So me and a couple buddies are planning on getting together over the weekend and making a sandbox rpg like the witcher…
Ha ha, not.

I've got an idea for a little 2D strategy game that I'd like to bring to life. The trouble is I'm not entirely sure where to start. I have a little C# and Java experience. I've been leaning towards using Unity. It seems to have a lot of dedicated 2D tools, and of course a lot of community support if I run into problems. The release of the full version for free certainly sweetens the idea. Which brings me to another point, unless there is a very good reason I would like to stick with a free engine. I don't mind if its a limited version, as long as it is not crippled beyond use.

I'm not sure what kind of engine I need for just a strategy game though. Unity has to a of physics features, which I can't see I'll need. Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way?

I have some skill at art, so that's not a worry for me.

Any thoughts?
I do realize that it will take a significant amount of work to even come up with something small, but I'm not in a hurry. Also I am planning on building for PC, though a multi-platform support would be cool.
Thanks ya'll

Well,you will need to do a bit of research.I usually ask a Q on the net and then
slightly change the wording as there is heaps of free stuff out there.

only strategy game engine i've seen is this.
http://stratagus.com/

it's basically for making warcraft 2 clones though. maybe you could write down the rules/mechanics of the your strategy game first, then think about how to implement them later?

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EDIT: http://megamek.info/downloads
or maybe you could overhaul the source code for megamek. it's written in java.

there's also good ol' rpgmaker (not free for latest full version). some folks made a tactical battle engine for it.
http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/16573-gubids-tactical-battle-system-v24-for-vx-ace/

Believe me, I have. Just to name a few engines I've looked at,
Godot
Construct
Wave
Unity3D
Blender Game Engine
Torque 2D
Clickteam fusion

Unity I think will be your best. you're right about it's 2d support.

You will have to write your own gameplay mechanics code.

If you're looking for something that has built-in strategy gameplay mechanics support, you'll have to look elsewhere though.

I would take this question over to Gamedev.net's forums.

Me personally, I have my own engines I've developed in C, C++, and Java, with both OpenGL and DirectX support, so I can go towards whatever technology I need to get the job done. Writing your own engine is time consumptive, but I don't have to live or die by someone else's decisions. There's many game engines you could use, Unity is just a commonly used one.

Some good options :
- SDL : Pros : C/C++ (fast), cross-platform by default, fairly straightforward compared to say DirectX to get graphics on the screen. Cons : Very bare-bones, an API, not an engine, which means you'll have to wrap it yourself
- Unity : Pros : As much as this isn't my personal choice I can't deny that many people gravitate to it due to thriving development community and lots of capability within the engine. Cons : tends to be bloated and slow comparatively to something that's specifically designed to meet your exact needs, a one-size-fits-all solution, jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
- Ogre : Pros : C/C++ (fast), healthy dev community, can interface with a lot of established tech more directly than say Unity, Cons : Lots of work possibly to do that, may do some things easily and some things with difficulty (happy-happy-workaround time. ALL engines are guilty of this)
- Flash : Pros : Despite what HTML5 advocates would have you believe STILL going strong, VERY established technology and engines (such as Flixel or FlashPunk), free tools (FlashDevelop), very capable especially for 2D games, good 2D and audio capabilities built in. Cons : Dealing with HTML5 advocates

Honestly, at this point your options are so vast compared to when I got into game programming originally in the early 90's. Pick a language you can live with, pick an engine you can live with, pick a rendering API you can live with, and now you just have tons of fun work putting your design into actual code. It's a tremendous amount of work but equally satisfying and rewarding. Best of luck!

For me, Unity Engine + learning your away around it + learning C# + strong internet connection to constantly look up answers to problems = working alright on a little point and click adventure I am making in my free time.

I don't know how well Unreal does 2D, but it may be the better option. At some point I may look into Construct 2 to see if it makes anything easier for me.

There's very little I can knowledgeably say on the subject but that's my 2cents.

gamemaker could start you off if you don't program. if your goal is to make a game, maybe it's a good idea for your fragile motivation to take the beaten path so to speak of gamemaker rather than scale your way up the sheer cliff face with a pickaxe through programming your own engine.

if you are a programmer, I think unreal4 or unity is your best bet.

Here's another option, which I am planning on using for a game:

Curses: Pros: Simple, you don't need to worry about artwork, No need for an event loop. Uses very little system resources (to the point where your game might even be able to run on a 20 year old computer). No need to worry about physics. Can run from a text console on UNIX-like systems (Linux and *BSD, for example). Already installed on most UNIX-like systems. Cons: You are limited to text mode characters. (Take a look at games like Nethack and Sanctuary RPG for the sort of "graphics" this library gives you.) Positions of objects must be an integer number of characters (so no smooth movement).

I quite like Unity, and I don't think there's any reason it wouldn't work for what you want to do. A warning, however. Last I knew, Unity's actual 2d tools were shakey at best, and you'd probably be better off ignoring them completely and just using a 3d orthographic camera.

Gamemaker would work perfectly well if you're just planning on doing sprite-based stuff. Although since you already have background in C#, you might as well just use Unity.

I've heard very mixed reviews on using 2D in Unity, from massive bloat in what should be a small overall package size to the texture atlas creation tool just going into some infinite loop. You name it. All the complaints, freakouts, and workarounds being passed around made me glad I have developed my own engine(s). Michael Kayin Oreily from "I wanna be the guy" is doing his current game in Construct. Joakim Sandberg says he uses it for his games (http://www.konjak.org/index.php?folder=2&file=6). This comparison to Gamemaker may also help you.

You've certainly got respect from me for developing you own engines. I gave up on that idea years ago. I'm perfectly happy using someone else's engine and saving myself a lot of headaches.

Since you are familiar with unity and have prior knowledge of C#, its best to go with unity, but you can also checkout gamemaker or cocos2d, later requires a lot of coding

Thanks. It is a lot of headaches and any of my exgirlfriends would probably be happy to tell you they would've preferred I do anything that got me off the computer sooner. I can't tell you there hasn't been any cost, in time more than anything (maybe sanity). Though, I do have some shiny engines <opens trench coat>

The flipside to me living or dying by my engine's capabilities is, if I want a feature, I know it's going to be me that has to implement that. Sometimes this results in "why did I do this to myself" moments.

On the other hand, that also means that if your engine needs a feature, you aren't depending on someone else to add it.

Also, if you are seriously into gaming, and are the sort of person who would be inclined to look for a girlfriend (or boyfriend; not everyone is a cishet male), you might want to look for one who is also seriously interested in gaming.