如何从基于3D平铺的游戏开始

I'd like to write a strategy game where it's map will be 3D tiled. I've read some articles on gamedev but most of them are trying to implement 3D in 2D space. I wonder how in nowadays it is implemented using 3D cards. I wonder if using Irrlich will be an overkill (it has a nice heightmap scene node).I'd like to write a strategy game where it's ma