I've just read the news on the What's New page :-(. Indeed it is a very sad day.
May he rest in piece, and while it's a great loss, he will be forever remembered on here and in our hearts an minds for the contributions to the Spectrum History.
He was a curious character on the forums, and I remember the massive hand writing in multi-colours on the jiffy bag he sent me containing a Microdrive cart of Terra Cresta.
I've just found out from Nick H's post on Facebook. I'm in tears typing this, I can't believe he's gone. I never met him personally but I conversed with him on occasion on these forums and I always thought he was a smashing bloke, as mad as a lorry, but still a smashing fella.
I couldn't believe it when I realised who he was on these forums and I consider it an honour that he took time out to reply to my questions about his games. I don't think he ever realised what such high regard so many people on here held him in, and I think he would have been hugely embarrassed to know it anyway!
He was for me the absolute premier coder for the Speccy.
RIP Jof. I'll never forget ya, you made my childhood just that bit better with your superb games.
Cobra - the first game I loaded into my new Spectrum 128K heatsink model on Christmas morning 1986. I played it again last night, and it felt most unpleasant. Really, really odd.
I've just reread the first post on this thread. Makes it all even more difficult to believe, but I suppose this is the deal with life.
This is unbelievable. For so long he's been WOS's resident programming star - not only did he write some fantastic (and still played by us fans of proper gameplay) games, but he's been a proper friend and a real character on these boards. His presence on the boards helped keep a little bit of the Speccy's golden years alive for me, as he was someone who produced a part of that magic, and hadn't "gone on to better things" as almost all of the other people involved in the 80's Speccy scene seem to have done, but he stayed around to talk and to answer our questions. That didn't just help to validate out interest in what many people might see as pointless nostalgia, but it helped us to expand out knowledge and appreciation of that unique time, the only time they'll ever be when computer games are a relatively new thing, and when the market is led by enthusiastic users rather than businessmen who know nothing of their customers' wishes.
I knew he was seriously ill, of course, but it was staggering to see the news of his passing on todays WOS news page. I never met the bloke, and only had a few exchanges with him on the forum, and a couple of pm's, but now I realise that I did consider him to be a friend. A real loss to the Speccy world, in so many ways. And of course, our loss is nothing at all compared to the loss of his family and friends. Rest in Peace mate. And you'd better have Saucer finished for me when I get up there, or there'll be trouble!
I felt the need to upload the 'Commercial Breaks' excerpt most of you may know about: 'Pud Pud' brought and shown at the Ocean headquarters; Ward and Finnegan searching for TALENT... and indeed they find it.
I went through the entire thread last night, it was a shame as he seemed to be getting better at first, i played Hypersports last night and it was sad that the person who coded this and many others is no longer with us.
RIP Joffa.
As a spectrum coder, Joffa had very few peers. Maybe the ultimate team. Maybe Stephen Crow or Rod Bowkett. As rare and as talented as a world champion at any sport. As said before, a genius in his field.
We witness the passing of a genius very rarely indeed.
Awful awful news! I was checking everyday the ChitChat section looking for news about his recovery. I was away yesterday and I stumbled upon this now. i am shocked.
I will try to write a tribute for Joffa in my site too.
Just come back from a weekend break myself and likewise gutted to hear the news... Things seemed to be going so well, and so many of us thought he would pull through...
I didn't know him well, and I didn't move in his circles, but despite this, he was kind enough to give me the time in sending PM's to me over technical issues concerning the DoubleDragon project, despite this being a project that he wasn't necessarily interested in. Thats the kind of guy he was... he'd give you the time, and he would willingly contribute and help out to pass on his wisdom and insights. Even if you had only just met him online, he'd give you the time. You'd think that a newbie asking someone like him a question online would just get ignored or a short answer at most. But he was the kind of guy who would not only give you the time time, but then follow up later with a PM or two... That surprised me... There was obviously far more to his character than just his online antics... he obviously had quite a caring side, and I would guess, seemed to care about those around him who were still learning the ropes...
He will be greatly missed from WOS members across the globe...
I thank God that he at least passed peacefully in his sleep, and Im certain, he won;t be forgotten...
By the way, anybody knows what was Jonathan disease? Was it cancer?
For me it was like a bolt from the blue. I didn't talk much to him, but he seemed so joyful and joking man, not like anybody concious that his time is near.
He talked so much here on forums. Now I think he might have felt lonely sometimes. AFAIK he didn't have wife or kids (am I right?).
I have some hope, sometimes stronger, sometimes very faint that some sort of afterlife exists, that we just don't stop to exist.
Maybe he can watch us now from his cloud and read this forum.
I've just got in and read the news :( That's such a terrible terrible thing to read.
He was a great bloke, with a top sense of humour, and will be greatly missed.
I was in regular contact with Joffa a few years ago, with him keeping me updated with the progress of Saucer. I've checked through my old emails and found the private link to Saucer v1.1 that he sent to me, but the file is sadly no longer there.
