Wide Rule

It has been five years since I wrote a true application for anything.

The program was a mathematical model based loosely on Defense of the Ancients.  The model would make predictions on play type and upgrade choice per player.  It was written in C++ and ran only on the command line.

I actually really miss mathematical modeling.

I have written code since that point, but it’s all been quick fixes and edits to programs.  I do a lot of SQL queries on the fly and I’m reasonably good at monkeying around with CSS.

I want to get back into development, but I have absolutely no idea where to start

I love video games, but there are a few reasons I’m wary about that area. 

The first is it seems like everyone wants to program video games, so why take a girl who hasn’t written a program in years? 

Second, every time I hear about an indie game, it’s always for the iPhone/iPod touch.  I do not have an iPhone – I have a blackberry.  I understand this makes me a second class citizen, but I don’t feel like shelling out $200 to develop for a new platform.  I also worry that the moment I buy an iPod Touch, I’m going to be in a situation where I can buy an iPhone.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to get more familiar with Obj-C or CocoaTouch, but I feel like I’d be half-committed to something I couldn’t test.

The other game option is programming for Xbox Live – I’m still considering that.  I need to come up with a concise, simple game to get into it so I don’t get overwhelmed.

I guess this is more of a question instead of an opinion blog

Where do I start? Do I futz around with open source projects?  Do I use this as my excuse to buy an iPod touch?  Do I look into building something useful for my blackberry?

Hell, I don’t even know what language to think about at this point.

Come on, over opinionated internet, point me in a direction.