NESmaker is a new program that allows anyone, regardless of game development experience, to create their very own Nintendo Entertainment System game to use and play in an actual NES. Similar in concept to the RPG Maker series (but by different people), this program is far more flexible and deep.
NESmaker will allow you to not just create RPG’s, but platformers, shoot-em-ups, adventure games, and anything else you could think of that came to Nintendo’s original home console. The way it works is you use the program to design graphics, edit text, create assets, and customize AI with the help of a tool that takes care of the underlying coding.
In fact, the original team behind NESmaker have no experience with programming whatsoever. Because of this, the program is able to allow a simple way for anyone to create their own game for the NES. Every decision and change you make is shown visually to you, so you know exactly how it will look inside the game.
Once you’ve tested your game on an emulator and completely perfected it, you can flash it to an actual cartridge using Kazzo to be played on any NES. If you aren’t interested in creating your own real NES cartridge, you can simply share the ROM file for use in various emulators.
If you’re interested in getting your hands on NESmaker, head over to the official Kickstarter page where it still has 27 days to go as of publishing. In just a few days, the Kickstarter has already met its goals with a few stretch goals still yet to be met. It costs $36 USD for the software alone with extra backer levels available for those looking to get the hardware toolkit and more.
