Jonathan M. "Joffa" Smith (1 February 1967 – 26 June 2010) was a British games programmer, best known for his titles for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

. His games were notable for containing a large number of sprites and

parallax scrolling Parallax scrolling is a technique in computer graphics where background images move past the camera more slowly than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D scene of distance. The technique grew out of the multiplane camera tec ...

, features which were largely unknown on the Spectrum at the time. His most notable games include ''Cobra'', (which was a license extremely loosely based on a Sylvester Stallone film) one of the first Spectrum games to exhibit full-colour parallax scrolling and his conversion of the arcade game ''

Green Beret The green beret was the official headdress of the British Commandos of the Second World War. It is still worn by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course, and personnel from other units of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF wh ...

''. A notable "trademark" of Smith's was his habit of writing his name (with "Jonathan" and "Smith" spelled various ways) as a mirror-image in his games.

Notable releases

References

External links

An interview
conducted by ''ZX Specticle''
An interview
at ''The Spectrum Golden Years''

*

on

World of Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...

Video game programmers British computer programmers 2010 deaths 1967 births {{videogame-bio-stub