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Neon (light Synthesizer)
Neon is a light synthesizer developed by Jeff Minter ('Yak') and Ivan Zorzin ('Giles'). It was based on an enhanced version of the graphics engine originally to be included in ''Unity'', which became an independent project after Unity was cancelled in 2004. A version of Neon is used as the default visualiser for the Xbox 360. The authors have retained the rights to implement the software on other platforms and contexts (a Microsoft Windows version was due in 2006 but the release has been hampered by rights issues). The Xbox 360 version, implemented into the media player and activated whenever music is played, is actually the "First Wave" of Neon. Up to four people can control it with the same number of gamepads, or it can be run autonomously via the "v-crew" code. Jeff Minter's ''Space Giraffe'' uses the Neon engine, as does Llamasoft's subsequent games Gridrunner Revolution and Minotaur Rescue. See also *Psychedelia (light synthesizer) ''Psychedelia'' is an early light ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Light Synthesizer
Music visualization or music visualisation, a feature found in electronic music visualizers and media player software, generates animated Computer-generated imagery, imagery based on a piece of music. The imagery is usually generated and rendered in real time and in a way synchronized with the music as it is played. Visualization techniques range from simple ones (e.g., a simulation of an oscilloscope display) to elaborate ones, which often include a number of Compositing, composited effects. The changes in the music's loudness and frequency spectrum are among the properties used as input to the visualization. Effective music visualization aims to attain a high degree of visual correlation between a musical track's spectral characteristics such as frequency and amplitude and the objects or components of the visual image being rendered and displayed. Definition Music visualization can be defined, in contrast to previous existing pre-generated music plus visualization combinatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Minter
Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an independent English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games for the Sinclair ZX80. Minter's games are often arcade style shoot 'em ups which contain titular or in-game references demonstrating his fondness of ruminants (llamas, sheep, camels, etc.). Many of his programs also feature something of a psychedelic element, as in some of the earliest "light synthesizer" programs including '' Trip-a-Tron''. Minter's works include the music visualisation program '' Neon'' (2004) which is built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games ''Gridrunner'', '' Attack of the Mutant Camels'', ''Tempest 2000'', and '' Polybius''. Game development career Pre-commercial career (early years) Minter had expressed an interest in programming computers from a young age. He wrote the game ''Deflex'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ivan Zorzin
Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgarian tsar Ivan Vladislav. It is very popular in Russia, Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Belarus, North Macedonia, and Montenegro and has also become more popular in Romance-speaking countries since the 20th century. Etymology Ivan is the common Slavic Latin spelling, while Cyrillic spelling is two-fold: in Bulgarian, Russian, Macedonian, Serbian and Montenegrin it is Иван, while in Belarusian and Ukrainian it is Іван. The Old Church Slavonic (or Old Cyrillic) spelling is . It is the Slavic relative of the Latin name , corresponding to English ''John''. This Slavic version of the name originates from New Testament Greek (''Iōánnēs'') rather than from the Latin . The Greek name is in tur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unity (video Game)
''Unity'' was a video game being developed by Jeff Minter and Lionhead Studios for the GameCube. It was in development from the beginning of 2003 until its cancellation at the end of 2004. It was to feature Jeff Minter's trademark psychedelic graphical style, meshed with an interactive music component. The music was to be provided by someone who was well-known and appropriate for the game's style, but the participant was never revealed. ''Unity'' was so highly anticipated that the UK games magazine ''Edge'' featured it on its February 2003 issue cover, with a full 8 page preview in the same issue. However, the project slipped off the release schedules soon after. ''Unitys cancellation was officially announced on Lionhead's website on 10 December 2004. Minter and Lionhead both cited the "ambitious and experimental" nature of the project as reason for the mutual decision to cease development. Peter Molyneux Peter Douglas Molyneux (; born 5 May 1959) is an English video game ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information announced later that month at the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The Xbox 360 features an online service, Xbox Live, which was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the console's lifetime. Available in free and subscription-based varieties, Xbox Live allows users to: play games online; download games (through Xbox Live Arcade) and game demos; purchase and stream music, television programs, and films through the Xbox Music and Xbox Video portals; and access third-party content services through media streaming applications. In addition to online multimedia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Giraffe
