I want to start coding a game but I am having trouble selecting an engine. Here is the basic idea of the game I want to create and the requirements I have for the engine:
- Multiplayer - single persistent world (mmo-style... should eventually support ~50-100 players and I will be happy).
- 2d tile-based graphics (top-down).
- Movement, attacks, and spells are all tilebased: you are either in the tile or you arent, your spell either affects the tile or it doesnt, moving right moves you to the tile to your right, etc.
- Game world will be composed of a bunch of maps (few hundred tiles each) linked with teleports (such as on doors or portals)
- I want to be able to use a map editor that supports layers and properties so I can more easily design maps and assign properties to each tile such as "blocks spells", "blocks movement", "teleport: map Z, coord (X,Y)". I need a game engine that either includes a map editor or supports map formats generated by an external map editor such as Tiled (TMX).
- Not necessary but something to help design the client GUI would be nice.
I would prefer if the engine is free but I am willing to pay if it is absolutely necessary. I want to do this project right and not be forced to work 10x as hard because I wasn't willing to shell out $100.
What I am considering so far: ClanLib + Tiled (map editor)
Please help with suggestions or any comments about using ClanLib+Tiled for what I am trying to do.
~Xaroth