Saturday 26th June started typically for me. Just before leaving to go to work, I checked my Facebook account to find that one of the greatest programmers of the 1980's, Jonathan 'Joffa' Smith (also known as 'Frobrush' and Mr Smiff) was seriously ill in hospital and was slipping away. By the time I got back home, the sad news had broke of his passing at the age of just 43. Joffa is best remembered for his Sinclair ZX Spectrum productions and was an active member of the World of Spectrum (WoS) forums under the name Frobrush, sharing coding examples as well as his wacky sense of humour. Behind his eccentric online demeanour was an extremely introverted man said not to like "crowds of people, crowds or people", and also a true genius of Z80 coding.

Previous Next

Not many of his peers could claim to be so admired by critics and gamers alike, with his superior scrolling and software sprite routines on a machine that wasn't supposed to be very good at either, as well as his trademark mirror writing of his name and sense of humour in his games. Cobra is one example, redefining the key which would usually be called 'Fire', Joff called 'Murder' to fit into the beat-'em-up theme, on losing all lives, 'Game under' would appear and the high-score table was called 'The Morgue'.

Cobra was one of many Ocean film licences, and was great fun (and technically impressive) but quite difficult. Another example of Joff's sense of humour and brilliant imagination is found in his first game, Pud Pud, released in 1984. You control a yellow flying creature in search of the missing puddings while trying to avoid the 'deadly kiss' from Mrs Pud Pud. Creating it while he was at sixth form, he went on to work with Nigel Alderton (of the Chuckie Egg fame) for Kong Strikes Back, someone he had a great amount of respect and admiration for, and then on to creating many of the best games seen on the Speccy.

Previous Next

I interviewed Joffa in early 2007 about his work in progress Saucer. Joff had lost none of his skill for creating enjoyable and impressive binary worlds on the rubber-clad 8-bit, though I found that he felt a bit awkward with the attention I was giving him. I got the feeling that he was humbled by it, and would rather have sent me some jokes than answer any serious questions. When I met him in 2009, I pressed him on Saucer and although he said it was finished, it was 'his', and he wasn't going to release it until he was happy. The last playable preview should soon be archived on the WoS database.

It was a privilege to have met him. He was an understated, very creative and compassionate guy who shied away from any suggestion of his brilliance. Britain has lost one of its greatest talents, but his legacy will live on through his superb games. I'm going to suggest you play Hyper Active, a game you might have missed due to it being on a magazine cover tape. It's available from tinyurl.com/Hyper-Active-SU, and there's also a tribute from ex-Imagine programmer Doug Burns.

Jarrod Bentley, ex-Codemasters artist, said of Joffa's passing, "Ah Joffa! Your style was something I could only aspire to, even today your art still influences me whether I realise it or not. Just look at Troopers forward stance in Point 5; it's the guy from Hysteria in a suit. I draw a sprite, I play one of your games and there it is, so similar and yet better than mine. No matter what graphics I came up with, you'd done it before and did it better. If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, I shall continue to flatter you in whatever I do."

Prolific Speccy programmer Jonathan Cauldwell also paid this tribute: "To hear that his life was ended so prematurely is devastating. Joffa was a legend, and an inspiration who made countless thousands of children and adults alike happy with his games."