Vic Match-up: Jeff Minter versus Tom Griner

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:12 pm

I know you don't want to choose, but if you had to . . . Please explain your choice.

ravenxau · Post by **ravenxau** » Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:52 pm

Minter - 2 reasons - gridrunner, metagalctic llamas!!!

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 12:53 am

Once I got in touch with Tom Griner and pissed him off.

I'd like to apologize for this now, almost 15 years later.

When comparing the two it seems like Tom aimed at impressive effects: hires graphics, software sprites while the gameplay was mostly clones of arcade games. Jeff on the other hand used more traditional graphics but perhaps put more effort in developing the game ideas, making the games unique to play even if things didn't move one pixel at a time.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:00 am

Griner wins, hands down. He gave me hours of fun playing Choplifter with my brother and our friends. Not to mention Shamus and Astroblitz...

From R. Melick's site:

GAME NAME: Astroblitz
COMPANY : Creative Software
AUTHOR : Tom E. Griner (1982)
GRAPHICS : Excellent. The graphic effects Tom Griner indulged himself in is technically impressive ... even to peers like Jeff Minter! (Mr. Minter implied just that, in an online interview with R. Melick.)

Carlsson, out of curiosity, how exactly did you piss TG off?

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 1:17 am

I voted Jeff Minter because I've always loved his games. And I don't know who Tom Griner is

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:02 am

I enjoyed Jeff's games more on the Vic.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 3:09 am

Orion: I can't recall, I think I spread his replies in public without permission or something like that. You know like when people post PMs or email correspondence that was not supposed to be exposed to the public. The exception being that time it was not a flame war.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 4:15 am

I see, something similar happened to the Italian PM recently

.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 4:16 am

carlsson wrote:Once I got in touch with Tom Griner and pissed him off. I'd like to apologize for this now, almost 15 years later.

What was it you said to make him angry then???

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:30 am

orion70 wrote:I see, something similar happened to the Italian PM recently .

Yes, Americans have Obama while we have him

, at least Americans had Bush

Lozza · Post by **Lozza** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:33 am

cool idea

here is a list of Tom Griner Vic games, i'm gonna try them over the next few days

Minter - Matrix is gonna be hard to beat for me. Psychedelia was great with headphones.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 8:19 am

orion70 wrote:Griner wins, hands down. He gave me hours of fun playing Choplifter with my brother and our friends. Not to mention Shamus and Astroblitz...

Yes, and for all the same reasons.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:13 am

Shamus looks so good. All of tom's games do. Gridrunner is just more fun to play. And jeff's explosions are the best!

Post by **Jeff-20** » Tue Sep 15, 2009 10:43 am

Griner, Tom
Guardian (1981, VIC, Systems Formulate Corp)
Meteors (1981, VIC, Systems Formulate Corp)
Astroblitz (1982, VIC, Creative)
Videomania (1982, VIC, Creative)
Black Hole (1982, VIC, Creative)
Terraguard (1982, VIC, Creative)
Predator (1982, VIC, HES)
Mosquito-Infestation (1982, VIC, HES)
Maze (1983, VIC, HES)
Satellite Patrol (VIC, HES)
[P] Shamus (1983, VIC, HES) port from 800
[P] Choplifter (1983, VIC, Creative) port from AP2

Minter, Jeff (Llamasoft)
Defenda [Andes Attack] (VIC) later for ST
Aggressor (1982, VIC, HES)
Rat Man (VIC)
Headbanger's Heaven (VIC) later for SPEC
Abductor (VIC)
Traxx (VIC)
Gridrunner (1982?, VIC, HES) later for C64
Laser Zone (VIC)
Matrix (VIC)
Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time (VIC) later for C64
[N] Psychedelia (VIC) light sythesizer; later for C64, SPEC, MSX

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Wed Sep 16, 2009 12:04 am

Oh, so Tom Griner made Shamus? I used to love that game! Haven't played it in ages though.