2D is much much easier. Start out with the GUI and login system. then move on to the database and get everything set up correctly. There is no point in programming a game if you cant correctly implement you data for the game, simply because you have yet to create the database/storage of data... BTW - for the sake of the meme - "One does not simply.... program a game without a database"
oh right, the best ide for linux would have to be netbeans ide for java and c++... or eclipse (some prefer that)
sudo apt-get install netbeans
sudo apt-get install eclipse