Developer Spotlight: Locomalito

Locomalito is a self described homebrew game developer with a bedroom as a headquarters and a pixel skull as a flag. Nevertheless, he has developed quite a few titles that are worthy of your attention, especially if you love the shoot ‘em up genre. I contacted Locomalito (he prefers to use this name as opposed to his real name in an effort to keep his real life separate from his online persona, fair enough) earlier this year with the possibility of appearing on an episode of 2 Girls 1 Game, but he declined since English isn’t his first language.

I was curious about the name he chose for himself and he informed me that he earned the name while playing  R-Type in a Spanish arcade. The game is beyond hardcore if you’ve never played, so it’s understandable his excitement as a child at reaching the final level. He said a few nearby teenagers laughed at his excitement and enthusiasm, calling him a loco-malito. If your Spanish is a little rusty, they dubbed him a crazy sick little kid. Fast forward to today, and we have little Locomalito all grown up in Andalucía, Spain and making games of his own, many of which are superbly crafted homages to the games he loved as a child.

The making of…

Locomalito’s passion for making games comes from remembering the joy he got as a child while playing in the arcade and eventually on home console systems. As technology has advanced we’ve all but forgotten the glory days of fast paced gaming with no save points, pixelated graphics, and a .midi music score. While the argument can be made that today’s games are making gamers soft with their frequent save points and lack of consequences, Locomalito is bringing back the golden age of fast paced gaming that he grew up loving.

The unique thing concerning all of Locomalito’s releases is that he goes beyond just providing a download for his games. In addition to the game, he provides posters, cover art, unused soundtracks, the making of details, and a manual. He basically creates his own collector’s edition for his games so if you enjoy what you play, you can return to his website and download all of the goodies for free. When asked why he provides all the extras for his work, his answer was because he enjoyed the extras as a child and wishes to recreate that feeling for the people who enjoy his releases.

8-Bit Killer

8-bit Killer was Locomalito’s first full game release which took him eight months to develop. It is a first person shooter set in 2488 where the human race is on the brink of extinction. A monster called the Master Brain has invaded earth and the game follows the story of the last few soldiers who are on a mission to save the rest of humanity. The music was composed by RushJet1 with awesome cover art by Marek Barej. When discussing his inspiration for the game, Locomalito said the characters and scenes are inspired by games such as Contra and Wolfenstein 3D.

It’s definitely a fun little game and takes no prisoners in the difficulty department, but it is not my favorite of his current releases. That title belongs to Hydorah, which took him over three years to develop but has garnered a wide variety of fans and press attention, deservedly so.

Hydorah

Hydorah is a shoot ‘em up that hails back to the glory days of arcade gaming with R-Type and Gradius II, the very games that Locomalito loved so much as a child. As such, Hydorah can be considered a labor of love for him as there are over 16 levels to traverse with 30 different bosses to fight, each unique in their own way. The game is considerably huge for what is essentially a 16-bit shoot ‘em up, but Locomalito reasons that gamers who enjoy this type of game will have fun from beginning to end. In regards to the game, Locomalito had this to say:

“Think of this game as a bastard son of the classics: it has the genes, but it’s not a clone of one or other. It has a lot of original content, so I hope you understand my intentions when you also notice something familiar with the old times.”

The music is absolutely fantastic and I have to commend composer Gryzor87 for fitting the theme of the game so well. Everything about Hydorah makes me feel as though I should have a box with SNES or Genesis written on it and I suppose with the materials Locomalito has supplied with the release of the game, anyone could make a boxed copy. The fact that he has captured the essence of 16-bit twitch gaming makes Locomalito an indie developer that you should definitely check out if you grew up during this golden age of gaming.

What’s he up to?

Locomalito released Hydorah in March of this year and since then things have been pretty quiet until recently. His apparent new project is a game called L’Abbaye des Morts, which explores the expulsion of the Cathars from the Languedoc region of France in the 13th century. The graphical style is 8-bit and plays similarly to games such as  Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy. When asked about his inspiration for such a theme in a game, Locomalito stated:

“This little game has been created at nights during our vacation in southern France. The whole style is spontaneous and sincere, straight out of our trips in the region during the day.”

The game is pretty unique and explores the frantic escape genre of games very well. The time period in which the game was created shows just how talented Locomalito is when it comes to getting a game finished and out the door, not to mention lovingly crafting extras to go along with all of his game releases.

While he does not consider L’Abbaye des Morts to be a full game release on par with 8-Bit Killer and Hydorah, a custom soundtrack and cover art were created for the game by Gryzor87, who did an extremely great job with the cover art.

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Have an indie developer you love and would like to see their work spotlighted on 2 Girls 1 Game? Let us know in the comments or send us an email and we’ll get in touch with your developer and hopefully feature their work for everyone else to enjoy.