cidoku's Earthbound Engine

Posted 2017-03-09. Last updated 2022-04-04.

I've worked on this mess of spaghetti code since 2011 and I'm finally going to release it to the public. It features most of your favorite Earthbound idiosyncracies like:

A complete Earthbound-styled battle system (with rolling HP meters and animated distorted backgrounds!)
All PSI from Earthbound!
Fully working and editable overworld, NPCs and a simple dialogue system (now with questions!)
Fully working inventory, equipment, PSI, and stats system!
Caterpillar movement (party members follow you around!)
Water, hot-springs, presents, stairs, ladders, shops, ATM machines, and instant revitalizing devices!
A complete saving and loading system!
A main menu with a key config screen!
Window flavors and an Earthbound-styled naming sequence!
And many more things I'm forgetting about, maybe!

It's an enhanced version of what's featured in the 2015 demo video.

Let me download it, lad! I'll study it and learn how it works, I swear. I also swear to read the README script in the scripts folder!

Sure, I just want to apologise for the lack of comments throughout the code. But again, there are many examples that tell you how it all works. But know that this is simply not beginner friendly. Some things might be broken, too, so be warned!

GameMaker Studio 2.3 version

This version of the engine (demo video) was made and kindly shared with me by Jevilhumor and posted here with permission for the benefit of everyone. Many, many thanks! I'm unable to try it since I don't own GMS 2, so I can't help you if you run into trouble. However, this should be infinitely more accessible than the original GMS 1.4 version and will hopefully be updated as issues are ironed out. Additional thanks to Pauluigi for contacting Jevilhumor on my behalf.

License

This work is available under the MIT license, included in the download. This means you have to credit me and Jevilhumor and include a copy of the license in the games you make with it.¹

Download

Original GameMaker Studio 1.4 version

The original version of the engine should run in all versions of GMS between 1.4.1763 and 1.4.9999. Preliminary gamepad support was included but since it's very buggy, I disabled it. To enable it, uncomment the Begin Step event of objPersistent. I updated this version recently to remove unused graphics and some code I didn't own, and fix some bugs.

License

This work is available under 2 licenses -- choose whichever you prefer: MIT or public domain. This means you don't have to credit me if you choose the latter, but, of course, I would appreciate it. Read the LICENSE.txt file for more details.²

Download

Tools

This archive includes an item list editor, a textbox tester, and their sources.

Download

¹ ²Note that this only applies to the code, and most art assets might be copyrighted by Nintendo, Hekset, myself (cidoku) and other authors. In addition, I managed to make caterpillar movement and the rolling HP meter work thanks to code by Yal and TheDave, respectively, so you can credit them too, if you want.