On Nick's agidev.com site it's mentioned how SDL is a key component in the graphics of NAGI (and a collection of games too!)
How long does it take to program a simple game (graphics-wise) with SDL? I've learned quite a bit about logic at school, but jack squat about making things look good, unless I were to program graphics in ASCII... but I don't think anybody has THAT much time (or I'd hope not!)