Well, the direction you should take depends on where you are coming from. First, I would suggest you take an Introduction to Computers course, then get back to me Seriously, I would love to be doing the same thing (not the intro course - did that 20+ years ago). There are soooo many things to consider for such an undertaking. If you want to say where you are in the process, I would be willing to try to offer direction. The log files of the Wiz 8 team (if they are still on the VN boards) might be good reading.
Tools for your Wizardry(r) toolkit