Update []: The crowdfunding campaign for Heart of Neon is now live on Kickstarter.
If you want to back the documentary project, there are a few different tiers available for you to pick from, with the cheapest available option being a digital copy priced between $21 (early bird) to $25. In addition to this, the filmmakers are also offering a Blu-Ray edition, which will set you back either $37 (early bird) or $45, as well as a bunch of extras, such as posters, t-shirts, and other swag.
Here's a description of the project:
"Jeff Minter is an exceptional video game developer who, for decades, has remained independent in an industry where corporations dictate the terms. Heart of Neon charts Jeff's career from pioneer to legend, mapping the territory Jeff traversed and examining how his Llamasoft brand remains a beacon to everyone inspired by the same purity Jeff admires in classic arcade gaming.
With more than 2 hours of Jeff Minter related material that includes the documentary film plus exclusive special features, this uniquely intimate project explores how a radical hippy like Jeff has survived the ups and downs of the turbulent, volatile and increasingly corporate video games industry over four decades. See how the video game world changed from Jeff's front-row point of view.
This film is packed with exclusive interviews: from the people who knew Jeff best to key video game executives who had the vision to give Jeff opportunities to shine, as well as multiple interviews with Jeff Minter himself and his exceptionally talented Llamasoft cohort Ivan Zorzin, better known as Giles Goat."
You can back the project here.
Original Story: The Kickstarter campaign for the Blu-Ray release of the Jeff Minter documentary Heart of Neon is scheduled to launch later this month on May 22nd, 2025.
If you're a fan of the video game studio Llamasoft or its ruminant-loving founder Jeff Minter, then you probably have already heard about the documentary in the past.
Directed by Paul Docherty (who has a background in both film and games), the long-awaited tribute to the legendary UK developer has been in development for several years now, promising to offer diehard fans of the maverick developer one of the most detailed looks at Minter's career yet, featuring interviews with industry executives from Microsoft, Sony & Atari as well as those who know him best.
It's no surprise, then, that when Digital Eclipse decided to make its 2024 interactive documentary Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, its editorial director Chris Kohler decided to get in touch with Docherty to license some of the incredible interview footage he has amassed, rather than go through the exhausting process of starting all over again from scratch.
If you've played Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, you will no doubt have seen some of this footage documentary included on the timeline of Minter's career. However, as Kohler informed us in an interview last year, these sections really only represented a small fraction of what Docherty has been working on behind the scenes, and aren't necessarily representative of what Heart of Neon will actually be like when it is finally released to audiences.
As Kohler stated, "Heart of Neon isn't like a game-by-game recitation of Jeff’s career. Heart of Neon is really about the man... It’s about his connections with his fans throughout a lifelong career."
In a press release, Docherty, for instance, referred to the documentary as "the unique opportunity to witness the video game industry evolving, as seen from the perspective of an outsider...who never gave up" and called it "an extraordinary story that no fan of the history of video games can afford to miss!"
If you want to make sure you don't miss the Kickstarter campaign when it goes live, you can sign up to be notified when the crowdfunding for the documentary starts here.