Some technical advice, since most of the comments here are life advice: Use higher-level languages like Java or AS3 or Haxe to flesh out new ideas wherever pos

Some technical advice, since most of the comments here are life advice: Use higher-level languages like Java or AS3 or Haxe to flesh out new ideas wherever possible. You'll kill yourself using C++ to fully vet crazy new game engine paradigms from scratch, even if it's just the compile time you save. Once you've gone through your umpteenth refactoring in managed code land and are happy, you can do a source to source compile or something similar. This strategy has really helped me in the past. In fact, one time I wrote a quick 2d Flash application before writing the full 3d C++ version that was my goal (for a haptics-based viscous fluid simulation). It really helped me get a "mile-high" understanding of the challenges before diving into the lower-level jungle. EDIT: Oh yea, and never write your own GUI library.