My Cave Story Modding Pipeline

The order of these items occasionally changes depending on what kind of level I am currently working on, but this is more or less the order I followed when creating a very TSC-heavy quiz level:

Step 1: Asset Creation

Original Size: https://i.imgur.com/bMhkRLk.png

Using some form of art software, I will create the custom tiles or sprites that I will need for the level. For the quiz level, some background number tiles were made to serve as a visual aid for its questions.

Step 2: Tile Placement

Original Size: https://i.imgur.com/CA46uak.png

Next, I will place the tiles that make up the level within Booster's lab, one of the better Cave Story editing programs available. This initial placement will be subject to change, but for now it's important to get some actual platforms created so the next steps can take place.

Step 3: Entity Placement

Original Size: https://i.imgur.com/zz85217.png

After the tiles come the entities, which will be anything from Nulls for focusing the camera to enemies for the player to fight. For this room, there is a mixture of interactable entities to choose possible values for the math equation and Nulls to either focus the camera or set off a trigger upon reloading the game.

Step 4: TSC Creation

Original Size: https://i.imgur.com/E144Odt.png

Up next is by far the most important part of the level: the code. It is here that I string together any number of TSC commands to make the game do what I want it to, making comments as necessary to help me keep track of what does what. It is worth mentioning that this particular TSC uses a couple custom commands made by other modders, the most notable ones being those tied to <VAR, a series of commands used to store and alter variables.

Step 5: Playtesting

Original Size: https://i.imgur.com/KPjzf8Y.png

Last, but not least, there is the playtesting phase. After a small number of new changes, I will give the level a test run to make sure that everything is still working as it should be. As shown in the screenshot above, I have interacted with the 2nd switch and the game randomly chose between 3 and 6 for the 2nd value. With the system functional, I can now go back into the TSC and finish up the rest of both this room and the next couple rooms of the level.