Driller Engine

"Driller Engine can help you make better games faster and quicker. No more having to write large amounts of code!"

- Official attention grabber

Driller Engine (ドリラーエンジン) is a game development tool created by Hiroshi Takajima and Kenjirou Nasaya formerly for the Commodore Amiga but now available on the main operating systems. The engine is designed to have beginners and novice computer users, and especially children, make video games without having to learn a complex programming language like C++ or Python.

Almost all Drillimation games were made using Driller Engine, using programming actions combined with the Driller Engine Scripting Language. Originally intended to be an animation program to animate the anime, Takajima chose to make a game development system instead to develop the original Mr. Driller game. Several notable franchises, including Touhou Project and To Heart, as well as several legendary games by Seymour Games in the 1990s, saw their start on Driller Engine. The program can also export to consoles and other operating systems easily without reverse engineering.

After an initial success with the program, several third-party manufacturers, as well as independent developers, began using Driller Engine for game development. Driller Engine was also very popular in the demoscene throughout the 1990s, with its features attracting some notable demogroups such as Future Crew. Several notable music artists such as Skaven and Purple Motion were also attracted to the engine.

Kisekae Editor
First introduced in Driller Engine 2, the Kisekae Set System, often abbreviated as KiSS, is an editor used for creating characters in Driller Engine-based games. Kisekae is short for kisekae ningyou (着せ替え人形); a Japanese term meaning "dress-up dolls". Unlike standard computer art which creates or displays traditional art via a computer, the KiSS uses the computer as the medium, allowing the character to be not only be animated but can also be exported into interactive sprites/models for use in-game.

FMOD system
Used in all Driller Engine versions, the FMOD system supports all major sound formats and even includes the ability to play Protracker (.mod), Scream Tracker (.s3m), FastTracker (.xm), Impulse Tracker (.it), and even .mo3 files.

Intro animation
Driller Engine is famous for their intro movies, which are short animations that showcase the capabilities of Driller Engine by various characters.

Driller Engine 2
First appearing in the Driller Engine 2.1 revision, the intro is broken up into several segments that showcase the capabilities of the engine.

Driller Engine 3
In early versions, there is no music, just the word "Welcome" in numerous languages flying towards the screen, accompanied by the text, "We'll have you up and developing in no time." In later versions, it is basically the same thing but with Flower Viewing Mound ~ Higan Retour from Touhou 9: The Phantasmagoria of Flower View playing in the background.

Driller Engine 4
The intro animation features a raindrop from a leaf falling into an ocean in a sunset setting, with Western Sunset Vignette from Driller Engine Grand Prix 3 playing in the background, as the word "Welcome" shows up in many languages again.

Driller Engine 5
The intro animation features the camera panning across islands featuring welcome signs in various languages, while Beloved Tomboyish Girl in Love from Touhou 6: The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil plays in the background.

Reception
Driller Engine has been critically successful and acclaimed. Seymour Games was one of Drillimation's first licensees for the program. Shortly after Seymour's debut with Driller Engine, other game studios across the Vlokozu Union was using it as well. By the late 2000s, almost every game studio there was using Driller Engine.