Thicket Creator
Top-down pixel-art illustration of a JRPG town at dusk: a party of three in a square with a fountain, a shop, an inn and a glowing rune waystone.

Illustration

Coming to Steam Early Access

Waystone: RPG Creation Studio

Make the 16-bit JRPG you grew up with, without writing an engine.

A studio for top-down, grid-based 2D RPGs. Overworld, towns, dungeons and battles, all in one editor. The games you make run on ThicketScript.

Coming to SteamComing to itch.io

Launch price $49.99. Pay once. No royalties.

What you can make

The whole JRPG loop, in one editor.

Paint your maps, fill your database, place your events, then press Play. From the first town to the final boss, on an orthogonal grid, seen from the top down.

  1. Overworld and fields

    Paint tile maps and connect them into one world.

  2. Towns

    Place people, doors and events that talk, give and react.

  3. Shops and inns

    Merchants that buy and sell, and a place to rest.

  4. Battles

    Heroes, troops, skills, states, items and battle AI.

  5. Dungeons

    Chests, locked doors and switches.

  6. Bosses

    Boss phases and battle AI rules for the big fights.

The map editor

A map editor made for RPGs.

Built from scratch for tile worlds. Paint fast, layer freely, and watch your towns come alive.

  • Layers you can think in

    Floor, detail and overhead layers, folders, opacity, lock and hide. Every change undoable.

  • Auto-tiles, your way

    The classic 15-tile template, or a 4-corner mode that needs far less art. Mix both in one tileset.

  • Tiles that come alive

    Animated water, torches and flowers, set up in the tileset editor. No scripting.

  • Ground that feels real

    Collision, slopes and height per tile, and feet that sink into grass and water.

  • Prefabs for the big pieces

    Drop in trees, buildings and furniture. Your hero walks behind the treetops.

  • Events where they happen

    Paint doors, chests, people, encounter zones and music zones right on the map.

Events, your way

Every event is real code. You write it, with help.

Pick commands from the palette. Each one explains what it does, gives you a form, and inserts the line for you. Logic like conditions and branches you write yourself.

An AI assistant is coming to help with that logic. It's optional and off by default, uses your own API key, and only writes code. Already use an AI coding tool? thicket mcp lets it work with your project too.

That code is ThicketScript, a language built from the ground up to make games. Editors never unlock language features: everything an editor does, you can do in plain ThicketScript.

Illustration of the command palette, not a screenshot

Battles and what's next

Turn-based at launch. Real-time action on the way.

Early Access is where it begins. Here is what it opens with, and a glimpse of what follows.

At Early Access launch
  • Front view and side view battles
  • Turn-based and ATB timing
  • Skills, states, items and battle AI
  • Dialogue with portraits and choices

On the way

A few of the things we're building next, in no particular order.

  • Fights where you meet them

    Seamless, real-time battles right on the map.

  • Action RPG combat

    Free movement, hit boxes and charge attacks.

  • A world that moves

    Smooth 8-way movement, a party that follows, enemies that notice and chase.

  • Branching conversations

    Dialogue trees with their own editor, speech bubbles and expressions.

And that's just the start.

Early Access pricing

$49.99

Launch price

Get it early, before the price goes up.

The price goes up as features are added, to $79.99 at version 1.0. Buy early and get new features as they land. One copy per person using the editor.

Coming to SteamComing to itch.io

Plans can change. Prices and the order of features may shift during Early Access.

Your games are yours

Pay once. Sell your games.

  • No royalties

    Sell what you make. We take nothing from your sales.

  • No revenue cap

    No limit on how much your game earns. No subscription, no tiers.

  • ThicketScript included

    The language and runtime inside Waystone is free and bundled at no extra cost.

Built to ship

Native games, not a browser in a box.

Waystone games run on a native runtime. Everything you need to build comes inside the editor, so there is no compiler and no toolchain to install.

  • Coming

    Your icon and version, automatically

    Your game's icon and version stamped into its Windows executable. No hand-editing.

  • Coming

    An optional single-file .exe

    Ship your Windows game as one file.

  • Coming

    Not in plain sight

    Your scripts ship as compiled bytecode, with your assets packed and encrypted. Harder to rip than plain files.

Gallery

See it in action soon.

Real screenshots and the trailer are coming. Until then, these illustrations show what each one will cover.

Illustrated poster for the Waystone: RPG Creation Studio trailer, which is coming soon.
Illustration Trailer coming soon
Illustrated stand-in for a screenshot of the Waystone: RPG Creation Studio map editor.
Illustration The map editor
Illustration of a front-view JRPG battle: a moss golem, a three-tailed fox spirit and a lantern mushroom creature facing the player in a forest.
Illustration A front view battle
Top-down illustration of a JRPG world map with a castle, a port town, a cave, a dark tower and a party on the road.
Illustration A world map
Top-down illustration of a torch-lit dungeon with a locked door, a lever, chests, slimes, a skeleton and a party exploring.
Illustration A dungeon
Top-down illustration of a castle throne room with guards, banners and a king, as a party approaches.
Illustration A throne room
Top-down illustration of a forest field map with a pond, a hidden chest and a party resting by a campfire.
Illustration A forest camp
Illustrated stand-in for a screenshot of the command palette.
Illustration The command palette
Illustrated stand-in for a screenshot of the database editor.
Illustration The database

FAQ

Questions, answered.

More about the language in the ThicketScript FAQ.

Release notes, with an RSS feed, go on the Waystone: RPG Creation Studio releases page.

Is it out yet?

Not yet. Waystone is coming to Steam Early Access and itch.io, at the same price on both, and will be sold here on Thicket Creator too. It is published by Phanxgames.

Do I need to know how to code?

Some, yes. Every event is real ThicketScript code. The palette inserts commands for you, but logic such as conditions and branches means writing some code yourself, so basic coding (if statements and the like) helps. An AI assistant is coming to help you write it inside the editor. It is optional and off by default, uses your own API key, and only writes code.

Can I sell the games I make?

Yes. Pay once, sell your games. No royalties and no revenue cap. ThicketScript, the language and runtime inside, is bundled and free.

Do I pay again when new features are added?

No. Early buyers get new features as they land. The price for new buyers goes up as features are added, to $79.99 at version 1.0.

How does the licence work?

One copy per person using the editor, so a five-person team buys five copies. Players of your game need nothing. The full licence text comes with the first release.

What platforms does it support?

The editor is a desktop app, built on Linux first. Game builds for Windows, macOS and Linux are coming. Web and mobile builds are on the roadmap.

Can I write plugins?

Yes. The engine source comes with the editor, read-only, so you can read it, learn from it and extend it through the script API. You can share or sell your own scripts and add-ons, as long as they don't include engine source.

Does Waystone: RPG Creation Studio add anything ThicketScript can't do?

No. Editors never unlock language features: everything an editor does, you can do in plain ThicketScript. Waystone saves you time.

Waystone: RPG Creation Studio

Your JRPG, from title screen to final boss.

Coming to Steam Early Access. Be there from the first chapter.

Coming to SteamComing to itch.io