Spent some more time analyzing the frame rate tonight, but really it seems just due to the map size more than anything too inefficient in the code.

Full map loaded (120 tiles x 80 tiles):

Small map loaded (40 tiles x 22 tiles):

I already have code in place so that tiles off-screen are not rendered, but I think the slow down is related to storing all the tiles.

Tomorrow I may install Python and PyGame on my gaming machine and see if the frame rate is still an issue. Either way, I might end up spending time to figure out how to split up the map and load in bits at a time, or maybe adjust the design of the game to accommodate for smaller maps. But this will be something I mess with further down the road. I don't need fancy graphics or music or sound at the moment, since I'm still implementing the core mechanics.