So you mean we don't have to choose one engine and stick to it? We can start with smaller ones and then go to more complex ones? I always imagined a 2D game engine is totally different from a 3D game engine.Thank you for your quick and informative reply!

Let me tell you this: changing engines is hard! You feel like a beginner again, and you should not do it with an existing project as porting from one engine to another is most likely almost as much work as starting from scratch.

On the other hand, many things do transfer from engine to engine. You know how to create a 2D Sprite or a 3D model and import into one engine? Great, the same process with some small adjustements will most likely work for another engine. You know what a shadow map is and how to use it? You will need to find the buttons and levers anew in each engine, but the principle is the same.

Sounds contradicting? Well, might not be the best way to describe it, but basically, there is a lot that is common to different engines. You will have to learn to use the editor for each engine, you might need to learn a new programming language, you might need to learn new tricks as every engine brings some slightly different tools and options.

But having used another engine before will give you a headstart anyway.

Now, if you start today in Unity you will be overwhelmed. There will be a very steep learning curve to it. Even more so in Unreal Engine. A simpler 2D engine can smooth your learning expierience by making the start less daunting.

Of course, if you start in one engine and stay there for the rest of your game dev career you will have to learn less...

But we all know how that works out. You will have to change engines at some point in the future, and that point might come sooner than you think. The grass is always greener on the other side until you try it (maybe it IS greener, maybe not. Tried it twice, and it was greener once, but not the other time).

In the end, the more you learn, the better you become as a dev. Engines are no exceptions.

It is better to try something and find out that there is something better and change than to get caught in analysis paralysis and never doing anything.

the only thing i would add is that there's technically two ways to do it: ramp up (recommended) or dive in (only for 1%'ers).

the only reason why i mention this is because you seem to have your act together re: expectations and whatnot.

to dive in, you'd determine the engine to use for your "dream game", and focus on that. cull the chaff from the wheat when it comes to personnel, and be brutal about it. with a logical progression of learning and implementation, diving in would probably get you to the brass ring sooner. but it will require drive and tenacity. you may end up the only one working on the game. so scope becomes an issue. too big, and you never get it done in a _profitable_ amount of time.

Of course, that is the other option... the option many will not mention or will try to persuade you not to choose...

With good reasons. This is not for the faint of heart, you will bang your head against the steepest learning curve you have ever seen... your progress will be the speed of a glacier... you WILL overscope, and WILL need to drop feature after feature. If you don't, expect to still sit there with a half finished game after 5 years.

Yes, we are talking years... many many years. Estimation, if you all go to school or work, to pay the bills or be able to pay the bills in the future: 2-3 years to learn the needed skills to actually produce quality content and code (learning to program or to 3D model takes months.... perfecting it to a professional standards, if you can only invest your free time, many years)...

Maybe 3 more years to produce a reasonably sized modern 3D RPG with about 10 people IF WORKING PARTTIME ON IT (numbers made up from thin air, could be much more, maybe less, but not by much).

Recently there was a piece about a guy that worked 11 years on his RPG (Age of Decadence) and finally released this year. Seems very ambitious project gameplay wise, but with dated graphics.... he was working with a team and freelancers during some of the time, mostly alone in his free time.

Now I am not saying "forget your dream game, to big a scope".... all I want to say is

1) you will face a multiyear learning period during which you will not get much done

2) you will run into many dead ends, throw away stuff (this is true for any dev, more so for beginners trying there hands at a too big scope)

3) you will have to deal with lots of frustrations and hardships in the beginning

Being more expierienced, you might be able to shortcut things, you will no longer need to calculate so much time for learning new things, and you will know better what you deal with.

The total time to reach you destination will not change much if you start with smaller games first... but you will have the satisfaction of smaller successes while getting there, and the benefit of finishing other games (and learning from that).

If you and your friends are not afraid of taking the direct route, then you can follow Normans advice, and start with your dream game from the start... just... don't expect to build it soon, and don't expect it to look much like what you imagined.

One last word about teams during the beginner stages:

You and your friends will have to be very careful to push through early phases and the learning expierience without loosing people (or the team breaking up)...

1) make sure everyone understands what the immidiate goal is (learning game dev in the beginning, NOT producing any particular game... that is only the byproduct)

-> Code and content will be thrown away, stuff will not look as sexy as imagined... once some people find that out, they leave.

2) make sure everyone understands what game development is (a lot of work, very long stretches until a project starts to look like imagined, a lot of not so fun tasks)

-> There is little place for idea guys or lazy bums even in small hobbyist teams. A lot of it is not fun. That is part of anything.

3) make sure everyone understands the longterm prospect (you chance to get rich with your game is almost zero, it will take many years to build a game of your scope,...)

-> Selling games is even harder than making them. If you are in this for the money, don't even start. And not many people have the devotion it takes to put in the years to learn game dev and execute such a big project

4) make sure everyone understands the terms of you working together (is it a simple hobby? To create an open source game? Do you plan to try to sell it once done?)

-> don't offer some money sharing schemes for something you don't even know will ever make money. You will not find more people this way, and you will not make people stay with the project. If you want to work with hobbyists, make sure they have ownership in the project (some way to input their own ideas)... if you need professionals, make sure you can pay them. Like right now. Or, at worst, after a successfull crowfunding round. But given how often Kickstarters fail, only really desperate professionals will work for a client that offers them cash they don't have (yet).

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