At Dev's Door (Jon Ritman): discussion

[PeteProdge]

At this point, I'd do a discussion phase thread on the next Clone Wars subject, but I've exhausted the current clone definitions of ZXDB on this site, so that'll take a rest for a while.

At Dev's Door? You what!?

Right, I've been meaning to do this for some time. It's a lot like the best Speccy game by [software publisher] polls, except in these, we go by the people who coded the games. It's probably a more 'pure' poll if we're delving into a coder's softography to determine their best work, seeing as software labels will put out all kinds of stuff that doesn't really link to each other. (Let's be honest, if this were a music forum, then I suppose asking what's the best thing from Motown, 2-Tone or Def Jam makes sense, as there's something of a theme, whereas most labels, like EMI, are a hodge podge of ANYTHING, just like most software labels of the 8-bit era.)

In this series, I'm thinking of key developers who have been highly acclaimed during the ZX Spectrum's commercial era. People like:

Jon Ritman
Joffa
Don Priestley
The Oliver Twins
Raffaele Cecco
Mike Lamb
Mike Singleton

This could run for quite a while!

So, Jon Ritman then...

Batman (3D isometric) by Ocean
Bear Bovver by Artic
3D Combat Zone by Artic
Cosmic Debris by Artic
Dark Star by Design Design
Dimension Destructors by Artic
Forbidden Planet by Design Design
Head Over Heels by Ocean
International Match Day by Ocean
Match Day by Ocean
Match Day II by Ocean
On The Run by Design Design

Yeah, this is very likely to be won by Head Over Heels and there'll be a strong showing for Match Day II, but there's time to savour his other work. On The Run was pretty good, wasn't it?

Anyway, that's the shortlist for the first of this new poll series. Have I got anything wrong in that shortlist? Anything shouldn't be in there? Anything I missed? Let me know in these seven days before I start the poll properly next Sunday!

[Sokurah]

If this is supposed to be about Jon Ritman ... then why on earth do you have some Design Design stuff in the list?

[PeteProdge]

If this is supposed to be about Jon Ritman ... then why on earth do you have some Design Design stuff in the list?

Jon Ritman is listed as a creator (not the only one) for Dark Star; Forbidden Planet and On The Run.

[Sokurah]

Jon Ritman is listed as a creator (not the only one) for Dark Star; Forbidden Planet and On The Run.

Oh, I see. I didn't know that. Has it been confirmed though? Does anyone know what his contribution to those games were?

[redballoon]

I think Jon Ritman did the loading screens for sure but no idea how much input he had with the actual creation of the games.

[Turtle_Quality]

He does seem to be vaguely associated with Design Design, see this article https://www.crashonline.org.uk/08/rebirth.htm

After Ocean he went on to work with Ultimate / Rare ... quite a CV

[redballoon]

Oh aye! I mind that article now! Definitely part of the Design Design team indeed, I’m just not sure I’d include them in a Jon Ritman list of games though, sorry Pete, as his name isn’t really associated with those games.
If you look at @Sokurah Sqij from 2018, you’ll see that I’m listed as one of the creators. I only did a small 8x8 graphic for it, if I remember correctly, and I wouldn’t really expect it to appear in a poll of Craig Stevenson games, which you’re going to do, right @PeteProdge?…RIGHT PETE?!

[PeteProdge]

Oh aye! I mind that article now! Definitely part of the Design Design team indeed, I’m just not sure I’d include them in a Jon Ritman list of games though, sorry Pete, as his name isn’t really associated with those games.

That is a fair point. If, as we seem to believe, Jon Ritman had minimal input on those Design Design games (I mean, making a loading screen doesn't really mean you can take credit for a game's brilliance), then I'm going to have to remove those games.

So now the shortlist looks like this:

Batman (3D isometric) by Ocean
Bear Bovver by Artic
3D Combat Zone by Artic
Cosmic Debris by Artic
Dimension Destructors by Artic
Head Over Heels by Ocean
International Match Day by Ocean
Match Day by Ocean
Match Day II by Ocean

However, is that right? I've got a feeling there'll be more of this as the series goes on, and it's right to call it out.

If you look at @Sokurah Sqij from 2018, you’ll see that I’m listed as one of the creators. I only did a small 8x8 graphic for it, if I remember correctly, and I wouldn’t really expect it to appear in a poll of Craig Stevenson games, which you’re going to do, right @PeteProdge?…RIGHT PETE?!

Well, there are so many 'best Craig Stevenson game' polls going on. Every hour, someone does one. I think it's Double Dragon Redux, for the record.

