Looty V2: so... what's all this nonsense about then?

"What on earth is this horrid looking thing?" I hear you cry. Yes, you!

For those who follow me on Twitter (as @retrotechtive), it would already be apparent: this was my resurrection of an ancient game I wrote in 1993 using Blitz 2 BASIC (I started a version in assembly, but Blitz was so much fun I dropped that version to learn that at the time).

It's an homage to the classic ZX Spectrum game, Booty, by John F Cain. I'm sure many fans of that game will have many reasons to criticize my imitation of it, and that's fair enough!

So why re-release it after all this time? Why not let it die with the creaking Assassins PD disks it once lived on?

My main intention was to get back into hobby coding. These days, I'm a professional C++ software engineer with 20+ years of experience behind me - but I don't do any personal projects anymore. I wanted to remember what got me started on all this - and then stumbled across the source code for Looty.

I also have recently acquired some old Amigas (and also a Vampire V4) as part of an interest in older technology, and the two things just simply blended.

I re-familiarized myself with Blitz, then my code (some of which is pretty horrendous! Other bits, surprisingly not!). Then of course, being a coder, I just had to correct some of the more egregious errors I'd made back then.

And then it occurred to me.

I had never been happy with the graphics of this game. Sure, other aspects could definitely do with work too - but the graphics were just... As someone on a recent YouTube video of the game put it: "Blearchh!!!"

I agree. But I'm also an utterly appalling "artist" (well, yes you can all see that, right?) - so...

Why not re-release the patched up game, with the Level Designer I wrote too, and see who might want to help make it all better?

I've been away from the Amiga for a long, long time, so I could be naïve here of course - but involving people to take this moldy old potato and turn it into a prize stallion (or, er, something...) seemed like a very cool way to get people involved in retro development.

I hope this is enough to inspire some of you reading this - even if it's because one look at this horror makes you want to make something better!

It's all good, as long as it's constructive. So why not lend a hand?

Attached is an Excel spreadsheet with the current graphic object dimensions (I'm flexible if a justified need for change is required, but this at least gets everyone started). Take a look, grab Deluxe Paint (or Personal Paint, etc), and see what you can do!

There's probably no money in it (I mean, it's a Booty clone! Even if it was perfect, this would probably be true in the modern world). But I promise to add you to the credits, share your masterpieces as they deserve, and - if they really work out - add them to the game.

Bah, you don't even need to involve me if you don't want to - just drop your graphics into the LootyGfx folder on the ADF and share it yourself. Even comical, strange or Halloween variants, it's up to you!

Hopefully, this has inspired some of you to try. The barrier to entry is low - and we really can't put up with those "programmer graphics", now can we? ;)

Good luck!

MixelSoftware

aka @retrotechtive