A case maker or trial maker is an editor designed to emulate the game mechanics of the Ace Attorney games, and is used to create fan-made games in the style of the series. This page describes the most historically prominent such case makers, in alphabetical order.
Ace Attorney Casing Tool[]
The Ace Attorney Casing Tool is a case maker developed by DeBy Games. It released in July 2021.
It consists of three different standalone applications, all powered by the same framework. Asset Maker.exe is the main application and is used to manage the individual project's assets, such as characters, evidence, music & sound, and screen effects. With Code Editor.exe, the game's logic is written via a set of instructions referred to as AACS or ToolScript. The last part is DebugProject.exe, which simply allows users to quickly test their games.
After finishing a project, the user can compile the game to a standalone application. After compilation, the three components are no longer required to distribute the final game. A major disadvantage is that this case maker does not include any default assets. However, it does feature a substantial set of functions to create a detailed Ace Attorney-style fangame, with more features in development.
Ace Attorney Objection Maker[]
The Ace Attorney Objection Maker, commonly referred to by its URL objection.lol, is a website with three different apps: a "simple objection" that creates a simple scene, an "objection maker" that can create more complex scenes, and a "courtroom" for making cases that are playable directly in browsers, which was added to the website in January 2022.
Ace Attorney Online[]
Ace Attorney Online is a web-based case maker that makes and saves cases as pages in the website. The editor allows users to upload their own sprites, music, backgrounds, and sound effects into their trials. Although it lacks some of the more involved game mechanics, some users have taken advantage of the available resources to replicate them.
Attorney Online[]
Attorney Online is a multiplayer chat game in the style of the Ace Attorney series. With the help of other users, it is possible to take part in pre-made and user-created cases. It features most character sprites and can be modded to add custom content.
Ace Attorney Turnabout Creator[]
Ace Attorney Turnabout Creator is a sequence-based case maker developed by GamTam.
The project is currently in public beta, and the editor currently supports:
- Normal Sequences
- Cross Examination Sequences
- Choice Prompts
- Court Record Prompts
Features like Investigations, Psyche-Locks, and Custom Assets are planned for future updates.
easyCase 2[]
Originally developed as a GUI extension for PWLib, easyCase 2 is a graphical casemaker developed for Windows. The program is currently in beta, and is being publicly developed on a Court Records thread.
No scripting language is required, the program can compile for multiple casemaking engines through the use of plugins, and it can export games as an executable that the user can freely distribute.
PWLib (discontinued)[]
Phoenix Wright: Remnants of the Past "cover" image.
Phoenix Wright Library (PWLib) was a module for the Anime Image Game Engine, both of which were being developed by KSA_Tech. As such, it was a script-based case maker, which offered more flexibility than other case makers, but was more technically demanding. It was notable for being the first case maker to offer fully functional basic game mechanics, including game saving. It was also the only case maker that features working bracelet and 3D examination mechanics.
A notable fangame using PWLib is Phoenix Wright: Remnants of the Past, although it was in something of a "development hell". It is now considered lost media, as the download is no longer available.
PyWright[]
PyWright is a casemaker made by saluk and programmed in Python. Originally, cases made with PyWright had one screen like the Game Boy Advance games, and this feature remains as an alternate viewing mode. Historically, works like Turnabout Substitution, Phoenix Wright: Contempt of Court, and Phoenix Wright: Conflict of Interest have raised PyWright's public profile, though others have been made over the years.
The last official version is 0.988. There are two forks. The E.D.Revolution unofficial 0.989 version came bundled with Mia Fey: Ace Spirit Attorney and rofpa's final release of Phoenix Wright: Conflict of Interest. The other fork is 1.13.1 by fartherorbit. The unofficial 0.989 release is currently being used by the majority of PyWright case authors.