Well, Evochron is made by someone who has used DB since day 1 - an early adopter, he must know the language inside and out, in fact he managed to get some special features added to DB for his game.
If you were writing a book, would you be put off by all the books Stephen King, or Terry Pratchett have written?
What's the point in doing anything! - there's always something better out there.
Why not change direction a bit - flick some switches and turn some dials, tweak your idea until it's more unique. For example, I'd like to write a space game, but there's no point making Elite, or Evochron, or any other classic space shooter. What I'd do, is combine the idea with a FPS - space flight, combat, and exploration, but on a magnified level - let the player exit the ship and explore wreckage looking for salvagable parts, making repairs etc. Have a multiplayer ship, where you have gunner seats for other players, like a crew instead of being forever alone in space. There are tons of ideas out there that haven't been used, for every genre. I'm not saying my ideas are good, I'm saying I came up with those ideas on the spot - have some faith and confidence in your idea, think about all the things that space games just don't bother doing... remember that simulators are for simulating actual activities - there is no point in simulating something that will never happen. Concentrate on making a game, making it fun, think about how to convince the player they are in space. Buy a flight stick if you don't have one - a cool looking space-shippy joystick will make you want to work on your game... something tactile and fun, something that people might want to try out.
I would suggest that you stop and think about what you need to make a basic space game - really that's already here on this forum, because there is at least one space flight example. Get a ship flying around, add another ship flying around then add bullets so you can shoot it... and continue like that. I don't think you need to know too much about the language before starting, because every single project is a learning experience. If the project your working on doesn't teach you anything, then it's wasting your time. A basic space game can be really easy, what with the free flight commands for pitch and roll, and everything else you might need has featured in a code snippet or help request or tutorial at some point.
One thing is for sure - if the project your working on isn't the project you WANT to work on, then it's practically doomed. Your not looking to make a game to sell to people right away, your looking to get started on a game that you will enjoy working on, might well enjoy making it more than you'd enjoy playing it. Space is a great setting, it's the epitomal sandbox, and it wouldn't take much to get there so why not just go for it. I would suggest that you consider new features carefully is all - I mean if you decide to add particle effects, make a particle effects demo seperately then re-engineer it into your space engine. That way, you code everything twice, but when you code something twice, it tends to be twice as efficient. It's better to investigate then incorporate, you will actually save time in the long run.
DBPro has a fairly respectable track record with space games, I don't know exactly why, but they tend to look pretty damn sweet in DBPro, without needing rediculously good media. I mean, Starwraith still looks pretty good and that was written in DB, and most of the textures are frankly horrific. You can stylise a space game, and fans of space games are usually fairly lax about cutting edge visuals - they mostly care about gameplay. Actually I'd say the space game fans are a decent bunch, typically older gamers who fondly remember Elite and Frontier, they deserve more variety.
Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
