Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension
A new “visual engine” has been released which should mean even more homebrew games will become available for the Mega Drive / Genesis.
MD Engine has been forked from the popular GB Studio, and has been created “to enable users with minimal or no programming knowledge to make games,” according to the team behind it.
Here’s some more info:
“It uses a visual scripting system. The engine also features several tools to make it easier to convert images and fonts to be usable with the engine. More advanced users can work directly with the engine C code and extend it with plugins. The engine can generate ROM files that can be run on an emulator or real hardware, as well as HTML5 web page versions, Windows Desktop versions, and Steam-enabled Desktop versions.
The engine also features several quality-of-life improvements if the games are run with the Desktop exports, such as Wide-screen mode, removal of sprite limits, and CRT effect, which can be enabled by the user at will.”
The Mega Drive/Sega Genesis ecosystem is getting even richer! MDEngine, another huge addition for developers is coming soon. Tremendous work from @twoblackcatsx ! 🙌 https://t.co/oy28hOo370— _fabianodigital_ (@_fabdigital_) October 17, 2025
If you fancy digging around the documentation for MD Engine, you can do so here. As for support for the 32X and Sega CD, the team says the current focus is on the base Mega Drive / Genesis, but isn’t ruling out both being supported in the future.
Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media’s sites from an editorial perspective. He’s also the editor of Time Extension, the network’s newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming’s past glories.