HUBBLE128'S PROFILE

Hello!

I have been a gamer since the era of Infocom and recently switched careers from filmmaking to teaching. I have a new job as a technology teacher for middle school (11-12 year olds) and have been gradually putting some game development into the curriculum.

This, plus getting my old Apple II out of storage, got me remembering some of the old RPGs from the late 80's that I loved so much such as Wasteland, Bard's Tale, Deathlord, and the early Ultima and Wizardry games.

Just for nostalgia and for fun in my spare time, I'd like to create a game that looks and feels like the top-down RPGs from that era, and I could use some advice in selecting an engine. Here are my parameters:

1) It does not need to be free, but a $600 IDE would be more than I would want to spend.

2) I am not a programmer by trade, but I have done some limited programming in the past. I can work with scripts just fine, but do not know C. My focus for this hobbyist's project would be on art, music and story - I don't think I want to use this project to learn to be a C programmer.

3) I am going after a specific aesthetic like I described above: 1980's Apple II games. Wasteland would be my ideal model. So the 1990s JRPG console style of RPG is not something I want. Not passing judgement on that type of game at all - it's just not the style I want for this project.

Regarding #3: RPG Maker is obviously very popular and has a large community that could be a good resource for a beginner. But is the console-style JRPG "look" baked into anything that RPG Maker would create? Or could you create your own look by making new sprites, backgrounds, maps, etc? Would that be more trouble than it's worth, and is there adifferent engine that might get close to the look and feel that I want?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

Regards,

Hubble