So, I want to make a lo-res 2D platformer for PC (renders to 320×240, 384×240 or 384×216, depending on the resolution ratio, scaled up to fit the screen). Now, I'm doing pretty fine making sprites so far, but I'm stuck about what framework to use. Normally I'd use classic Allegro for something like this, but that thing has pretty much died now and the only updates it'll get are bugfixes.

I was looking at SDL, but I'm somewhat unsure about it. SDL 1.2 seems to be in the same situation as classic Allegro. I definitely like 1.3 more anyways, but it looks like development for it is going extremely slow. The stuff I need seems to be pretty much stable by now, but yeah, not sure about whether I should use it right now or not.

I do not like Allegro 5, although it does seem to be the one in best shape. It's obviously much more GPU oriented, but I don't want to demand something like that for something this simple. If I were to use it then I'd probably just use OpenGL to blit a texture to screen and do all the game rendering in software. Also it ends up requiring a lot of DLLs, if I recall correctly.

So, what do you suggest? Should I just go ahead with SDL 1.3? (leaning towards that) Allegro 5? (though I don't like it) Something else? The game will be GPL, in case you wonder about license compatibilities. Also I'm targetting minimum Windows, Linux and OSX (any extra platforms are a bonus)

PS: don't suggest SFML. I tried it before, I hate how it handled things. I'd rather take Allegro 5 over that, it's much better =P

hmm, if you'd like something lightweight and without a hundred dependencies, there is still http://sourceforge.net/projects/carnage-engine/
you can judge what it can do by checking out the demo and how to use it by checking out the examples.
I hope one advantage of this is that the source is not too large so it allows modification/adaptation/fixes at will to fit your project better.
on the other side, the disadvantage is that it does little.