Comment by JKCalhoun

This is basically what I did a couple years ago [1]. SDL2 and a bit of C++ to create a "sprite" class. Some collision code in the sprite class...

If you want to call what I added an "engine" it was more like a pedal-assist bike.

Too often I find "engines" end up driving the project/game. That is, you end up writing the game to the engine. It's why I've avoided Unity, etc. — high-level engines like that seem to guide you to writing the same game everyone else is writing — just with different assets.

Never mind you spend too much time, in my opinion, learning the engine and not getting the game written. To be sure there was a learning curve just pulling in SDL, but the curve was slight and it seemed more universally useful to know SDL as it can be employed in other cross-platform projects I might undertake — not just games.

[1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/2318420/Glypha_Vintage/