From the forum issue 102

[Matt_B]

Not sure why some people are listing their favourite Speccy games publisher when Darran specifically asked for our "favourite Spectrum developer".

I appreciate that in the case of Ultimate it's tough finding out who developed each game as they were quite secretive about that sort of thing. But for the likes of Ocean, Imagine and Durell all one has to do is to check out the WoS database to discover which individual/s developed those publishers' games.

Most of the early Ultimate games, and hence the good ones, were developed by Tim and Chris Stamper themselves. It's only the post-Gunfright ones that we're not sure who was behind them, but since they're mostly forgettable I doubt that matters much.

Anyway, I'll go for Pete Cooke. Obviously his 3D epics including Tau Ceti, Academy and Micronaut One are personal favourites, but he was incredibly prolific and dabbled in all manner of different genres including simulations, puzzles and text adventures.

[HalcyonDaze00]

Renegade was my fave game on the Spectrum so I will go for Imagine (and they had a cool logo too!!)

[DreamcastRIP]

Renegade was my fave game on the Spectrum so I will go for Imagine (and they had a cool logo too!!)

So what you actually meant was one of or all from,

Mike Lamb - coding
Ronny Fowles - graphics
Fred Gray - sound

[ipmarks]

Renegade was my fave game on the Spectrum so I will go for Imagine (and they had a cool logo too!!)

So what you actually meant was one of or all from,

Mike Lamb - coding
Ronny Fowles - graphics
Fred Gray - sound

Surely a company can be a developer? A development company???

In your example surely Imagine are the developer as they put together the team of Ronny Fowles, Fred Gray and Mike Lamb and told them to write a version of Renegade. Yes all those people are developers, but clearly the company are too? I could be wrong here though. Perhaps Darran could clarify what he meant by his question.

[The Laird]

The fact is Imagine were just a label that Ocean used publish some their arcade conversions after they bought the name.

Those guys were in house at Ocean so Imagine were just the publishers (at a push as an Ocean owned brand)

[DigitalDuck]

In your example surely Imagine are the developer as they put together the team of Ronny Fowles, Fred Gray and Mike Lamb and told them to write a version of Renegade. Yes all those people are developers, but clearly the company are too? I could be wrong here though. Perhaps Darran could clarify what he meant by his question.

I'd agree with you. A game developer is a unit (usually consisting of people, sometimes thousands, sometimes one) that develops games. In fact, I'd say the people individually aren't developers (one's a coder, one's an artist, one's a musician; the three of them together form a developer).

[ipmarks]

The fact is Imagine were just a label that Ocean used publish some their arcade conversions after they bought the name.

Those guys were in house at Ocean so Imagine were just the publishers (at a push as an Ocean owned brand)

Okay so Ocean were the development company.

[mlucifersam]

Mine would have to be either the obvious, Ultimate. Leaders of the pack back then, everyone else seemed 6 months behind. Gargoyle Games, Tir Na Nog was amazing back then, no one had ever seen a game with animation that good on a home computer before. They also had created what felt like a whole world inside a Spectrum. All their games up to Heavy On The Magick were must haves. Or the late great Joffa Smith, code, graphics and music all from one person, produced great game after great game with an amazing sense of detail and great sense of humour. I was lucky enough to meet him back in 1987 just before he left Ocean to form Special FX and he got back in touch with me 8 or so years ago via the WOS forum and we exchanged messages on and off right up until just before he died. I saw him again once more and a year or so later he was gone.

[DreamcastRIP]

... Perhaps Darran could clarify what he meant by his question.

Good call.

[scunny]

Without a doubt Julian Gollop. The man is a genius. Rebelstar, Chaos, Lords of Chaos, Laser Squad and later on the X-Com games. Gave me my love of turn based strategy that I still carry today. Thank you for all the lost months/years Julian!

[fgasking]

Joffa Smith for me - Although Cobra was brilliant (and far better than the crap C64 version), one of his best moments has to be with the conversion of Midnight Resistance from his Special FX days, which was one of the best arcade conversions on the Spectrum in my opinion.

[Nemesis]

For his conversions of Hyperports, Mikie & Green Beret to original creations such Cobra & Hysteria, it has to be Jonathan Smith. So talented at getting the best out of the rubber keyed wonder. That he managed parallax scrolling on a machine with no hardware assistance is testament to this.

[BennyTheGreek]

3 way tie between J Smith, S Crow and C Panayi

Hypersports, starquake and highway encounter

3 dollops of pure genius

[SirClive]

Elite made some awesome conversions so I would go with them (with Ocean a close second being a sometime company).

[jdanddiet]

Joffa Smith for me - Although Cobra was brilliant (and far better than the crap C64 version), one of his best moments has to be with the conversion of Midnight Resistance from his Special FX days, which was one of the best arcade conversions on the Spectrum in my opinion.

I think Jim Bagley programmed Midnight Resistance.