i'm not sure how that works, maybe i'm just being paranoid...

...again!

Free version of the program is quite limited. You'd need the most expensive version (over 600€) which has improved performance and a lot of good shit to it.

Check out Unity, you can use free version which isn't nearly as limiting. I think the only difference between free and pro versions of Unity's is that pro one has post processing effects (glow, motion blur, edge detection, color correction) basically shiny things that are used in AAA games but aren't really needed in indie games. Heck I personally dislike post processing effects and never turn them on in games I play.

Don't forget Nuclear Throne!

Bad Piggies and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft are both 2D games, both made in Unity, both made by well known developers. They never thought that Unity is overkill. Unity isn't overkill for 2D games. I's got a very good animation system, fast and flexible. I generally like the speed of developing in Unity. Also if you decide to upgrade from pure 2D to sprites in 3D environment - Unity will handle this with just few adjustments. It is much more grown up game engine than GameMaker, and much more flexible. It also uses C# instead custom scripting language, which is the well known standard with plenty of reference, and custom scripting language always will be less flexible, and with worse documentation - which translates to harder debugging.

That's why I would use Game Maker only in very simple games. Not in 2.5D or 2D Sci-Fi RPG. If you want to create complex mechanics, multiple game objects, and a lot of possibilities - you might want to use more powerful tool. So for 2D - RPG Maker. For 2.5D - Unity.

And I used a phrase "a little more than a kid's toy" It is more than kid's toy, but not much more. Both Hotline Miami and Risk of Rain are rather simple games, which are good thanks to graphics style, well balanced gameplay and good design. None of them is good thanks to some engine specific functions.

Inkscape is a vector drawing 2D open source software. It is very good, very fast, and lightweight. There is also a portable version. It is often used in creating logos, and websites, less often in creating games - but you can easily do rayman-like character, and animate it in unity. It was used in one of Unity tech demos. I also used this way to create ~5000 horses for game which I created for my niece. (How many 6-year old girls can say that they got a game made especially for them from uncle? I know only one, and she loved horses, so she got a lot of them in a simple game) I created in inkscape three different horses, wrote a script to randomize parts of them, and colours. Created one animation - it was more than enough in this case. Using the same way it is possible to make character creation system - few heads, few torsos, different colours set directly in engine - you end up in thousands of possibilities. It is very good way to create crowds in 2D with very low development cost - possible for anyone with dysgraphia - just don't count on winning "best visuals" award.

Second thing - in most cases publishing information about your game will be safe. The reason for this is simple - we have seen most of this before. The stories in games can be traced back to ancient times. Game mechanics is almost all cases is based on game mechanics seen in different games. I mean - we have seen so many games that it is very hard to invent something really new. In most cases - there are only some parts new. In our game we will use turn-based combat (similar to X-Com or Jagged Alliance) with square grid in tactical view. The part which we are not talking about is a spell system (it will be a fantasy game) Right now it is only part of game which is considered as a secret - it took us a lot of time to find a way to develop a powerful, and easy to use system - as far as we know it is one of a kind. Everything other - it was seen before. Also there are thousands of game developers, with thousands of ideas. Most people won't waste time to work on somebody's else idea. Especially before they discover if it is a good one - and game development is very risky business. And your own idea is usually easier to develop - which means that it will be smaller risk.

Also remember that you will need to sell your idea twice. First time when you are recruiting a team, and later when you are delivering your game to end users. This is only way to find people to work on your project. You need to make them believe that it is a good idea, and good project. They must be interested in this game. In Poland alone there are at least 2300 companies working on game development. That right over two thousand companies. And most of them got less than 5 employees. So there are much more people looking for someone to help than people looking for work in game development. Also most of people looking for help got little to no cash. So while looking for help you need to convince these people that your project is the best. That this is a place where they need to invest their time - and it is much harder than convincing people to invest their money.

Third thing - your mental health does not concern anyone. Sorry for harsh words - but this is the sad fact. You are creating and selling the product. In the end there are only two options - players will like it, or players won't like it. And they will either buy it, or not. But they're decision will be based on quality of your product, not on the fact if you got some health problems or not. There are no handicap for people like you or me. We need to deliver fully functional, good looking product - and nothing else matters. So just don't use this argument. Also it is a large turn off for many people. Internet is not as tolerant as many people think.

If you want to talk a little more than just add me as a friend on Steam. I have some experience in game development. I was a part of a team which created few small games (none of them was published), and one medium sized one. (which turned out to be a piece of crap) Few small pieces of code which I created ended up in published games, and prototype terrain generator (on which I am working right now for our project) which already helped to create two released android games, and three others which are in production.