If there's anything that Cronosoft can do as a fitting tribute to Joffa, then I'll do whatever I can to help.
There's no denying that Joffa was one of the giants in coding on the Spectrum. This talent - remarkable as it already is - was combined with another talent for designing graphics and with an outstanding and almost anarchistic sense of humour. And it is these aspects combined that has made him one of my personal heroes of my childhood.
But we didn't know Joffa from the great games (Pud Pud, Hypersports, Daley Thompson's Supertest, Hysteria, Firefly, Cobra, Green Beret) that he wrote alone. He remained an active participant in the Spectrum scene and his presence here on the forum was again characterised by this sense of humour together with an approachability that is not always common among people of this stature.
Therefore we didn't lose only one of the finest programmers that ever touched the rubber keys of the Spectrum, but we lost one of our best friends as well.
I may be wrong but I got the impression it was pneumonia. :(
It's pot-luck if you survive that. I only just survived it about six years ago (and not long after that happened, it killed Countdown's Richard Witley)
I know you're all feeling upset so, I'm going to hand you over to Joffa, and let him try to cheer you all up.
Here's a pvt message he sent me a while back. Click on the link, Joffa must have liked this song or he wouldn't have sent it to me. Listen to it and remember Joffa as the mad old brush he was!
"frobush
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Cheshire, UK (but not the posh bits)
Posts: 5,783
Default Re: Old timer
I sound so down - but I'm really not!
"LOL! I had boxes of them - don't know what happened to them! I do have hundreds of Software Creations cards though!
I remember visiting the Albert Dock in Liverpool - years after Special FX went down the pan - and saw a car illegally parked with one of my cards on the dashboard ('cos we worked in the Dock we would stick an ID in the window allowing us a few parking privileges). Which was strange!
Anyway - those FX cards were horrible! Bad size and texture! And thanks for bringing loads of memories back! "
I just hope that he had all of the medical help and support that he deserved and needed, somehow I don`t believe that he did, but perhaps that is just me being a gobshite, I`ve been there a time or two and I know how these places work. Not a good place to be, believe me, they engineer the whole process and it is not good. If the family have any worries about his care, they should voice them, because he deserved the best, the doctors seemed to have left him far too long for my liking, he needed surgery, but it seems that it was left far too long for comfort.
We are all gutted about this, he has been ripped away from us all, and we are not at all pleased about it, one little bit.
I was going to write that I feel like I just lost a close friend, but actually although I don't know personally anyone in the forum, most of you guys feel like close friends, so I do feel like I lost someone close to me.
not to mention that his games where a big influence In my growing up...
my best to his family, I'm sure we won't forget him around WOS
I was in regular contact with Joffa a few years ago, with him keeping me updated with the progress of Saucer. I've checked through my old emails and found the private link to Saucer v1.1 that he sent to me, but the file is sadly no longer there.
I still have a snapshot of Saucer v1.17 he sent me. And a little bit of the source code. It contains these subroutines.
Comments
May he rest in piece, and while it's a great loss, he will be forever remembered on here and in our hearts an minds for the contributions to the Spectrum History.
He was a curious character on the forums, and I remember the massive hand writing in multi-colours on the jiffy bag he sent me containing a Microdrive cart of Terra Cresta.
RIP mate, you will not be forgotten !
I couldn't believe it when I realised who he was on these forums and I consider it an honour that he took time out to reply to my questions about his games. I don't think he ever realised what such high regard so many people on here held him in, and I think he would have been hugely embarrassed to know it anyway!
He was for me the absolute premier coder for the Speccy.
RIP Jof. I'll never forget ya, you made my childhood just that bit better with your superb games.
I've just reread the first post on this thread. Makes it all even more difficult to believe, but I suppose this is the deal with life.
https://discordapp.com/invite/cZt59EQ
I knew he was seriously ill, of course, but it was staggering to see the news of his passing on todays WOS news page. I never met the bloke, and only had a few exchanges with him on the forum, and a couple of pm's, but now I realise that I did consider him to be a friend. A real loss to the Speccy world, in so many ways. And of course, our loss is nothing at all compared to the loss of his family and friends. Rest in Peace mate. And you'd better have Saucer finished for me when I get up there, or there'll be trouble!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnVqttcDT7g
RIP Joffa. My sincere condolences to his familiy and friends.
RIP Joffa.
We witness the passing of a genius very rarely indeed.
I will try to write a tribute for Joffa in my site too.
RIP
:cry::cry:
I didn't know him well, and I didn't move in his circles, but despite this, he was kind enough to give me the time in sending PM's to me over technical issues concerning the DoubleDragon project, despite this being a project that he wasn't necessarily interested in. Thats the kind of guy he was... he'd give you the time, and he would willingly contribute and help out to pass on his wisdom and insights. Even if you had only just met him online, he'd give you the time. You'd think that a newbie asking someone like him a question online would just get ignored or a short answer at most. But he was the kind of guy who would not only give you the time time, but then follow up later with a PM or two... That surprised me... There was obviously far more to his character than just his online antics... he obviously had quite a caring side, and I would guess, seemed to care about those around him who were still learning the ropes...
