I have a dream... a hazy dream, but a dream nonetheless. For years I've been wanting to see another Zelda game similar to Link's Awakening, Oracle of Ages, and Oracle of Seasons (I will refer to these three as the "Triple"). The only similar, traditional Zelda that Nintendo has released since the Oracles (which are about a decade old now) is The Minish Cap (by a Capcom team), but that's a little different from what I'm aiming at.

I don't have many concrete ideas for this game yet, but I'm pretty much set on the following (I won't list everything, but the following might impact engine, etc. choice):
1. Simple, sprite graphics, but esthetically pleasing by modern standards.
2. World broken into cells, as in the Triple.
3. Combat system complexity is similar to that of the Triple.
4. An emphasis on Majora's Mask-like side quests (there would be a quest log).

I have little idea of where to get started, except that I'm guessing the first thing to do would be to choose an engine. I've heard that RPG Maker would be good for a game like this, but since I can't allocate any money toward this project, and since the free version of RPGM is a 30-day trial version, I can't go that route. From searching the forum a bit, I've seen people talking about using Game Maker and, even better, Unity. Elsewhere, I've seen mention of Construct and Game Editor.

I have minor experience with C and C++, and I've taken two full university courses in C#. I'd like this game to be cross-platform for purposes of making sales, but if my other constraints force it to be, say, Windows-only, then so be it. I just want to make a marketable 2D Zelda clone!

Any help would be appreciated.

EDIT: As far as this being cross-platform, I was thinking of PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. Personally, I don't like the idea of Zelda-like games being controlled with touch interfaces (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks wasn't able to win me over to that style). I'm not averse to making a touch version, but only if it's after a button/key version.

Your engine looks nice, though from the video I'm not sure if it would be suited to Zelda-like games, since they have a lot more action in them than RPG's. Touch interfaces are also a turn-off for me (see the edit to my first post).

I'm not actually recruiting right now, so much as just trying to figure out where to start. Ideally, I would do everything (unless it requires a lot more coding experience, in which case I might have a friend in mind) but make the music, the artwork, and possibly the sprites. I've got an acquaintance who might be interested in the music, and some friends who might be able to do the artwork. There's another friend of mine who went to DigiPen Institute of Technology, wanting to study game design. He could probably help with something. Everything is really up in the air right now.