After much effort, the mangling of makefiles, and general swearing at my computer, I've managed to get all the libraries I need compiled and working on my system. The SDL and OpenGL sample code shows how to draw triangles and squares to the screen, which is pretty much all the graphics programming I need for Project Nova! So it should be all systems go on the programming front.
My main problem is I'm finding it a lot more fun to do the creative stuff; learning how to draw, playing around on my piano keyboard, and thinking about design. Since I'm trying to relearn C++ in this project (by trying to understand the Enginuity articles by Richard "superpig" Fine) there's a certain level of pain involved in deciphering all the symbols used. I'm more comfortable with pure C than C++, but I've got to learn these new-fangled languages someday, I guess [wink].
I'm also pondering yet another overambitious game design, this time for a driving game (spawned from playing F-Zero GX). This probably makes this the fortieth game concept that I want to make; I'm going to have to hope someone discovers the secret to longevity, as I'm going to have to live to 300 to finish all of these! I suppose this is slightly irrelevant to my current project, but I've never really wanted to make a driving game before so it's a new idea for me (well, if you don't count the idea about combining motocross and golf [grin]). Actually come to think about it, this driving game concept probably fills in the last gap of game genres in my idea portfolio; I think I've got a design idea for every other genre out there. If anyone wants a game concept in a particular genre just let me know!
(edit: Re-reading this it might look a bit like I'm boasting of my game ideas here; that's really not my opinion at all; a game idea is useless if I don't implement it. I wish I could just make up my mind on which projects to do! I'm just got too many weird notions buzzing around inside my skull about the games I want to make. They inevitably end up way too complex for little old me to complete; sigh...)
Well, I won't post another journal entry until I've at least got my engine (and not the OpenGL sample code!) displaying a triangle on the screen. See you all then!
Additional: Forgot to add reference to this milestone: Over 1000 views of my journal! Although I strongly suspect 700 of those are just me checking for replies [smile]
