Fahed Al-Daye dropped an email in the Ultima Codex inbox yesterday, pointing me at something new on itch.io: Sand Castle RPG Maker, listed under the account Armor Games Inc. (That name will ring a bell for anyone who grew up on Flash portals — this appears to be a separate indie account using the same words, not a verified drop from the commercial Armor Games shop, at least as far as I can tell from the page. That said, Fahed has produced a few other little games, and then across a few different genres.)

Anyway, here’s Fahed’s pitch:

Ever wanted to make an Ultima 7 game or 8, with the same power and ease of RPG Maker and Game Maker Studio? Well, you got it!! WE ARE WORKING ON IT RIGHT NOW and it is SOOOOOOOOO BEAUTIFUL. It is in super Alpha stage right now, but it does not mean I cannot share you some screenshots.

The project’s status on itch is Prototype/Tool. It’s a free listing, and as yet there is no downloadable build. A related profile note frames it as an Ultima 7 or Ultima 8-style construction set that would not need the original game files, with downloads promised once things are further along in alpha. Screenshots and a short Vimeo clip show a Book Editor (complete with a “SIR KILROY” manuscript for flavor), an event debugger, and a command palette that already includes show-text, switches/variables, conditional branches, sound/music, screen shake, day/night, palette color, and a few other staples. Another update asks the community for free Ultima 7-style sprites in exchange for future tool access. Platform ambitions on the profile are…well, ambitious (Windows, AmigaOS, MorphOS, and even PlayStation get name-checked, among others).

It’s always interesting when someone tries to bottle that Ultima 7 / Ultima 8 isometric sandbox feeling into a maker tool — Exult Studio has carried a lot of water in this regard, though at least it has had support for the original game assets to rely on. A from-scratch construction set is a different animal entirely.

Before you get too excited: this is early, the energy on the page is high, and the proof will be in a build you can actually open. It looks like an interesting engine in an embryonic state, though, and I’d be glad to post future updates here as the alpha progresses.

In the meantime, you know the drill by now: bookmark the itch page, check out the little Vimeo peek if this is your sort of thing, and if you’ve got spare sprite art to contribute, drop a comment on the project page.