Cave Story Development Tools

Can anyone tell me what programs Daisuke Amaya used to create Cave Story and where if possible I can get them? I'm currently still making my way through the game for the first time but its really inspired me with a feverish desire to finally take a stab at making a game of my own. All help no matter how trivial is appreciated here.

P.S (Egg Corridor music FTW! Level 3 Machine Gun Levitation FTW!)

 

He programmed his own game engine in C++,
But my advice dude would be to try this,
http://www.yoyogames.com/

There's lots of examples to play around with on the site
It's pretty easy to use but can be very powerful!

 

I believe there are downloads for level editors in a subsection of the main page of the Tribute site (there is a link to the main page on the forums home page).
Or just use this to get there faster.

I'm not an editor myself, but some people here are really good at making mods, and I believe there was a thread titled Quick Modding/Hacking Answers Thread. That should help.

Oh and JetHawk, a penpal of mine in 5th grade (we were in 5th grade when he was my penpal) said he took some credit in creating that site.

 

Small world eh?

 

Pixel used Microsoft Visual C++ IDE and the Microsoft DirectX api to program the game
For a graphics editor, he currently uses a program called Edge2 (google it)
He created a custom stage editor for his own use
He created a custom sound effect editor and format for his own use
He created a custom music format and editor for his own use

 

Wow, you guys are great! Everything I was hoping for and more!

Since your all so helpful maybe I should just describe the project I'm planning out and you can recommend resources for me?

Think...

Real Time Action Exploration (hence the affinity to Cave Story)
But in a top down roguelike form, a sort of cross between Zelda and Nethack
Actually, the roguelike elements would be more influenced by Zombie Survivor and Dwarf Fortress, in that I'd want to have a persistent dynamic game world with simulated npcs, day and night cycles...
All within a general narrative framework (autonomous quests, cut scenes, etc)

I know this is a very tall order (Yes, I'm certainly punching far above my weight class here) but I'm taking into account the fact that this would be a commitment of many years.

Thanks again!