I would find a faster way in Blitz3D to solve your problems.
It may be basic but it is a fantastic environment for coming up with innovative solutions.
Also I would design game with gameplay first and then consider graphics style that suits target audience.
In terms of gameplay, if your team is not sitting round enjoying the prototypes of your game already then perhaps your graphics guys should go on holiday for a few weeks.
In terms of graphics, the choice is either dx7 or sh3 current gen shaders. This years shaders have made all others obsolete so I think perhaps it is pointless targetting any graphics card that has shipped in last 2 years and it is the time to jump on a generation of shader cards that seems to finally have solution correct. You have to consider seriously how different in size and type the two markets are for your game.
If you are doing casual mass market game dev or haven't finished a single project I would stick with blitz3d/dx7.
It may be basic but it is a fantastic environment for coming up with innovative solutions.
Also I would design game with gameplay first and then consider graphics style that suits target audience.
In terms of gameplay, if your team is not sitting round enjoying the prototypes of your game already then perhaps your graphics guys should go on holiday for a few weeks.
In terms of graphics, the choice is either dx7 or sh3 current gen shaders. This years shaders have made all others obsolete so I think perhaps it is pointless targetting any graphics card that has shipped in last 2 years and it is the time to jump on a generation of shader cards that seems to finally have solution correct. You have to consider seriously how different in size and type the two markets are for your game.
If you are doing casual mass market game dev or haven't finished a single project I would stick with blitz3d/dx7.