A week on I have settled on a few decisions and set up an environment to cater to them. I have set up a free educational Github account separate from my existing university Gitlab account, where I will host a private repository to use for both version control and issue tracking over the course of the project.
I have decided to use JavaScript (ES 6) to develop my Pool game, using the HTML 5 Canvas API to render graphics. I do not have as much experience with these technologies as with a C/OpenGL combination, but there is plenty of documentation available online. I will be developing primarily with Chrome in mind as I will have control of the system the project is eventually demoed on. I have tested some of the functionality using the sandbox tool JSFiddle, and found that it seems appropriate for my needs.
I will be using WebStorm for my IDE, which is is also free for students.
In terms of code commits I have made an initial git commit after setting up a HTTP server and creating a simple prototype that animates the colours of objects while a clock ticks. This involves a Canvas class with a constructor, and a render function; and a Game class that can manipulate the clock.
The next phase of development concerns either building or incorporating the physics engine at the backend, which I have allocated two weeks for.