There are a number of engines that you could use to develop games on linux.
If you are comfortable with python, you should look at 'pygame'
http://www.pygame.org/news.html.
For a more general engine (including 2D, 3D, sound and control) you can check in to SDL (Simple Directmedia Layer)
http://www.libsdl.org/.
SDL can be employed by almost any modern programming language, so you should be able to find something that matches your preferences.
