Now I've tried using OpenGL in Java before, and found it a right pain. LWJGL however is pretty transparent, and about as easy as you could make an OpenGL interface while retaining full functionality.
Playing around with it produced this, which should look at least slightly familiar to some people:
Probably nothing will come of it, but it's a fun project to try while (re-)learning OpenGL. One thing I've found is that I desperately need a more modern book on the subject, since the reference I have are massively outdated.
One interesting thing is that this is a "real" 3D display, rather than the fixed-viewpoint of a traditional sprite-based isometric display. This means it can be spun and viewed from any direction, rather like the game Dungeon Keeper. Actually something like this would probably be necessary if it were ever a real game, since otherwise things get hidden by walls too easily.
Also the networking aspect might be fun to try, since LWJGL lets you run the client as a browser applet, connected to a server on the backend. That is a seriously neat and useful way of doing things, since everything necessary is downloaded by the player automatically.
Don't you wish BYOND could do this stuff easily? Maybe one day.
