a couple of reasonably quick games - I think that's the way to make it work out for us, we just need more games in the pipeline. I'm already halfway through the next one and I just want to get my head down and get on with it.
To those who came on here to have a go at me and tell me how much I suck - just piss off, I don't care. If you do that I shall delete your comments and ban you. Guess what, I think you suck too, and I don't give a rat's arse if you don't like my games; they aren't made for you anyway.
And thanks to those who gave me a bit of encouragement at a low moment. Rest assured I'm not giving up; I'm just getting on with it quietly.
So no more dev stuff here, from now on this will just be about sheep and plushies and other such non-work-related stuff. There will be no talk, no press, no screenshots and no videos of work in progress except as and when we are ready to release them, at the appropriate time, through the appropriate channels.
LOL!!!!!!!!!
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So he's going to reuse assets from a game that blew. Great. Sounds like shovelware to me.
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frogger still has gameplay elements you still see today. Even in stuff like Portal
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I am tempted to download the trial again and post some thoughts on the game.
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Hope you feel better now. :)
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That's all I can really say on the matter. Well that, and thank God for free trials. I would have instantly regretted spending 400 points on that psychotropic tripe. I can certainly understand and sympathize with the anguish that he must feel at this upset, but there is inarguably something to be said for nostalgia and familiarity. Increasingly, our console developers are making a healthy market of it, in fact.
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I have never actually played a Minter game prior to SG, but I hyped Unity for the GameCube (which was being co-developed by Llamasoft and Lionhead Studios) before it got cancelled.
'Tis a shame that SG is selling so poorly. Although I can understand, given that the game is an eyesore at times, if not an altogether acid drop of confusion.
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BTW, hi.
Wow. What a legend.
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Calm a llama down
Deep down in the ocean blue
Like a barnacle sitting in a tight place
Laughing like a monkey on...
Pulling like a china boy
Karaway
Karaway
Karaway
Noise
Boing Tikka Masala
Boing Tikka Masala
Ooh tooth, tooth
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The problem is that it's all buried under that horrid music visualizer. It's very difficult to see the game underneath it. Nowhere is this more prominent than when you try to avoid enemy projectiles and inevitably slam into the one you never saw coming, audio cue or not.
Minter didn't know when to quit with the visuals and, in doing so, he ruined a perfectly good concept. Now he wants to take the gaming community to task for ripping on him? Yeah, better luck next time. Definitely "Not Brilliant."
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