Retro Puzzle Maker: The easiest way to make an NES game!

Retro Puzzle Maker is an amazing little free game engine. It's a web-based tool that allows you to make Sokoban style games that output as playable NES ROM files. The engine is code-free and any beginner can use it, and while means that while you can't change much in terms of the type of game you're making, there are some variations to the level goals you can select and a robust level editor to make the game feel like a creation that you yourself have made.

When you first arrive at the homepage for Retro Puzzle Maker, you have the option of starting a new game, or loading a creation you've previously worked on if you've downloaded your game as a .json file before. Clicking on the new game option will let you enter basic info like the title before picking your main character from a large premade selection as well as the type of game tiles you'd like to use to build your game. Both your game character and the game tiles can be completely replaced with your original art however, as long as it follows the capabilities of the NES. The 'graphics' section of the game lets you change all of those, as well as gives you an FAQ on what you'll need if you want to supply your own graphics.

There are three gameplay styles you can choose from. The most basic is simply get to the exit to get to the next level. The second is pushing all boxes into holes, then getting to the exit. The third is collecting all coins on the screen, then getting to the exit. All the gameplay styles are played from a top-down perspective and are single screen levels. You can have up to 64 levels in your game, so you can make these pretty meaty if you'd like!

I decided to try making a Christmas themed game last year just to see how the engine worked and was quite happy with the experience. First off, I changed all the graphics to be Christmas or Wintery themed. I chose the 'collect all the coins' style of gameplay, only in my game's story, you're Santa's helper snowman and you're trying to collect all the presents and put them at the tree, the tree being the exit for each stage after collecting the coins.

The editor gives you several types of tiles to use in your level design to make things interesting. There's the crates you can push into holes, and after you do the hole is filled and can be walked across. There are also ice tiles which make your character slide across all of them until they land on a different style tile or run into a wall. There are lock tiles that require you to get a key. And there are tiles that can be walked over once but then collapse into a hole after you do so you can't go back. Using all of these you can make some pretty unique style levels!

You can upload your own custom music as well, but making NES music is something that I have an interest in learning more about, but is still currently out of my wheelhouse. Luckily it has five built in songs with some variety in tone.

There's a simple sidebar to the left of the screen letting you access all the different parts of the game easily. Level editor, graphics, music, title screen, end screen, hud info is all there and with some simple documentation to answer any questions you might have. There's also a 'play' button on the left, and at any time you can try your NES game right in the browser.

Overall this is a great little engine for making a small puzzle game (or, if you use all 64 levels, a quite large puzzle game). I've seen a number of NES games pop up on itch.io that are clearly made using it, and there's even a tag available now to search for them. Speaking of which, I put my game, Santa's Snowman, up on itch.io, so give it a try! The ROM is also available to download for free, so you can play it in your browser or on your emulator of choice.