Llamasoft announces new Vita project TxK (based on Tempest 2000)

Jeff Minter <3


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Tempest 2000 was awesome. I have fond memories of playing that game for hours in my college dorm room and getting into these "zen" like trances where the music and the visuals and the controls would just sort of meld together. If we can get a game for the Vita that's as good or better then that is indeed something to be excited about and look forward to.
 
Love Minter's games (and actually got to meet him when I went to E3!) but he's continuing his mission of supporting the lowest-selling platforms :P Still when I finally pick up a Vita I'd be very excited for this.
 
All that needs to be said here are three words:

YES! YES! YES!
I see what you did there!

Now, all he needs to do is make it crossplay compatible so I can play it with Move, in 3D, on my TV.

Hope the music is similar to T2K as well. Glad he's moving from the uber-psychadelia of some of his older games... that seems to be what turns people off his stuff (Space Giraffe, anyone?).

So yeah, fucking awesome. Day 1 perch.

Love Minter's games (and actually got to meet him when I went to E3!) but he's continuing his mission of supporting the lowest-selling platforms :P Still when I finally pick up a Vita I'd be very excited for this.
You don't already own one for Lumines and Wipeout 2048?
 
I see what you did there!

Now, all he needs to do is make it crossplay compatible so I can play it with Move, in 3D, on my TV.

Hope the music is similar to T2K as well. Glad he's moving from the uber-psychadelia of some of his older games... that seems to be what turns people off his stuff (Space Giraffe, anyone?).

So yeah, fucking awesome. Day 1 perch.


You don't already own one for Lumines and Wipeout 2048?

That would certainly be cool. I was like a kid getting coal on Christmas when I realized Space Giraffe and Gridrunner Revolution didn't work in 3D. They would have been so trippy.
 
Hope Jeff makes some money out of this, it's heartbreaking following his Twitter feed sometimes. Y'all should buy Gridrunner, Minotaur Rescue and GoatUp 2 from the iOS store NOW.
 
T2K was awesome. Jaguar version was actually graphically superior to the Saturn, PC, and PS1 ports. PS1 version (Tempest X) was the only port that didn't suck, it was OK but still had fewer colors and relied on extensive dithering.

Hmm, Jeff's IOS games support the iCade. Is there a way to use a Bluetooth controller with iCade-coded games on a jailbroken iPad?
 
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I actually have the PC version of it somewhere on CD. Almost put it in the PC as much to listen to the redbook audio as I did to play the game. Which I knew where it was :(

That would certainly be cool. I was like a kid getting coal on Christmas when I realized Space Giraffe and Gridrunner Revolution didn't work in 3D. They would have been so trippy.
If you haven't, you need to play Child of Eden with the Move. It's a shame there's no 3D on the 360 version (because 3D Mizuguchi game w/ Kinect would be AMAZING) but the Move version is still wonderful... with 3D.
 
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I actually have the PC version of it somewhere on CD. Almost put it in the PC as much to listen to the redbook audio as I did to play the game. Which I knew where it was :(


If you haven't, you need to play Child of Eden with the Move. It's a shame there's no 3D on the 360 version (because 3D Mizuguchi game w/ Kinect would be AMAZING) but the Move version is still wonderful... with 3D.



Geez thanks. Now I want to go find the audio cd on Amazon.

I downloaded a bunch of mp3's a couple years ago. My favorite was always the music for the first bonus stage.



Edit: Well I sent this link to my Wife, guess i'm making an impulse buy.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024DO2XC/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
Geez thanks. Now I want to go find the audio cd on Amazon.

I downloaded a bunch of mp3's a couple years ago. My favorite was always the music for the first bonus stage.



Edit: Well I sent this link to my Wife, guess i'm making an impulse buy.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024DO2XC/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Oh, I didn't have a discreet audio CD, just the PC CD that had the music on it. I just saw this:
This is the music as it was recorded for the Atari Jaguar and is NOT the same music from the PC version of the game; two or three of the songs differ from the PC version but are still incredibly entertaining and a great representation of an origional score.
So maybe hunt down the PC version as well? From that description, it sounds like the PC version may have had better music (At least, from that reviewer's perspective). If I remember, I'll have a quick look around at home tonight, I suspect I might know where the game disc is...
 
Yeah, I own the official soundtrack. It's not the same. The Jag version was MODs that were mixed in realtime and the official soundtrack is a mix that somebody made from the same stems and possibly some other samples. I like the Jag version better. I think the Saturn and PS1 versions also used the redbook mix but I'm not sure.
 
I respect Minter and love the idea of Space Giraffe but it was tough for me to play it. It was actually one of the first games I bought for my 360, along with Pac-Man CE and Bioshock. This is cool news, though.
 
Yeah, I own the official soundtrack. It's not the same. The Jag version was MODs that were mixed in realtime and the official soundtrack is a mix that somebody made from the same stems and possibly some other samples. I like the Jag version better. I think the Saturn and PS1 versions also used the redbook mix but I'm not sure.
So does that mean there are three (somewhat) different versions... the Jag (tracker) original, the redbook that appeared on Saturn/PSX and the OST? The only one I'm familiar with is the one that came with the PC one.

And I think the PSX version was "Tempest 3000", yeah?
 
No, Tempest 3000 was exclusive to Nuon. The psx version was Tempest X. It had Tempest 2000 on it as bonus. It was a slightly improved version of Tempest 2000.
 
And I think the PSX version was "Tempest 3000", yeah?

Nope, and Tempest X3 (X) wasn't made by Minter either. It also had some annoying gameplay differences which made 2000 (the one on Jaguar, not the 2000 mode on the PSX version which still has the annoying gameplay differences) the superior version.
 
