As for game database .. my idea was something more universal. But directory per platform is neat idea. I agree config files should be in some textual form, because of CVS.
I'm not sure if it should be XML. As very common idea is that XML is cool, my work experience is different. It's good as communication protocol, because it's universal and well known. Bad it's pretty bad for configs .. it's simply well readable - you need good XML editor for that. In such case making own editor (similar to DW edit) or making more notepad friendly text format can show better.
I also would like to use as little other components as possible. My experience is that any 3rd party component will have to replaced some day. Windows core, OpenGL, OpenAL are quite well designed and debugged, but in our work projects we even use our own XML parsers because those from microsoft just does not suffice in some areas. If we are to use anything, it must be well isolated, so it is simple to replace it later. For example no outer data type can be used in any internal interface.
I don't see any reason why platforms should need specific code. I'd better do everything universal and configurable. I mean if there is one and only canon on wheels on one platform, I'd made common model and I just say in database this canon is the 'wheel model' with 4 wheels of diameter 30cm. Don't repeat yourself is the rule here as well because any such specific code would tend to find another usage in time.
On the other hand I can imagine the sim is released and someone wants to extend it without modifying the original code. In such case some plugin system would be needed, but again, it would be better if those plugins could be shared between the platforms. Other thing is - do we need this ? Plugin system will complicate it a lot. Maybe we can just have it in mind during design.
My current work is based on databases, metadata sets, and configurable applications with tons of plugins and configurations. I have some real experience in this area. I have some idea what can by done by ourselves and how time it would need.
But let's discuss these.
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