Jonathan Smith - In Memoriam
05/07/10 13:11
So today we bade a fond farewell to our friend and
colleague Jonathan “Joffa” Smith.
Spectrum programmer, artist, and game designer
extraordinaire who was taken away from us at a far
too early age of just 43.
I thought I’d use this blog to put down some thoughts and memories on one of the best kept secrets in the games industry.
When I joined Ocean at the back end of 1987, Joff was the first person that I spoke to - I’m not ashamed to admit I was completely in awe of him - in the many years to follow he still referred to me as his biggest fan! Just before he left Ocean to form Special FX with Paul Finnegan I had the privilege of sharing a room with him working on a C64 version of a game idea that he had called “Newt” - a Cobra killer!
The game only had a few weeks development before he went off to the Albert Dock (it did become a game eventually under the Special FX banner - Hyper Active) - but in that short time I got to learn how he worked; it was a fascinating, darkly funny exercise in how to develop a game at breakneck speed - that was one hell of an education.
The word “Genius” is banded out a lot these days - but my lord, Joff personified it. I’ve never met anyone since who was just so far ahead of the curve - from his interleaved data/mask sprite plots to his self generating code for pre shifted block scrolling on Cobra, this young lad constantly thought outside of the box, and constantly left us all slack jawed.
Joff kept himself to himself and didn’t really play the fame game - it’s only recently, with the dawn of the internet, that people tracked him down and let him know just how inspirational he was at the start of our fledgling industry. In a bizarre twist he became more famous later in life due to a “retro” resurgence for games he had worked on decades previously.
At least he left us knowing that people truly appreciated his work and looked up to him as a developer to aspire to. Thanks to the many, many great games he developed, he has left a legacy behind that will ensure that although he’s gone, he will never be forgotten.
Mini Softography:
Pud Pud, Kong Strikes Back, Daley Thomson’s Super Test, Green Beret, Hyper Sports, Terra Cresta, Cobra, Mikie, Hyper Active, Firefly, Hysteria, Batman the Caped Crusader, Midnight Resistance, Hudson Hawk, Mr Do!
In memoriam, Jonathan “Joffa” Smith, 1st February 1967 - 26 June 2010. Rest in Peace.
Your biggest fan.
Paulie.
I thought I’d use this blog to put down some thoughts and memories on one of the best kept secrets in the games industry.
When I joined Ocean at the back end of 1987, Joff was the first person that I spoke to - I’m not ashamed to admit I was completely in awe of him - in the many years to follow he still referred to me as his biggest fan! Just before he left Ocean to form Special FX with Paul Finnegan I had the privilege of sharing a room with him working on a C64 version of a game idea that he had called “Newt” - a Cobra killer!
The game only had a few weeks development before he went off to the Albert Dock (it did become a game eventually under the Special FX banner - Hyper Active) - but in that short time I got to learn how he worked; it was a fascinating, darkly funny exercise in how to develop a game at breakneck speed - that was one hell of an education.
The word “Genius” is banded out a lot these days - but my lord, Joff personified it. I’ve never met anyone since who was just so far ahead of the curve - from his interleaved data/mask sprite plots to his self generating code for pre shifted block scrolling on Cobra, this young lad constantly thought outside of the box, and constantly left us all slack jawed.
Joff kept himself to himself and didn’t really play the fame game - it’s only recently, with the dawn of the internet, that people tracked him down and let him know just how inspirational he was at the start of our fledgling industry. In a bizarre twist he became more famous later in life due to a “retro” resurgence for games he had worked on decades previously.
At least he left us knowing that people truly appreciated his work and looked up to him as a developer to aspire to. Thanks to the many, many great games he developed, he has left a legacy behind that will ensure that although he’s gone, he will never be forgotten.
Mini Softography:
Pud Pud, Kong Strikes Back, Daley Thomson’s Super Test, Green Beret, Hyper Sports, Terra Cresta, Cobra, Mikie, Hyper Active, Firefly, Hysteria, Batman the Caped Crusader, Midnight Resistance, Hudson Hawk, Mr Do!
In memoriam, Jonathan “Joffa” Smith, 1st February 1967 - 26 June 2010. Rest in Peace.
Your biggest fan.
Paulie.