Unfortunately, XW is closed-source. Usually, the open source projects based on Mirage Source are very, very buggy, and die very quickly. I prefer a bug-free engine. Even though it's less customizable, the developer has been working hard and fast with it. Right now, XW appears to be the most stable among all the current engines from this family. That is why I chose it.
Answering your questions about scripting and programming, these engines are made in Visual Basic 6, but for the in-game scripting, Sadscript (or VBscript) is used. Usually, every engine has its own subs and constants. So the scripting support varies from engine to engine. One problem with XW is that the scripting capabilities are STILL not that great. But Bradyok (the programmer) is adding more with every version.
He promised to add paperdoll as an optional feature, by the way. But this has not been seen yet. I am beginning to doubt about it.
OH! And I forgot to add that, I talked to Roph, and we can have an RMRK Universe board in the near future! It'll make community support and feedback much easier! But I won't ask for it yet. I want to finish the overall design and structure of the game before it happens. Meanwhile, you can visit the blog.
And soon, as the team grows and begins working online (as in, connected to the game
), I'll let other developers post at that blog, too. I will want a leader in every department. Mapping, Quests, etc.
What do you think?