Hello all! And please forgive any cryptic nature that might be found in my topic title.
I'm developing a 2D/sprite-based game engine which I wish to license to other independent developers for a nominal fee. Beyond talking to a lawyer about the specifics, I'm wondering if you guys could give me some insight into the more immediate questions. I'm building my engine on the shoulders of some 2D giants, e.g., SDL. I'm also using zlib. I've read their licenses, and I understand when I release my engine to a developer (header files, dlls, documentation) I must also include a copy of the LGPL agreement and of course SDL and zlib dlls, libraries and header files, or at least the LGPL and links/resources the developer can use to obtain their own copy of the SDL and zlib development files themselves.
I'm wondering am I allowed to license this engine at all, as it is built upon SDL and zlib? Must I simply include the required license and accreditation, or is my new engine also bound by the LGPL? Will games made by my engine be required to be released non-commercially? I've read on SDL's list of games webpage that Amnesia: The Dark Descent was built with some code from SDL, so I do believe there is some merit in thinking commercial games are possible with SDL.
I'm exploring these questions now much after development, since development is almost complete.
Any links or resources alongside some good old fashioned responses would be enormously helpful. I always fear some reprisal from asking seeming "obvious" questions, but I knew gamedev would be the best place to get some straight answers without spending too much time.