Beginning OpenGL

I think I'm going to give learning OpenGL a shot.

I've read the first fifteen-or-so NeHe tutorials, compiled them, understood them, modified them, combined them . . . basically everything there *is* to do with the first fifteen-or-so NeHe tutorials.

Problem is, all the ideas that I have that I want to try are way too complex.

So, can anyone give me an idea that is . . .

• Fairly simple (I'm not afraid of thousands of lines, mind, but this will be my first foray into the wild world of 3D programming . . .)
• Requires a fairly broad band of OpenGL features (I don't want to keep on making rotating cubes and such . . . but I don't want to use too many features, otherwise I won't be able to complete it . . .)
• Not graphically complicated (I'll probably be writing it on an XO laptop, which does not have 3D hardware acceleration, but it does work for all the NeHe tutorials.), but it should include loaded models (not hardcoded models if possible, perhaps implementing a model loader would be good practice for me)

Thanks.

I believe this should probably be in game programming.

Moved.

. . . I'm asking for ideas, not for help with game programming. It should be in GD.

Most of your OpenGL savvy crowd will be on this forum.

Right. But it's not a problem, it's a request. I'd say that belongs in GD.

However, you're the expert around here, not me. ;)

The best thing I've been able to come up with, by the way, is a "brick dodging" game. You play as a spaceship that has to avoid falling bricks and shapes of various sizes . . .

Make some of the classics. Hang man, space invaders, old atari games etc.

I suppose I could try to recreate some old games in OpenGL . . . but wouldn't that be defeating the point? Writing 2D games in OpenGL?

2D is one of the fundamental areas of OpenGL. It would help to familiarise yourself with the features on a small project (classic 2D game) first before taking on something more complex (Huge 3D Game).

You could also do a 2D game using 3D graphics. That would let you focus more on the graphics and flashy effects, and less on the actual game logic.

I'd suggest 2D, until you get the hang of OpenGL and matrices. Then all you have to do is change the projection matrix if you want 3D :-)
Just be aware that software OpenGL is very slow...

I'd also suggest you check out the Quake engines, specically Quake 2 and 3. They did a lot for OpenGL and even helped shape the specification in some odd way.