Joffa Smith RIP

[waste of chops]

Absolutely gutted to hear this -- Jonathan "Joffa" Smith, legendary Spectrum programmer (and CaB poster) died this morning. He was responsible for some of my favourite games -- back in the 80s I either owned or had played pretty much everything he did -- and his work provided me with many fond memories of my early gaming days.

http://www.worldofspectrum.org/forums/showthread.php?t=29559&page=30

His game Cobra is, in its own way, an important game, marking as it does the collision between the anarchic spirit of the early 8-bit games and the onslaught of licensed games that would soon flood the market. Tasked with producing a licensed tie-in of the 1986 Sylvester Stallone vehicle, he handed over a platform game where you dodge prams and bazooka-wielding ladies while collecting weapons hidden in hamburgers (and the lifespan of each weapon is OF COURSE represented by a disintegrating rubber duck at the bottom of the screen). It's hard to imagine games these days taking such liberties with a film, playing it for laughs and inviting ridicule.

Seeing his name on a game's title screen -- typically written backwards, and with Smith spelled "SMIFFF" -- was a sign of many things: solid programming, quirky detail, and -- above all -- FUN.

In recent years he was active once again on the Spectrum, offering technical help, advice, and playful banter to budding Sinclair programmers on the World of Spectrum forum.

He'll be sadly missed.

[El Unicornio, mang]

He made Batman: Caped Crusader, an excellent Spectrum action-adventure game, which kept me occupied for many hours one week when I was off sick from school. Green Beret too, was a very well done conversion. Clearly a very talented man, and from what I hear a very nice chap as well. And to lose a fellow CaB'er is of course always very sad.

RIP

[rudi]

Oh my, that's a pity. T'ra Frobush and thanks for Green Beret.

[Slaaaaabs]

Responsible for four of the five games on one of my most played compilation tapes for the Speccy.



RIP

[Uncle TechTip]

This is awful news, he was a regular on WOS, talking freely about his career. Very sad. RIP Joffa.

[Rev]

Didn't have a clue that he was Frobush of this parish, which is probably a good thing as I'd have just harrassed him had I realised.

What waste of chops says is completely right:  seeing this guy's name on a game really was an assurance that good times were coming.  Given the number of games that were banged out in the Spectrum's heyday, you'd have thought that there would be a lot of names that provoked that feeling, but there really weren't.  RIP.

[Phil_A]

Ah, sad news indeed. I never even knew Frobush's secret identity, despite posting on two of the same forums as him. RIP

Out of all his games I think I only ever played the Batman one, which I think was arguably the best attempt at capturing the spirit of the character up to that point. It had a very novel design, every time Batman moved to a new screen it would appear as a comic-style frame, complete with caption box. It was really hard, though.

[mulder]

Ah, I knew there had to be a thread here somewhere.  I was looking in Picture Box.  RIP Jof. Just found out he wrote for Down The Line apparently. I also didn't know he DJd until yesterday when somebody posted his mix tape on WOS.

[Snied]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1012096952890708986#

A young Joffa at 3:20.

[Braintree]

I have to say I wasn't familiar with his game programming but as someone who posted on forums as him this has surprised me. He was only 43 as well ,and to use that standard cliche, that is no age to die.

I hope the person in question won't mind but someone I know posted this obituary yesterday
http://mattyongames.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/jonathan-smith-obituary/

RIP Frobush/Joffa Smith

[rudi]

I have to say I wasn't familiar with his game programming but as someone who posted on forums as him this has surprised me. He was only 43 as well ,and to use that standard cliche, that is no age to die.

I hope the person in question won't mind but someone I know posted this obituary yesterday
http://mattyongames.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/jonathan-smith-obituary/

RIP Frobush/Joffa Smith

You posted on forums as him? Are you one of those mental stalky type people or did you entirely miss out the words "the same"...?

[Braintree]

You posted on forums as him? Are you one of those mental stalky type people or did you entirely miss out the words "the same"...?

Heh! I'm afraid I'm one of those mental stalky types who miss out words, sorry.

[rudi]

I was just annoyed I wasn't on your potential victim list.

Nice obit, by the way.

[Cerys]

Very, very sad.  RIP, Fro.