It's a vicious circle, without a good engine there will be no game developers.. and the community is a minority, so no one wants to do any engine with continuous development.
Too bad, because e.g. ZenGL is just the type of engine (concept, premeditation, cross platform) that would be able to attract people.

Programming language or platform ? Does not matter. Especially for someone who begins with games and syntax of Pascal is good reading. Small game can break and possibly earn millions USD Just have a good idea ​​and complete project.