Jonathan Cauldwell (ZX Spectrum Dev) – Interview

[arcadeadriano]

Those of you linked to the current Spectrum scene will know the name. For those of you who didn’t even know there was a current Spectrum scene please let me introduce a fascinating chat (and also an amazing Spectrum insight) with a man who’s created more Speccy games than you can shake a stick at – Jonathan Cauldwell.

https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/jonathan-cauldwell/

[PeterJ]

Interesting, but rather old. A lot has happened since 2017.

[arcadeadriano]

That's a valid point. I hope you still enjoyed. I posted the Matt Westcott interview and thought I may as well post the Johnathan one also.

[Einar Saukas]

For those of you who didn’t even know there was a current Spectrum scene

That's a funny thing to say in this forum

[Ralf]

For those of you who didn’t even know there was a current Spectrum scene

Yep, it's a quote from the interview but here it sounds really awkward, almost insulting.

[stupidget]

Thanks for posting as I’d not read the interview before.

[arcadeadriano]

For those of you who didn’t even know there was a current Spectrum scene

Yep, it's a quote from the interview but here it sounds really awkward, almost insulting.

Just re-read this, yes, it does appear quite rude. I am actually very sorry. No malice intended. I hope you enjoyed. Jonathan was great to talk to.

[arcadeadriano]

For those of you who didn’t even know there was a current Spectrum scene

That's a funny thing to say in this forum

Sorry. It was a bad bit of copy and pasting. No malice intended.

[Einar Saukas]

That's a funny thing to say in this forum

Sorry. It was a bad bit of copy and pasting. No malice intended.

There's no need to apologise, I understand you were just copy/pasting from a site where this introduction made sense.

I just thought it was genuinely funny to read it here, that's all!

And yes, it's an interesting interview. Thanks for posting it! I will add this link to the next ZXDB update.

It's too bad that Jonathan left the Spectrum scene afterwards. Perhaps you could consider a follow-up interview and take the chance to convince him to get back? He would be welcome in this forum, that's for sure...

[Vampyre]

How come JC left the scene? I don't really keep up with these things but I'm guessing with the timings it had something to do with the Vega+ debacle?

[R-Tape]

He's still working on AGD and active on the AGD forum by the looks of it. Glad he hasn't left.

[Ralf]

I also believe Jonathan hasn't left.

He even was posting on SC, for example here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=424

But yes, Vega+ saga, must have made impact on him. At some moment, when people were taking sides, Jonathan decided to
give his support to David Levy and the rest of Vega team. He gathered a lot of hate for that which probably made him much more bitter
and disillusioned man than before.

I believe his last game was latest Egghead which also got hate, just because it was written by Jonathan. Since that I believe
we didn't see any more games from him.

But Jonathan didn't left. Althouth he certainly could.

[StooB]

I believe his last game was latest Egghead which also got hate, just because it was written by Jonathan.

He didn't do himself any favours with this:

[Ivanzx]

Ralf, I think Jonathan left the scene, look at signature here in SC: left the spectrum scene in December 2018

I also believe Jonathan hasn't left.

He even was posting on SC, for example here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=424

But yes, Vega+ saga, must have made impact on him. At some moment, when people were taking sides, Jonathan decided to
give his support to David Levy and the rest of Vega team. He gathered a lot of hate for that which probably made him much more bitter
and disillusioned man than before.

I believe his last game was latest Egghead which also got hate, just because it was written by Jonathan. Since that I believe
we didn't see any more games from him.

But Jonathan didn't left. Althouth he certainly could.

[8BitAG]

Jonathan states his position regarding the scene on his itch.io page...
https://jonathan-cauldwell.itch.io/

One of the saddest things about the Vega & Vega+ debacles is how it completely split the Spectrum scene, or at the very least opened up existing cracks into gaping chasms. It shows the dangers of picking sides when it comes to commercial ventures by third-parties, who you can't ever really know the motivations of. Whatever your options on Jonathan, and there are people with very definite opinions, he has made very valuable contributions to the scene and it is sad to see that he got himself into a position where walking away was really the only viable option.

[Ralf]

Ralf, I think Jonathan left the scene, look at signature here in SC: left the spectrum scene in December 2018

Jonathan states his position regarding the scene on his itch.io page...

Well, it looks like I missed it. And that he actually "left the scene", whatever it means.

We definitely had some very sad recent affairs in Spectrum scene like Vega+ story and WOS being completely neglected.
It made al lot of people turn against each other. But I hope we all eventually recover and move forward. I actually believe
it's happening just now, for example here

[blueowl0708]

He got trolled to death for the crime of backing the wrong side of a total shitshow.

[PeterJ]

Yes, the whole thing is very sad. Hopefully as [mention]Ralf[/mention] says, we can start to move on, and spread the Spectrum love to a new generation too.

We certainly will be very dubious of crowdfunding in the future.

[Einar Saukas]

And yes, it's an interesting interview. Thanks for posting it! I will add this link to the next ZXDB update.

I just realized that I had already added this interview to ZXDB a while ago:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... el_id=7413