[quote name='ageshero' timestamp='1308824662' post='4826709']
Either way, im The writer and Artist for the production of course, And i only used the listed games as an example to demonstrate the kind of of style of play i was looking for. I have alot of ideas for innovative gameplay, but that is way way to complex and into the thick of the whole thing to think about just yet.

Innovations within a given style of play are rare. It is not likely your project will succeed as an indie title because it contains a few innovative elements. Look at the recent indie successes, research what has worked. In general, the entire concept of a successful low-budget title is original, not just elements within a previously conquered genre.

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I just want to respond quickly to two things. First, no, innovation is not required to have success on the indie market. There are enough examples out there of companies that don't need any "gimmick" for lack of a better word to be successful. The innovative, or art-like indie games simply draw a lot more attention from us game programmers, but there really is a big market out there for non-innovative games. There are many indies who make games that are not driven by innovative gameplay, but by strong storytelling or by targetting a specific niche market. These indies have been around for years. They might not be millionairs, but they are making a living. And yes, you can even make a living making 2D RPG games in RPG maker as long as you can reach the right group of people.

[quote name='ageshero' timestamp='1308824662' post='4826709']
but imagine pushing UDK to do something like that. interesting.

"Crippling" would be a better term than "pushing" in this context.

I apologise if any of the above seems harsh. But if you choose the recruiting others route, have a flick through the Help Wanted section of this site to see how hard it is to engage other people with just ideas, concepts and stories.

If you decide to go down the route of programming yourself, you either need to accept the limitations of the available GameMaker-style applications or learn to program in a less restrictive language. If the latter, most of us need to start with something like Pong, work up through Tetris and Asteroids and go from there.
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Although I completely agree that for him to use UDK is a bad, bad idea, I don't think that using UDK for such a game is a bad idea. Mainly because you get access to a very strong visual pipeline that could create a very fancy looking 2D/3D game, and that could draw some unique attention. But yeah, UDK is not a place for a beginner unless it is basically a simple FPS mod. Ok, now I need to give an example because more people are saying it is a bad idea:

http://mildlydisconcerting.com/drillboid/

Here, this game is created with unity, but the same principles.

Ultimately, a decision needs to be made concerning what your goal is. At this point, you've stated two very seperate goals: make a game, and learn a programming platform. Both goals require very different approaches. If you want to make a game, you use the tools that will get your game out in the quickest, easiest, and most efficent manner. Think, "time is money". If you want to learn a language, or specific platform, you study documentation, tutorials, code up quick prototypes to test methods. If you combine these seperate goals, nothing will be accomplished; period. You'll spend so much time redoing work as you learn a "better" way of doing it that you'll tread over the same code time and time again.

So to recap: if you want to make a game, use the simplist tools that you can use at your present skill level. If you want to learn, then study, ask questions, do tutorials, and code prototypes.

He wants to use udk for an old ff style rpg. There is nothing about udk that lends itself to that application. Its the wrong tool... period. That game you posted is not at all an old ff type game, so it really doesn't show how udk is a good idea for him. Also I don't think it has anything to do with being a beginner... udk would be the wrong tool for anyone to use for this type of game. There are 2d game engines... for this exact purpose .. why would you use a 3d fps engine?

I know what you're saying.. and yes I can see how having the 3d capabilities could help in 2d development. But in this case... it just doesn't make a drop of sense.

I am not saying that he should create a purely 2D-retro RPG in UDK, but I am mainly saying that because he is a complete beginner..I think it is actually an interesting idea to do so, but of course not just by putting 2D flat images in 3D space.

If you read all his posts it shows that he has a general interest in old-school RPGs, but he also considers 3D rpgs like FF7. So yes, old-school, but he isn't purely limiting himself to 2D. The game I posted can be compared to something old school like super metroid. I just added it to show that you can have 2Dish graphics, but can use the 3D lighting and normal mapping to create interesting effects.

And UDK really isn't just a 3D fps engine, it is just easily used as such out of the box. But personally I can imagine a very cool looking 2D/3D ish retro RPG game created in UDK, something that will look much better than anything created in gamemaker. It is like Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2, they still have this old school 2D look to them, but are using some fancy 3D stuff to add to the looks. I can see the same working for retro RPGs, but maybe that is just me . One game that crossed my mind was syndicate wars, how cool would it be to create a new syndicate wars in UDK! Would be so awesome!

I see what youre saying, but whether he "Considers" 3d games or not, that should not be what he attempts as his first efforts. Im sure you would agree that a new game programmer should not attempt a 3d rpg in UDK as their first project! All I said was to learn a simple 2d framework/engine as opposed to using UDK, which to me makes absolutely no sense at all.

Then we agree