He will be greatly missed from WOS members across the globe...
I thank God that he at least passed peacefully in his sleep, and Im certain, he won;t be forgotten...
we wernt that close, but we certainly passed each other in threads a bit.
For me it was like a bolt from the blue. I didn't talk much to him, but he seemed so joyful and joking man, not like anybody concious that his time is near.
He talked so much here on forums. Now I think he might have felt lonely sometimes. AFAIK he didn't have wife or kids (am I right?).
I have some hope, sometimes stronger, sometimes very faint that some sort of afterlife exists, that we just don't stop to exist.
Maybe he can watch us now from his cloud and read this forum.
My condolences go out to all his family.
R.I.P. Sir.
he sent me a couple of interesting pm's such as:
"I HAVE A GUN!
I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!"
:lol:
cobra is one of my "historical games", one of my favourites since i was a child.
He was a great bloke, with a top sense of humour, and will be greatly missed.
I was in regular contact with Joffa a few years ago, with him keeping me updated with the progress of Saucer. I've checked through my old emails and found the private link to Saucer v1.1 that he sent to me, but the file is sadly no longer there.
If there's anything that Cronosoft can do as a fitting tribute to Joffa, then I'll do whatever I can to help.
R.I.P.
Without his work I wouldn't do mine today, probably.
:( :( :(
http://mister_beep.republika.pl/
There's no denying that Joffa was one of the giants in coding on the Spectrum. This talent - remarkable as it already is - was combined with another talent for designing graphics and with an outstanding and almost anarchistic sense of humour. And it is these aspects combined that has made him one of my personal heroes of my childhood.
But we didn't know Joffa from the great games (Pud Pud, Hypersports, Daley Thompson's Supertest, Hysteria, Firefly, Cobra, Green Beret) that he wrote alone. He remained an active participant in the Spectrum scene and his presence here on the forum was again characterised by this sense of humour together with an approachability that is not always common among people of this stature.
Therefore we didn't lose only one of the finest programmers that ever touched the rubber keys of the Spectrum, but we lost one of our best friends as well.
Joffa, may you rest in peace. :(
It's pot-luck if you survive that. I only just survived it about six years ago (and not long after that happened, it killed Countdown's Richard Witley)
Here's a pvt message he sent me a while back. Click on the link, Joffa must have liked this song or he wouldn't have sent it to me. Listen to it and remember Joffa as the mad old brush he was!
"frobush
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Cheshire, UK (but not the posh bits)
Posts: 5,783
Default Re: Old timer
I sound so down - but I'm really not!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8yx4k4tzqE
__________________"
And here's something of Joffa's that I found in my attic. When i sent him this link, he replied with the following:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b357/mlucifersam/JoffaSpecialFXCard.jpg
"LOL! I had boxes of them - don't know what happened to them! I do have hundreds of Software Creations cards though!
I remember visiting the Albert Dock in Liverpool - years after Special FX went down the pan - and saw a car illegally parked with one of my cards on the dashboard ('cos we worked in the Dock we would stick an ID in the window allowing us a few parking privileges). Which was strange!
Anyway - those FX cards were horrible! Bad size and texture! And thanks for bringing loads of memories back! "
Ex-Ocean Software graphic artist -
Download my FREE PDF 'LOAD DIJ DIJ' (180,000+ words): https://ko-fi.com/i/IG2G3BEJZP
ZX Art page: https://zxart.ee/eng/authors/m/mark-r-jones/
https://twitter.com/MarkRJones1970
https://www.facebook.com/OceanSoftwareLtd/
https://www.facebook.com/ultimateptg/
We are all gutted about this, he has been ripped away from us all, and we are not at all pleased about it, one little bit.
not to mention that his games where a big influence In my growing up...
my best to his family, I'm sure we won't forget him around WOS
I still have a snapshot of Saucer v1.17 he sent me. And a little bit of the source code. It contains these subroutines.
; SetupInts:
; Interrupt:
; GoFX:
; GoFXForce:
; WaitFlyBack:
; Beeper:
; Beep:
; Boop:
; Hiss:
; DumpScreen:
; Landscape:
; LandAttr:
; GoAttrFX:
; WorkAttrFX:
; RKReadPort:
; ReadKeyStick:
; DumpSP:
; SetStars:
; Stars:
; GroundAddr:
; Circle:
Let's hope we will all see the final version one day. I'm sure he'd finished it.
My ZX Art Music Page
Carlos Michelis Theme
Another legend of speccy days gone. Just like that. I feel so old suddenly...
Bytes:Chuntey - Spectrum tech blog.
My sincere condolences to his family and friends, and thanks for the many hours of fantastic entertainment, Joffa. :(