I remember my days experimenting with SDL. Aren't all the cool kids these days using C# with XNA?
BTW, @ctrl-alt-delete, I hate to say it with regard to someone else's trademark, but name-brand recognition is very important to building a community around something. I wonder if we'd even be here having this little discussion if @Phantom Menace decided to call ZC Elf Story or Princess Quest or some such.