Hello,

About my inclinations:

My wife is an artist using Photoshop, who says she'd love to draw for me if I ever tried creating a game. Neither of us have experience with 3D rendering like Blender though, nor programming. So being, ideally, a potential programmer and an artist, (attempting an ideal listed below), do you have any recommendations which language to learn or engine to use?
I've had my eye on Unity 5 and C#, but if someone knows why, given my situation, something else might make more sense, I'd greatly appreciate the advice. I've also wondered if Unreal is better for us or not.

I can imagine,
Ideal Game A: 2D top down Open world, stories, decisions, smart AI, factions, multiplayer (/50, /100, /200, +), pvp, pve, puzzles.
Ideal Game B: 2D top down Closed outdoor world, arena-styled game, 2 sides, lots of strategy, comparable to an RTS or MOBA game.
Ideal Game C: Some kind of hybrid between A and B.

Our game would be 2D, unless we learn how to use Blender or some such program, right?

Thank you,

Hello,

You should probably read the FAQ of this form, for some general advice as well.

My wife is an artist using Photoshop, who says she'd love to draw for me if I ever tried creating a game.

That should cover any art needs :)

do you have any recommendations which language to learn or engine to use? I've had my eye on Unity 5 and C#, but if someone knows why, given my situation, something else might make more sense

If you know some programming language, we usually advice to go with that. Games are the more complicated kind of programs, and you don't want to have to learn a new programming language at the same time.

Unity is a common choice, and should do fine. I have never used it, but it's said it also supports 2D. Unreal is another choice (never looked at that either), but you should know C++. From the discussions here, I see that both Unity and Unreal are fine choices, where Unity is the simpler to use, and Unreal is better at the far high end. For your first games however, you won't reach that, most likely, and with a team size of 2 including artist, you may never require it.

As you somewhat said already, 3D is a whole new dimension, literally. Blender is not the only solution, generally any 3D modeller program will work (but check details with the Unity manual/community!). Modeling is however just the first step, getting the computer to understand what to do with it is a immediate second step. I haven't done that much at all yet, but I expect Unity to provide common solutions for at least parts of it. Since almost everybody but me is doing 3D, I expect the forums and tutorials to be filled with how to do such things.

You might want to start reading about it for a while to get an idea what you're getting into.

I can imagine, Ideal Game A: 2D or 3D, Open world, stories, decisions, smart AI, factions, multiplayer (/50, /100, /200, +), pvp, pve, puzzles. Ideal Game B: 2D or 3D, Closed outdoor world, arena-styled game, 2 sides, lots of strategy, comparable to an RTS or MOBA game. Ideal Game C: Some kind of hybrid between A and B.

Oh dear.

So how many wifes (and their husbands probably) do you have on your team, or how long do you aim to spend on your first game?

With a hundred wifes, or a 20-50 year or so, you may get quite far.

We usually recommend starting with simple old classics like pong to pacman. That is for new programmers that don't know a language yet. While you seem to know programming already, it's your first time with Unity, and with making a game together. Simpler is better, here.

I would suggest to keep things ridiculously simple and small from a programming point of view. You and your SO having fun should be the primary aim, imho. The artist is normally faster than the programmer, especially with the more advanced areas you mentioned ("smart AI" is enough for a lifetime, eg).

Make a simple 2D board-like game with lots of graphics, maybe aimed at kids. Decide things together, you don't want to break your happiness together due to a game.

It's much better to be done with the first game in a few weeks while you aimed for 6 months, than it is to spend 5 years on the same thing.

A simple first game under your belt gives you a lot of experience and ideas together for a second game.