3D Game Development

I would like to start moving towards 3D game development. I am currently in the early stages of research.

Tools

3D Engine

Irrlicht

This is a multi-platform library that seems fairly well supported. The alternatives would be raw OpenGL or Ogre.

IDE

Code::Blocks

Don't know a lot about this one, but it seems good.

Physics Engine

Bullet

This looks really solid. The only concern I have is that the amount of flexibility and power it comes with may incur a large cost in complexity.

Research Plan

1. Get some Irrlicht sample code compiled and running
2. Do a small Irrlicht project (a 3D clock would be a good project) with no physics component
3. Do a small project with a physics component and render the results in 3D
4. Small project with 3D, physics and input