Experts, I need help starting game dev

[progamer1111in]

Hello DevMaster.net

I am trying to get into the gaming development. I am a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, which means that I have experience in software and hardware. A fair grasp of both worlds and ultimate mastery in none.
I have a decent knowledge and 6-7 years of experience in making little programs in the following languages----
C (No gaming experience)
Python (No gaming experience)
Kornshell (KSH for short) (No gaming)
Visual Basic 6.0 (No gaming)

I am specifically interested in the programming part of game development as I have decent programming experience. The graphics and rendering is something which can be worked upon sometime later.

My target is to make one game by the end of this year. Or at least get a testable version of the game up and running. Which will be a story driven motorcycle racing game. I hope to add better graphics with 3D rendering after December.

Now that you have understood my background and what I am capable of. And also what my project looks like.
Please can somebody suggest me where should I start. I know C++, C# are good languages to program games in. But do I really have to learn another language to make games, I already know C and Python.

Is there is difference between API and Game engines? I kind of get confused. I have heard way too many terms... maya, opengl, d3d, Panda3D, OGRE, Irrlicht, NeoAxis, SDL, SFML, PTK, Haaf's, Allegro, PyGame, etc, etc.

I am not in any way starting a topic of debate. All I want to know is which game api and/or software and/or game engine is right suited for my background. I don't have time to read programming books, as I know programming in some languages.
Did I wrote too much?

PS:I do realize that this topic has been asked several times, and yes I have read many thread relating to my topic.

[Sol_HSA]

My graphics/gamedev tutorial seems exactly what you might need - http://iki.fi/sol/gp/

Also, if you haven't done so already there's plenty of information here in
devmaster wiki: http://www.devmaster.net/wiki/Main_Page
and tutorials: http://www.devmaster.net/articles.php

[Reedbeta]

Python is a fine language to start programming games in. You may want to look up PyGame, a set of Python modules for game development.

The difference between API and engine is the level of abstraction. An API is relatively closer to the hardware and provides low-level operations like setting a transform matrix or drawing a vertex buffer, while an engine provides high-level operations like loading and displaying an animated model, or manipulating a camera, or collision detection.

Whether you choose to use an engine, or build your own engine based on an API, depends on whether you are more interested in making a game, or in learning about how the technology behind a game works. An engine will let you make progress rapidly (at least to begin with) without knowing too much about the internals.

[fireside]

My target is to make one game by the end of this year. Or at least get a testable version of the game up and running. Which will be a story driven motorcycle racing game. I hope to add better graphics with 3D rendering after December.

In 2d, you could do it, but I don't think it would work very well. A motorcycle game means you need a physics engine and most of the time you need to configure that to an engine that you pick. You could do a search for an engine that has built in physics to possibly speed it up, but you don't mention if you have modeling experience. It takes a long time to learn modeling also. You'll need to build your own terrains and motorcycles with characters and learn skeletal animation. It's a really lousy game to start out with as far as the amount of experience you'll need. Best off to start with something else and plan it as your long term goal after you master a game engine, modeling, and a physics engine.