Hello, my name is Roy Kelly, Chief Technical Designer of Coramed Studios, an amateur and little-known game design studio operating outside of Atlanta. I am an up-and-coming designer who is familiar with a few engines such as the Source engine, Unity, GameMaker and 3DX. I am here today for a few reasons, but I'll start with the simplest: I wish to create a 2D RPG horror game with that "pixelated" style of graphics many other game designers of this genre are so fond of. I have the idea down, the storyline, characters, and the dialogue. I only lack one thing: an engine to create it with! As embarrassing as this may seem for someone like me, I do not know where to find a 2D pixelated game engine of any type. I am operating on a very limited budget, so one that costs very little or is free would be appreciated. If you have any suggestions/information as to where I can find a 2D game creator engine, please do not hesitate to tell me.

Now, on to the game itself:

Name: The Curse of Waterloo

Description: You play as Maris Louise, second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. It is barely 4 hours since the Battle of Waterloo formerly ended. Worried sick and fearful of the Prussians who still occupy Versailles, you travel across France to the Waterloo site to search for your husband. Accompanied by Christofor Nicolai, a French spy, and two soldiers of the Old Guard, you make your way across valley and plain, only to make a horrifying discovery. Not only is Napoleon missing, but a ring of British spymasters have hatched a sinister plot against all of France. The formula for the famed Philosophers Stone has been stolen off of Marshal Ney, Napoleons most trusted officer, and they plan to use it in order to gain the ultimate power: the ability to grant life. With no time to retreat to Paris to call upon the Grande Army, and no hope for your missing husband, you and Nicolai must brave the powers exceeded only by the gods...alone.

Thank you for your time and due consideration. If anyone finds a 2D game creator engine with pixelated graphics, please tell me. And don't be afraid to offer your opinion on the game idea: criticism is as equally rewarding as praise.

-R.K

First my opinion on the plot. Since I have love with the intensity of a thousand suns for history I must say I find the plot not bad at all. Of course, it is not world shattering new, but at least it is an angle that I cannot say I have come across so far. However, that may be because I am not that fond of the zombie horror genre. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just not my cup of tea.

Though as someone who loves history I must point out that you seem to have mixed up the end of the Napoleonic Wars with the end of the Franco-Prussian War (Known in France as the War of 1870). At the end of the Napoleonic Wars while the Prussians did invade and occupy Paris, they never held, as far as I am aware and the accounts I have read so far, Versailles, which is approxiamtely 30 kilometers from Paris. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War they once again invaded Paris and to add humiliation to injury not only occupied the world-famed Versailles but crowned the newly created German Emperor in its hallowed halls. Though that is a minor detail within your story, no?

However, the main reason why I felt the urge to respond to your post, was the fact you wish to create a pixilated zombie game. Personally, I think this kind of presenting a game has been overdone and adds in most cases little added value to the whole experience. To chose for this type you say you wish to emulate the experience people had at the beginning of the gaming industry when all was 8 and later 16-bit technology. A true retro experience for the old and experienced gamer. Thus I wonder is this your targeted audience, this little niche that enjoys to relive those old days or not? Personaly, I think for a small up-and-coming game studio it would be better to target a more mainstream audience and really work at its technology to showcase what they can do in todays world.

Nonetheless, continue the good work. The world never has enough games!

Note: All mentioned above is purely my own opinion and hold no objective value whatsoever.

You could easily do without an engine.

Back when I prototyped a game system in that genre, it took me roughly 3 months of spare time to get the basic movement/collision/render into place, and I was starting on events, etc. I did everything myself because my budget was limited as well, and I had no time constraint. Not having to pay for an engine really helped, and besides, there were lots of custom stuff that I wanted to do that I didn't see in other engines.

However, I've also heard good things about Torque 2D, if you're interested.

You could also look through those other same-kind games and check their engine(s), i would expect most of them to be rather cheap if you make an offer.

Not sure what you mean by "2D pixelated graphics". Maybe write everything in one of those 3D engines you know an apply a pixelating shader on top of it?