Thicket Creator

Waystone: RPG Creation Studio vs RPG Maker MZ ​

Coming from RPG Maker? Most of what you know carries over. Here's what stays the same, what's built in instead of bought as plugins, and where RPG Maker is still ahead.

Waystone: RPG Creation Studio is coming to Steam Early Access and itch.io. Everything below describes it as it launches, unless it says "coming".

What stays the same ​

  • Events with pages: each page switches on when its conditions are met, the way you're used to.
  • A database: heroes, items, skills, states, enemies and troops.
  • Front view and side view battles, turn-based or active time.
  • Pay once, sell your games: no royalties and no revenue cap.
  • Readable engine source ships with the editor, and you can write, share and sell your own scripts.

Built in, not bought as plugins ​

  • More battle styles: cell view, seamless battles on the map and action RPG are planned during Early Access. Each one is free to everyone who already owns Waystone. Plans can change.
  • Branching dialogue on a graph, instead of nested choice commands.
  • Map layers in folders, with opacity, lock and hide, plus auto-tiles, prefabs and tile height, so the party walks behind treetops.
  • Custom collision shapes per tile, not just passable or blocked.
  • An optional AI assistant in the editor that helps you write your logic: off by default, with your own key.

What's different under the hood ​

  • A native game, not a browser in a box. RPG Maker MZ games run inside a bundled web browser (NW.js). Waystone games run on a native runtime.
  • Native builds for Windows and macOS, plus Linux, which RPG Maker MZ doesn't export to. Web, Android and iOS come later; MZ has those today.
  • Your scripts and art aren't in plain sight. Waystone games ship compiled and encrypted. MZ games ship their code as readable JavaScript.
  • Real code under every event. Pick commands from the palette like you always have; each one writes ThicketScript you can open and change. Scripts wait for the player on their own and a parallel block runs several moves at once, so cutscenes read top to bottom. await is optional, even inside them, and Promise.all and callbacks still work. Logic such as conditions and branches means writing some code yourself, so basic coding helps.

Where RPG Maker MZ is ahead ​

  • It's out now, and has years of tutorials, plugins and a big community behind it.
  • Built-in art and music: MZ ships a large library. Waystone's samples use placeholder art, so you bring your own.
  • Web and phones today. Waystone's web, Android and iOS builds come later.

Questions ​

Can I bring my RPG Maker project over? ​

No. Maps, events and the database are rebuilt in Waystone. Art you made yourself, or third-party art whose licence allows it, can come with you. RPG Maker's own bundled art is licensed for RPG Maker games only, so it can't come along.

Do I need to learn a new language? ​

Some. Every event is ThicketScript, which reads much like the JavaScript MZ plugins are written in. The palette writes most commands for you.

Where can I see the full comparison? ​

The comparison chart on rpgcreationkit.com also covers GameMaker and Godot.

RPG Maker MZ details are from its public pages, checked October 2026. RPG Maker is a trademark of Kadokawa.

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