[Einar Saukas]

I've exhausted the current clone definitions of ZXDB on this site

Are you sure? The full list of clones can be seen here:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/references.php

Under either "Arcade Coin-Op" or "Software"

[PeteProdge]

Are you sure? The full list of clones can be seen here:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/references.php

Under either "Arcade Coin-Op" or "Software"

Wow, well, I never saw that on the front page's search filters! The current filters have all been done in my previous polls, but now I know the existence of this, I'll save it for later.

I'm parking Clone Wars for now, but will return to it early next year. I think it's about time to just have a change and 'At Dev's Store' is just that.

[Mpk]

I don't like the title. Somewhat morbid connotations.

[flatduckrecords]

I don't like the title. Somewhat morbid connotations.

Here's some unsolicited alternative suggestions:

• Deventh Heaven
• Devon Custard
• Dev Becomes Her
• Devfenders of the Earth
• Devfinitive Edition
• Day of the Dev^*
• Planet of Dev: Adventure A
• DevCON One
• The Magnificent Dev-en
• De7en

* that one's already bindun

[R-Tape]

• Deventh Heaven
  
• Devon Custard
• Dev Becomes Her
• Devfenders of the Earth
• Devfinitive Edition
• Day of the Dev^*
• Planet of Dev: Adventure A
  
• DevCON One
• The Magnificent Dev-en
• De7en

Paydirt!

Short of "best game by [insert coder's name]", I'm going to chuck "Dev only knows" into the ring.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Apart from the obvious choices, I think 3D Combat Zone is great.

[PeteProdge]

I think I'll go with Devfinitive Edition, thanks @flatduckrecords

I have been pondering the name for several weeks. I've always been fond of Antiques Code Show, but The Register and some others beat me to it. What a great pun.

I almost settled on King Of The Code, a take on Roger Miller's fantastic song, but that seems to put out the idea that I'm trying to find the best coder rather than their best work (which is why Devfinitive Edition works beautifully). Highway Code was another 'meh' effort. And there are very little opportunities to find a suitable idiom-altered-by-pun for the term 'coder'. Coder Rogers? Nah!

I went with 'Dev' because of the abundance of dev/death puns, and top of the list of the idioms worked really quite well for this. Still, it'll be Devfinitive Edition when the poll starts up properly.

Still using these nine games unless anyone can convince me otherwise:

3D Combat Zone by Artic
Batman (3D isometric) by Ocean
Bear Bovver by Artic
Cosmic Debris by Artic
Dimension Destructors by Artic
Head Over Heels by Ocean
International Match Day by Ocean
Match Day by Ocean
Match Day II by Ocean

And suggestions for future devs to cover will be appreciated.

[Mpk]

Suggestions for future devs to cover will be appreciated.

Firelord

[Hank Scorpio]

Pete Cooke and Derek Brewster maybe?

[toot_toot]

I really like this idea, but what could make it even more interesting is covering the period before (if possible) and certainly after the Spectrum. Maybe having two awards - best Spectrum game and best non Spectrum game. Jon Ritman is a good example, he went on to do some great games after the Spectrum with Rare and it would give people the chance to maybe discover some of these games. In Jon’s case, he went on (along with Bernie Drummond) to make Monster Max, possibly the greatest Spectrum game to never appear on the Spectrum and could be considered the final part of the isometric trilogy of Batman, Head over Heels and then Monster Max.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4EVqKSPrcs



I mean, look at it! It should be on a Spectrum!!!

[Einar Saukas]

Pete Cooke and Derek Brewster maybe?

David Perry

[RWAC]

Julian Gollop
Jim Bagley
Matthew Smith

[StooB]

Costa Panayi
Steve Turner

Not sure The Oliver Twins should count, they mainly programmed via the Amstrad, they're not really "highly acclaimed" for their technical programming skills, and there are two of them!

[Mpk]

Costa Panayi
Steve Turner

Not sure The Oliver Twins should count, they mainly programmed via the Amstrad, they're not really "highly acclaimed" for their technical programming skills, and there are two of them!

Technical programming skill is only one patch on the many-coloured game development quilt.

The Twins stay in the picture.

[StooB]

Technical programming skill is only one patch on the many-coloured game development quilt.

The Twins stay in the picture.

There's still two of them! If you're going to count teams then add the Stamper and Pickford brothers, Denton Designs, Platinum Productions, Realtime Games, Design Design, Walking Circles, Special FX, Enigma Variations, RamJam, Big Red and WASP.

[Mpk]

There's still two of them! If you're going to count teams then add the Stamper and Pickford brothers, Denton Designs, Platinum Productions, Realtime Games, Design Design, Walking Circles, Special FX, Enigma Variations, RamJam, Big Red and WASP.

If the teams are static, then sure.

I'd add the Microsphere guy : David S. Reidy

[PeteProdge]

Firelord

Eh?