Thank you jbadams, I am looking into making retro arcade type of games strictly 2d. I am interested in making extremely in depth 2d rpg, targeting systems Windows, Linux and Mac Osx. This is just for fun and not commercial purposes and I am willing to invest years into it. I am currently evaluating SFML and the Thor extensions because I have been programming in c++ for the last 10 years and that library is cross platform. I have used SDL in the past as well so I will evaluate that as well.
I love all aspects of game dev, designing, character creation, programming, 2d art, music and sound. I think it will be fun to do all the programming and asset creation myself. Unlike traditional rpg's I a will be basing mine on African mythologies, Story telling, music and art. It is going to be fun.