Keeping the blog alive – Part 4 – Welcome to Brataccas

Brataccas is one of those games that you either loved or hated. A few people have written me and while seeming like a fan have complained about the impossible controls. Others have written me and shared the common experience of picking up that mouse and becoming Kyne once again. Brataccas had an open world with a straight forward goal. It was perfect in nearly every aspect.

Over the years I have built up a website and pursued the extraction of all of the graphics from the game. Unfortunately, I always fall short of achieving this goal. Several times people have written me with a great deal of interest in the game and claimed that they had the skill to disassemble the game and extract the graphics. Even with my offering people money to take on the task it always ends the same way. That energized and interested person always asks, why not just screenshot it. Anyone that knows Brataccas would know that this is a silly suggestion. There are too many characters and not enough hours in the day. With that said however, I have realized that it is very unlikely that I will ever find someone to hire that can actually handle the disassembly project. So, I have landed upon the screenshot solution.

My goal, over the next few years, is to attempt to collect enough screenshots to reassemble the game. At first I will most likely assemble a walk through version in AGS. I think the AGS engine is more than capable of handling the sword fights and AI. With my improved programming skills over the years I don’t even feel that the real challenge is creating the game. The real challenge is ripping those sprites. Once I have created a 1:1 copy of the game in AGS I will start to assemble a sequel to the game. Of all the games ever created, I truly believe that Brataccas deserves a fan sequel.

The biggest part of that project, once again, is getting the graphics. Of course, once I have done so I will share them with the rest of the world. Hopefully, many others will beat me to the first Brataccas fan game.

later,
-junc