I know it requires scripting. I've made levels with McPixel 1 before. What I mean is the scripting is so extremely simple that you don't need any experience whatsoever to use it.
What do you mean sprites will take forever to import? You just choose the file, click import and it's there. Games on modern systems usually don't take any time to load small-scale pixel graphics like that, lol :D
But also, I hope I'm not stepping on any toes, maybe we just have differing opinions!