From the forum issue 102

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

This month I'd like to know who your favourite Spectrum developer was.

[merman]

Mel Croucher... Because he tried something different.

[Scapegoat]

Obvious choice: Ultimate, they set the bar massively high early on, consistently raised the bar with almost every release and precious few ever came close to catching up.

[the_hawk]

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't Ultimate, however for sheer consistency of quality Durell Software are hard to beat. Harrier Attack, Scuba Dive, Saboteur I & 2, Critical Mass, Thanatos & of course Turbo Esprit. One of the few software houses you could trust to buy a game from without reading a review first!

[jdanddiet]

For me Incentive, consistent and groundbreaking.

[ipmarks]

Predictably it is Ultimate.
From Jetpac to Knight Lore they just made the Spectrum do seemingly impossible tasks, and in such a smooth and polished way. I can actually remember the sheer awe I felt on first loading up Knight Lore, and the sheer disbelief that my computer was playing a game that good.

Yes they went wrong at the end, with too many isometric rehashes... but who cares when their early output was so fantastic.

[DreamcastRIP]

Dominic Robinson and Stephen Crow (together & independently) for the likes of Uridium, Zynaps, Flying Shark, Eliminator, Firelord and Starquake.

[webding]

Imagine/Denton Designs for me. Most people would say Ultimate, but games like Target: Renegade, The Great Escape and Where Time Stood Still were the only titles to make me ever (briefly) question my decision to stick with the Commodore when my sister's hand-me-down 64 bust and I needed to buy another micro.

[The Laird]

Damn hard one that but I am going to go with Probe, specifically Dave Perry who continually managed to push the basic 48k spectrum and prove that you can do colour without clash with games like Savage, Dan Dare 3 and Teenage Multant Hero Turtles.

[themightymartin]

Ocean/Imagine Software for me, purely for their excellent port of Renegade and its homegrown sequel.

[pantal00ns]

Trust the Hawk to fly in and pick off Durell first.

Although with a little more thought it would go to Gargoyle Games. Not a turkey among them, just a dog named Scooby Doo. Tir Na Nog just blew me away when I first got my hands on it.

[DreamcastRIP]

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.

[Morkin]

Was it Bubble Bus Software that were responsible for Starquake? If so, I'll go with them. Or Pete Cooke for the awesome Urban Upstart. Or Sandy White for Ant Attack.

[RichL]

For me...Elite.

I only had my speccy for a bit before moving to a C64 so I ended up with Commando and Frank Brunos Boxing so I have to vote for them!

[joefish]

For me it would be Jonathan 'Joffa' Smith. A technical genius on the Spectrum and creator of my favourite game, Hysteria. Proud to have known him - all too briefly - and to carry on keeping the Speccy alive.