''Space Giraffe'' is a fixed shooter video game by Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin of Llamasoft. The game was released on 22 August 2007 for Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade. The main graphics engine is based on the Neon Xbox 360 light synthesizer visualisation software built into the console. Llamasoft released a version for Windows on 15 December 2008. It was made available on Steam on 19 March 2009. Gameplay Although the game is aesthetically similar to the arcade game ''Tempest'', Minter has strongly denied that ''Space Giraffe'' is an update to ''Tempest'', as it introduces significant gameplay changes. The player controls the Space Giraffe as it moves around the outer rim of a 3-dimensional extruded surface. Enemies appear in notably greater quantities than in Tempest, beginning at the opposite end of the third dimension and approaching the player, firing bullets. The Giraffe can destroy these enemies by firing at them. A line on the surface behaves as a VU meter, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gridrunner Revolution
Gridrunner Revolution is an action game developed by Llamasoft for Windows. It was released on 25 September 2009. On 18 December 2009 Llamasoft released an updated version with integrated Online Scoreboards (and also reduced the price) On 23 February 2010 the game was made available to buy on Steam History Gridrunner Revolution was originally named ''Gridrunner+++'' to indicate its status as an enhanced version of Jeff Minter's earlier PC and Pocket PC game Gridrunner++. The original intention was to convert ''Gridrunner++'' to XBLA with new graphics and gameplay mechanics. However, after a near-complete version of the demo was submitted to Microsoft for approval for XBLA, Llamasoft received no response - neither positive or negative. They thus continued to develop the PC version of the game, which was originally intended to be released after the XBLA version as with Space Giraffe. In the course of adapting the game to be primarily a PC game, a number of improvements to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychedelia (light Synthesizer)
''Psychedelia'' is an early light synthesizer developed by Jeff Minter and published by Llamasoft in 1984. It was converted to the MSX and ZX Spectrum by Simon Freeman. Usage ''Psychedelia'' allowed a user to generate a light show on the screen grid, using the joystick to send pulses or bursts of coloured squares. There are various preset settings, or the user can manually set the variables controlling the pulses. Patterns can be recorded to memory or tape for later playback. Unlike Minter's later synthesizers such as ''Neon'', ''Psychedelia'' does not use audio as a factor, only using a joystick's input. It is, however, intended to be played in accompaniment to music. History Minter had been considering "dynamic interactive pattern generators" but hadn't coded any previously. An idea for an algorithm came to him, in which patterns would be seeded along a path, which would then expand and change shape and colour over time. He coded it in 6502 assembler language, fitting into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trip-a-Tron
Trip-a-Tron is a light synthesizer written by Jeff Minter and published through his Llamasoft company in 1988. It was originally written for the Atari ST and later ported to the Amiga in 1990 by Andy Fowler. Description Trip-A-Tron was released as shareware, but also came in a commercial package with a 3-ring-bound manual and 2 game disks. The trial version contained no limitations, but registration was necessary to obtain the manual, which in turn was necessary to learn the script language ("KML" - supposedly "Keyboard Macro Language" and only coincidentally the phonetic equivalent of "camel") which drove the system. The software has a usable but quirky user interface, filled with in-jokes and references to Llamasoft mascots. For example, the button to exit from the MIDI editor is labelled "naff off", while the button to exit the file display is labelled with a sheep saying "Baa!"; the waveform editor colour cycles the words "Dead cool" above the waveform display, and the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virtual Light Machine
The Virtual Light Machine (VLM) is a light synthesizer developed by Jeff Minter in 1990. It was installed into a number of electronics, including the Atari Jaguar CD and Nuon DVD players. The Virtual Light Machine is similar to what would later be seen in music visualizations included with Winamp and other Media players. When an audio CD is put into a VLM compatible device, the VLM loads, manifesting visualizations which appear on the screen that change with the music. The VLM is set apart from simple music visualizers by an interactive mode that allows users to manipulate graphics generation on the fly. VLM versions Three versions of the VLM software were released. VLM-1 is the version installed and developed for the Atari Jaguar CD. Nuon players featured version VLM-2. VLM-3 was to be the basis of the video game ''Unity'', which was in turn upgraded to form the basis of the Neon light synthesizer, utilized in the Xbox 360 and Minter's ''Space Giraffe''. A prototype dubbed VLM-0 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Visualization Software
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect of all human societies, a cultural universal. While scholars agree that music is defined by a few specific elements, there is no consensus on their precise definitions. The creation of music is commonly divided into musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance, though the topic itself extends into academic disciplines, criticism, philosophy, and psychology. Music may be performed or improvised using a vast range of instruments, including the human voice. In some musical contexts, a performance or composition may be to some extent improvised. For instance, in Hindustani classical music, the performer plays spontaneously while following a partially defined structure and using characteristic motifs. In modal jazz the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
