To confirm, I left the Spectrum scene on 4th December 2018 and have no plans to return.

This site will remain in place but don't post messages for me on Spectrum Computing, World of Spectrum or elsewhere because I won't see them.  I've left Twitter and rarely visit Facebook.  I won't be writing any more Spectrum games and will be pursuing other interests.

That said, there's a little stuff still left to tidy up.  You don't write games for thirty years without creating a library of source code.  Some of that may be of use to others and I may look at zipping up and releasing some of it, probably over at my account on itch.io.  There's also an update to my book, How to Write Spectrum Games, sitting largely finished on one of my hard drives.  The updated version is basically How to Write Spectrum Games for the Absolute Beginner and in addition to the chapters in the previous version covers the machine code basics a developer needs to know to get up and running.  That needs tidying up and will also be uploaded to itch.io at some point.  There are games that are still to be released by Cronosoft too, such as Gamex 2 and others.  I'll continue to liaise with Simon about those.  Finally I feel it's my duty to continue to assist Kees and others with the multi-platform AGD where required - answering questions, fixing the odd bug etc.

It has been hard work at times but it has been challenging and more importantly, tremendous fun.  Over the years I've tried to do my little bit, for better or for worse, to help keep the ZX Spectrum alive.  Thankfully, the scene is far bigger now than it has been since the commercial era ended in 1993 and will continue to go from strength to strength without my tiny contribution.  It goes without saying that I wish the Spectrum scene the very best for the future, I just won't be part of it.

There are many good people on the Spectrum scene.  Thanks to everyone who has supported or still supports the scene, long may you continue to do so.  Good luck everyone!

Farewell!

Jonathan