SMBX REPLACEMENTS ON THE WAY.

The goal of VSMBX is to first recreate SMBX and then add on new features and content with far more flexibility. The V for "visual" is in reference to Visual Basic, the language I am coding this in. For now I won't be taking suggestions as my two main focuses are adding content from SMBX and maximizing performance. That's not to say I never will take suggestions in the future though, but that future is not around the corner. My course of action for adding SMBX's features is to start with Blocks, followed by BGOs, Level Settings, NPCs, and then the more complicated stuff like Layers, Events, and Game Physics. Once I have the BGOs and Level Settings complete that will probably be when the first Beta will be available to download.

I also feel like it should be noted that VSMBX will NOT be compatible with SMBX. The saving and loading will be far different than how SMBX handles saving and loading. This is mainly due to how I will make NPC codes more flexible, but that will come in time.

Welcome to our project forum, dear reader.


I shall first start by telling you a story:

In the year 2009, Andrew "Redigit" Spinks began work on game Super Mario Brothers X. Gradually the game gathered a following among fans of the Mario game series.

Perhaps, in my opinion, it is one of the best all time fan games about Mario. In-game game-plays from games such as Super Mario Bros, by Super Mario Brothers 2, SMB 3, Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda, etc. are integrated. The built-in level editor allows not only to edit levels, along with a engine to debug them in real time, but also allows the player to create full-fledged episodes with a plot!

Unfortunately in 2011, Redigit received a call from the lawyers of Nintendo*. Who threatened him, and demanded he remove SMBX and stop any further development. After some time, the supermariobrothers.org domain was also taken over by Nintendo. So such a remarkable project was killed.

But even so, it has still been played. A lot of "episodes" have been made for SMBX , and the game is still in demand. Currently the game overloads the processor to 100% even when the user is not in action.

There were attempts to revive the project, but they failed.

The main mistake - the game was published UNDER the UNTWISTED BRAND.
And Redigit was making money off SMBX with distribution of ads in installer, on forums and website. I.e. I parasitized on a brand. Therefore Nintendo didn't like this and that's why SMBX was shut down.

Now about the project
A few months ago I had a desire to recreate SMBX, and in doing so, give it a new life. The game that inspired me is called Hedgewars,a clone of the game called "Worms" by the company Team17. I decided to create a new game engine, with the source code open under the GPLv3 License.

One of the most important parts in my opinion - the project's NAME. Because of the NAME of the project, Redigit came to grief with Nintendo. Therefore the engine which I plan to publish, shan't be named "Mario", the new name will be a replacement to this. BUT, the engine will be completely compatible with SMBX, and that means: It would be possible to use SMBX files with my engine.

For this project I have decided to use Qt and SDL libraries along with С++. I want to make the engine cross-platform: for Windows, GNU/Linux, and MacOS. The project will live if it is libre, open source.

Development of a game engine - is very responsible work and therefore the time and desire for this purpose is necessary.
The very first stage - to completely research the SMBX engine, which is almost complete.
Second stage - developing the new Editor of Levels, Worlds and NPC txt user configurations.
*TangledLion's note: some people(Including myself) believe Redigit actually ABANDONED Smbx, Due to the fact Nintendo hasn't taken any more action against it.