Man, I love Minter, but he really needs to branch out a bit. His last game was a blatant rip off of Tempest, although I did really enjoy the psychodelic-ness of that game it just feels like he's a one trick pony now. He used to think outside the box by now it feels like he is trapped in it.

Hopefully though, maybe Minter and Sony have been chatting as of late and he is going to do some mediaplayer shit for the PS4 like his work on the 360.

if its anywhere near as awesome as tempest x3 for psx then its going to be incredible.

Back in the day my missus finished all 100 levels in one sitting. Never before had I felt like my manhood was in jeopardy. :lol
 
Nope, and Tempest X3 (X) wasn't made by Minter either. It also had some annoying gameplay differences which made 2000 (the one on Jaguar, not the 2000 mode on the PSX version which still has the annoying gameplay differences) the superior version.
Was the PC one by Minter then? I'm sure that was just "2000", but it was a *long* time ago. Going by the Wikipedia page, it was definitely the Windows one though, as it had the CD audio and was playable in Windows itself. Unfortunately, that Wikipedia page doesn't offer any info on whether Interplay fiddled with the Windows port a la the PSX version or not.

Also love to know what the differences in music are b/w the original, OST and Windows CD are... because I remember the Windows CD one having insanely good production. A lot better than MODs, at least (may have even been recreated using a proper sequencer?).

Edit: This is 100% the same one I had/have. For $10, I might just buy the thing (again).
 
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EXCELLENT!

And I think the PSX version was "Tempest 3000", yeah?

The PlayStation game was Tempest X3. The NUON game was Tempest 3000.

So does that mean there are three (somewhat) different versions... the Jag (tracker) original, the redbook that appeared on Saturn/PSX and the OST? The only one I'm familiar with is the one that came with the PC one.

Tempest 2000 on the Jaguar used MOD files.

Later, when the Jaguar CD peripheral came out, one of the pack-ins was an audio CD of Tempest 2000: The Soundtrack, which I believe you could have also purchased standalone from Atari. As Beer Monkey pointed out, the songs on here weren't exactly like the MOD files on the Jaguar game, but rather a CD quality remix with a few additional songs that weren't in the game. This soundtrack was eventually used in all subsequent ports and sequels on CD/DVD media, including Tempest X3 and Tempest 3000.

Tempest X3 on PlayStation had the T2K CD soundtrack, plus a few additional exclusive songs that were not found in other Tempest games.

Tempest 3000 on NUON also had the T2K CD soundtrack, plus a few additional exclusive songs (entirely different from Tempest X3) that were not found in other Tempest games. This page from NUON-Dome has a few MP3s of the exclusive T3K songs, which are worth listening to (especially if you've never played T3K).

With regard to the MOD music versus the CD music, I like them both for different reasons. I'm kind of inclined to say that I have a slight preference for the MOD music when playing the game. For some reason, it seems to have more "punch", whereas the CD tracks seem subdued at times. Another advantage of the MOD music is that they can loop seamlessly, whereas the CD tracks end after a few minutes and fade out before they restart again.

The CD tracks are great if you just want to chill to the music, but I don't feel they lend themselves quite as well to gameplay as the MOD tracks, for the reasons I just cited. Even so, the CD music is still pretty darn spiffy in-game, and there are a lot of these tracks that don't have equivalent MODs (and even more if you factor in the TX3 and T3K songs).

If TxK happens to recycle any of the previous games' soundtracks, I'd like to have the option for both the MOD music and the CD/DVD tracks--plus some new original tunes, too!
 
I'd have to agree with you re: the CD music in-game. It was great and I loved it, but it did feel overproduced, especially when comparing it to the art style/engine that Minter is known for. I'll have to muck around with emulators and such to get the Jag version working on PC to get all of that tracker goodness <3

Wait a second. Just realised that the mods themselves probably aren't that hard to find, and I have Modizer for iOS so there's really nothing stopping me listening to them now. All we need is a port of Tempest 2000 for iOS (done with controls similar to Super Hexagon, I'd imagine) and I'd be happy.

PS. Thanks for that post. Just the sort of information I was looking for :)
 
Man, I love Minter, but he really needs to branch out a bit. His last game was a blatant rip off of Tempest, although I did really enjoy the psychodelic-ness of that game it just feels like he's a one trick pony now. He used to think outside the box by now it feels like he is trapped in it

His last game was a 2D platformer (GoatUp 2 on iOS!). Anyway as a long time Llamasoft fan who has somehow managed to never play any version of Tempest I'm glad he's revisiting it :) His iOS version of Gridrunner (which he took right back to its roots, but....new - like he's planning for TxK) rules. My fave iOS shooty game.
 
Tempest 2K on the Jaguar was one of my favorite games period. The action, the visuals, and the music, oh the music!!

Bring it on.
 
You can play T2K under emulation, which is preferable to the Jaguar in a number of ways: 1) you can use a decent controller, 2) rock steady, silky smooth, 60fps
 
Man, I love Minter, but he really needs to branch out a bit. His last game was a blatant rip off of Tempest, although I did really enjoy the psychodelic-ness of that game it just feels like he's a one trick pony now. He used to think outside the box by now it feels like he is trapped in it.

Hopefully though, maybe Minter and Sony have been chatting as of late and he is going to do some mediaplayer shit for the PS4 like his work on the 360.



Back in the day my missus finished all 100 levels in one sitting. Never before had I felt like my manhood was in jeopardy. :lol


Goatup 2 is excellent.
 
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