Jeff Minter interview: the legendary game designer on his upcoming PS4 & PS5 arcade title Akka Arrh
blog.playstation.comJeff Minter is a well-respected video game developer who has developed a reputation for creating a brand of colorful, whimsical, irreverent and challenging games over his 40-plus year career. He is credited with more than 75 games, and we would not be surprised to find some unreleased gems hiding on his computer.
Jeff has been releasing games on PlayStation devices for a decade, including the PlayStation Vita, PlayStation VR, PlayStation 4, and with Akka Arrh now both PS4 and PS5. Akka Arrh drips with Jeff’s sense of humor, his love of psychedelic color and light, and his ability to flat-out create games that are a joy to play.
With the release of Akka Arrh, we had a chance to speak with Jeff and learn more about the new game.
Q. Why Akka Arrh?
I’ve been interested in Akka Arrh ever since I first heard the story of this incredibly rare arcade game being held in secret for 30 years by a collector and how the ROM was “liberated” so everyone could have a go.
When I got a chance to play the game I liked the abstract nature of it, the flower-like shape of the platforms. I also thought the level splitting between upstairs and downstairs was interesting, as was the lighting up of upstairs level sections to “electrify” the incoming enemies. The original has some cool ideas, but it doesn’t quite fit together in a way that I found satisfying. So when Atari asked me which of their game IPs I was most interested in working with, I saw it as a chance to explore the ideas of the original and make them work.
Q. Despite the ROM controversy, Akka Arrh is still not a household name. How would you describe the new game?
The original felt to me almost like a real-time strategy game, so I’ve pushed a bit in that direction and made the
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