I'm working on my first real game. I've done smaller projects, but I really want to tackle a more complicated project. This will feature a 2D style game, with an overhead view similar to Zelda: LTTP.

I am looking to include:
Pixel art

Tiling
Lighting Effects (mostly will be focused around moving character, but should bend around other objects)
I'd like to make it playable on a phone device or game system.
(I'm sure there is more, but I'm blanking out. It is a simple game aside from the lighting effects portion).


Anyone able to give advice of perhaps languages and other tools I should use before I get knee deep into this project? Should I use C++, Java, C, Python... perhaps dealing with SDL, OpenGL, DirectX, etc?

It wouldn't be a good idea to tell you what to use, since I don't really know your needs.

So, I'll just name some technologies so you can look them up yourself and make your mind through your own research.

And please, don't limit yourself to these I listed.

Solarus-Games.org (This one is highly specialized for this type of games)

Angel2D.org

Haxe.org

Love2D.org

Game-Editor.com

and the good old SDL, SFML or Allegro trio.

But, as a side note, I don't recommend going for OpenGL or DirectX if all you've done is small projects. Unless you really like graphics programming.

AHH! Thanks, that was the other thing I was going to mention. I'd prefer to do more of the programming than using something like GameMaker, but I am open to checking out these other programs.

AHH! Thanks, that was the other thing I was going to mention. I'd prefer to do more of the programming than using something like GameMaker, but I am open to checking out these other programs.

All of these require at least some programming, but certainly SDL would be the more programming intensive I listed (I guess).

Actually, Löve2D is just a programming framework, while Haxe is an actual programming language.

Angel2D is a full C++ game engine.

The last three are more of a general use engines, counting with multimedia, input, networking... But that give you full control on how things are done.

Only Game-Editor is a "game making tool", but it doesn't make it inferior.

Ive had luck with Torque2D as well. Super powerful, great renderer, great editor, cross platform, open source, multiple IDE compatibility, and can make entire games just with using the built in scripting language: TorqueScript.

Its worth a look if your still poking around for tech stacks.

Thanks for your replies. I'll keep researching them if you keep posting them.

Ive had luck with Torque2D as well. Super powerful, great renderer, great editor, cross platform, open source, multiple IDE compatibility, and can make entire games just with using the built in scripting language: TorqueScript.

Its worth a look if your still poking around for tech stacks.

I can +1 for Torque2D, as it is free and under the X11 license. And it is also a really high quality product, as it used to be a paid and fully commercial solution before.

Just keep in mind that it's cross platform, but limited; it can only target Windows, Mac and iOS devices.

If you only want iThings, then it is the wat to go! But if you want to target Android devices, I'd probably recommend Haxe over Torque2D.

If you only want iThings, then it is the wat to go! But if you want to target Android devices, I'd probably recommend Haxe over Torque2D.

Actually if you want iThings and 'Droid publishing, it aint super cheap or anything, but Unity3D published to ALL THE THINGS! Despite the name, the new version of Unity offers a full suite of 2D Game Dev tools, including sprite editors, with the added benefit of being able to write your game using Javascript, C#, and/or Boo (its like Python).

Unity Standard itself is free, Pro costs $1,500 but can publish to ALL mobile devices (iOS, Android, WinPho8, and Blackberry) as well as Desktop platforms like Windows, OSX, and Linux, and even Browser (kind of like flash, the end user would need a plugin) under the exact same code base.

It's seriously the king of Multiplatform for Indies.

Personally myself, I just don't like using it very much. It's a great tool, very powerful, VERY approachable, VERY compatible asset pipeline (can read native 3D Suite save files, no exporters needed), and uses MonoDevelop to write your code in. I just find it's not exactly my "style" so to speak, but its used in personal, indie, and professional environments alike.

And of course, you can dev your game in the freee version, and pay the cost of Pro for publishing when the funds can be acquired to do so (Kickstarter? Private Investment? Pocket Change?)

Actually if you want iThings and 'Droid publishing, it aint super cheap or anything, but Unity3D published to ALL THE THINGS!

That is certainly an option, but I would personally opt for Haxe in this case.

I just mentioned that Torque2D lacks android since he is planning on mobile targets, so it needs to be considered.

Actually if you want iThings and 'Droid publishing, it aint super cheap or anything, but Unity3D published to ALL THE THINGS!

That is certainly an option, but I would personally opt for Haxe in this case.

I just mentioned that Torque2D lacks android since he is planning on mobile targets, so it needs to be considered.

At that point, I'd probably sooner recommend Xamarin Studio. Same concept, but instead of its own language, it uses Mono (C# .NET) to compile to all mobile and desktop devices. The benefit being that there would be a ton of resources out there for C# support, like StackOverflow

It also supports Visual Studio if you dont want to use the "Xamarin Studio" aspect (which is just a modified version of MonoDevelop)