.. continuing ..

"Also been following since playing Gridrunner on my mate's VIC20/C64 beginning in 1983. We could only afford a ZX81 in those early days. For it it's down to one thing. Passion. Some people enter the industry to get rich. Some people enter the industry because they are passionate about the game, then they decide they would rather be rich and the passion dies. Llamasoft have always put the game first. To go so long and *still* put the game first requires dedication that 99.9% of the industry can only dream of. No company or individual deserves success more for this unwavering dedication to gameplay and true passion for the finished product. Edit: PS Non-game related but also add in the compassion and care given to various furry beings over the years. To see the pictures and the obvious happiness of the beasts is a credit to a guy with a very good heart. Who knows what other kind of life they might have led?"

"I liked the killodroid mechanic And YakYak still feels like a home for me even after all these years. Why do I still follow LS? LS games were such an integral part of who I was when I grew up. Now I'm older I still can't disassociate gaming as a teenager and the ROTMC music and the scrolly message. I guess I just 'got it'. "

"You rock, woo hoo."

"In a word, 'care' - original ideas, honed game mechanics + difficulty curve, fun & funny. And level names 8) which I love. And the readmes / manuals :) How much you care about the software you make is really, really evident."

"The reason I bought an iPod rather than any other gadget. Was the only one of m teenage peer group who got into LS (Vic 20 grid runner days) and those NOTB's broadened my teenage horizons. Dropped out of gaming in the nineties and was amazed LS was still around when I found YY a few years back. I want to be playing LS games when I'm in my dotage in a care home."

"I think my first real awareness of Jeff Minter/Llamasoft was via his column in an Atari ST magazine (ST Format?), although I had had some small exposure to his work on the Atari 8-bit. There was something about the way he wrote that made me feel a personal connection. Whenever I saw a game of his after those days, my impulse was to buy it. I've never been let down."

"I'm still following LS after all these years because I'm always interested to see what they're working on next. Minter will forever hold a place in my heart for officially making the Jaguar an awesome gaming platform with the always addicting Tempest 2000 and my favorite version of any light synth ever, the VLM on the Jaguar CD. I can't tell you how many countless hours I've spent playing both T2K and dazing at the Jag's VLM for hours on end with all the great 90's music at the time.... he's a coding beast and it definitely shows!

I know that's longer than a sentence but those two things alone have impacted my life a lot and always brought me tremendous joy.... I could go on for paragraphs, I have huge respect for the 'YAK'... I don't think he really has any idea."

"Llamasoft was there, doing things in assembler while I was still wasting my time with C64 Basic. There. That's my sentence. Envy and admiration. I - somehow - can feel it. And that's a good thing. :)"

"Llamasoft somehow has always had a knack for taking a classic arcade game, and making it 200% better when no one else could. Robotron : Llamatron Defender : Sheep n Space / Iridis Alpha Empire Strikes Back (Parker Bros.) : Attack of the Mutant Camels Centipede : Gridrunner Tempest : Tempest 2000 / 3000 / Space Giraffe All amazing arcade games, made stupendously more exciting. There is something about Llamasoft, you guys have always been able to find the essence of what makes a great video game perfect. The 'one more go' hook, the gratifying strobe effects and sounds... all balanced amazingly well into well rounded packages of gaming pleasure."

"I think for me as a kid I liked games but Ancipital triggered something. There's a lot of rules in games - a lot of rules just taken from reality and reproduced because that's what people know. I think it was clear for me the moment I first ran sideways down a wall contrary to the traditional rules of gravity that you can do what the hell you please in a game and you should be able to screw around with anything and everything you please and games are whatever you want them to be. More importantly it made me want to not just play by other people's rules it made me want to take charge and play around for myself. So not only did it make a player out of me it set me forth on a path that lead to being a developer. Might sound like bollocks but I'd say that game did actually change the path of my life."

"This is my Llamasoft"

The people following us, final thanks

Llamasoft wishes to thanks again all the fans that voiced their opinion in this thread and again all the llamasofties at YakYak for their constant support.

A big fluffy hug to :

Rik, Gravy, Tufty, Istar, Mqark, Cloudane, Zoot, Whiteball, Capybara

Sdetoni, CableTwitch, Little stoned kiwi, Markie, VNVObit, Precious_pony

Nyarla, Melkig1967, TFO, Rowan, Colonius, Everklear, Neon360, Dvorak

Axel000, Sack, Cj2003, Kenz, Misfit, Xstreme, Louis G, Baggypants

We will conclude this with a couple of pictures ...

First picture, the annoucement at the private Xbox 360 launch Microsoft party.

Seconf picture, the full VLM CREW performing at the party.

For more details about VLM and Neon check the lightsynth pages