Engineheart

A classic-style JRPG built in RPG Maker MZ — a world that runs on an ancient World-Engine whose heart is failing, and the six friends who go to fix it.

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About

Engineheart is a complete, beat-it-start-to-finish JRPG. You play Crono and gather a party of six — Addy, Thrust, Metick, Root, and the compiled construct CPP — descending from the town of Copperdell, through the Dellwood and the Maintenance Yard, down into the Old Growth, and up the Vent to the Kernel, where the World-Engine's core intelligence has forgotten why it began holding the world together.

Features an on-map quest journal + objective tracker, a labelled radar/minimap (so you never get lost), atmospheric dynamic lighting, fog and ambient particles, a full boss arc with unique battle themes, a shop, an inn, and a proper ending.

This repository is the RPG Maker MZ project source, shared so others can learn from it, poke at it, and see how it's put together.

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▶ Just want to play it?

You don't need RPG Maker or any plugins to play. Grab the ready-to-run build from the Releases page — download Engineheart-Windows.zip, unzip it anywhere, and double-click Game.exe. No install, no setup. (Everything is already bundled inside the game.)

The rest of this README is only for people who want to open the project in RPG Maker MZ and tinker with it.

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🛠️ Setting up the project source (for editing in RPG Maker MZ)

This project uses the VisuStella MZ plugin suite. Per the VisuStella Terms of Use (Article 4), their plugin code may not be redistributed, so those files are not in this repo. Everything else — maps, database, events, parameters — is here and pre-configured. You just supply your own copies of the plugins.

Step 1 — What you need

• RPG Maker MZ (Steam or the official store).
• This repository (download the ZIP, or git clone, and unzip somewhere).

Step 2 — Get the VisuStella plugins (and please support the devs 💚)

Download these 18 plugins from VisuStella.com. Keep the filenames exactly as shown (the leading tier number matters):

VisuMZ_0_CoreEngine          VisuMZ_1_OptionsCore         VisuMZ_3_VictoryAftermath
VisuMZ_1_BattleCore          VisuMZ_1_SaveCore            VisuMZ_3_MsgLetterSounds
VisuMZ_1_ElementStatusCore   VisuMZ_1_SkillsStatesCore    VisuMZ_4_WeaknessPopups
VisuMZ_1_EventsMoveCore      VisuMZ_2_BrightEffects       VisuMZ_4_VisualFogs
VisuMZ_1_ItemsEquipsCore     VisuMZ_2_QuestSystem         VisuMZ_4_VisualParallaxes
VisuMZ_1_MainMenuCore        VisuMZ_4_ProximityCompass
VisuMZ_1_MessageCore

Please support VisuStella. Some of these are free and some are paid tiers. If you use the paid ones, buy them — it's required by their license and it's the right thing to do. Free tools like this only keep existing because people who use them chip in. Support VisuStella at visustella.com / their Patreon. The same goes for any plugin author whose work you build on — credit them and pay them.

Step 3 — Drop the files in

Copy all 18 .js files into this project's js/plugins/ folder (alongside the EH_*.js plugins already there). Do not rename them and do not reorder anything.

Step 4 — Open & run

1. Double-click game.rmmzproject to open the project in RPG Maker MZ.
2. Open Tools → Plugin Manager. All plugins are already listed in the correct load order with every parameter pre-set (quests, compass, battle UI, lighting…). Nothing to configure.
3. Press Playtest (the green ▶).

Troubleshooting

• A plugin shows red / "file not found": that filename isn't in js/plugins/ yet, or it was renamed. Filenames must match the list above exactly.
• Load-order errors: don't drag plugins around in the manager — the order in js/plugins.js is already correct (tiers 0 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 4, then the EH_ plugins; EH_CompassLabels must stay after VisuMZ_4_ProximityCompass, which it already is).
• A VisuStella plugin errors on boot: make sure you have a current version from VisuStella — very old copies can mismatch the saved parameters.
• The exact parameters live in js/plugins.js, so once the files are present, everything is wired up automatically.

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🟢 Original plugins included (free, MIT-licensed)

These four were written from scratch for this project and are free for anyone to use in their own games (see js/plugins/EH_LICENSE.txt):

Plugin	What it does
EH_Lighting	Per-map darkness + coloured light sources via map notetags.
EH_Fog	Drifting layered fog overlay.
EH_Motes	Gentle glowing ambient particles (spores / embers / dust).
EH_CompassLabels	Adds readable text labels to VisuStella's Proximity Compass / minimap markers (which are icon-only by default), with auto de-collision.

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Controls

Action	Keys
Move	Arrow Keys / W A S D
Confirm / Talk	Z, Enter, Space
Cancel / Menu	X, Esc
Dash	hold Shift
Full map	Tab
Skip / fast text	hold Ctrl

The radar (bottom-right) marks Copperdell, Dellwood and the Yard; your current quest objective is tracked in the top-right.

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Credits & licensing

• Game design, maps, story, and the four EH_* plugins — this project. The EH_* plugins are released under the MIT License.
• Engine: RPG Maker MZ © Gotcha Gotcha Games / Kadokawa. Engine runtime scripts and any RTP assets remain under the RPG Maker MZ EULA and belong to their owners.
• Plugin suite: VisuStella MZ — credited as "VisuStella" per their Terms of Use. Their plugin code is not included here. Please support them at visustella.com and buy the paid tiers you use — this game wouldn't exist without their work.

You need to own RPG Maker MZ (and any paid VisuStella tiers you use) to build/run this project. The compiled game itself is freely shareable — this repo is the source.

Thanks for playing. ♥