Quote Originally Posted by AthenaOfDelphi
You can dynamically load your libraries using loadLibrary (if my memory serves)
Yep, that's true. To be honest, I have never tried loading a DLL during application's execution, i.e. not at start. But AFAIK existence of external dependencies is checked before an application is actually run. I've never really met any program which thrown an error saying there's a DLL missing in the middle of its execution. But like I said, I may be wrong. If anyone can dispell the doubt, please do so.

Yep, I agree both with Athena and WILL. First make the game working, then you can think about compacting your data files or protecting them. While in development, it's easier to keep your files "raw" (not compressed/encrypted), because it's faster to edit them.