I want to learn how to make games but my usual approach to learning is through solving existing problems. Now making a whole video game is a little different from grinding on leetcode or making a simple desktop app. What is the best genre or type of a game to tackle first and which set of tools would you recommend for the overall solo gamedev experience?
Simple - make a clone of an existing game.
Take a look at 8 bit era games like Tetris/Columns, Breakout or Space Invaders.
Use a programming language you are familiar with or is close to what you usually use.
There is gazillions of libs, frameworks and engines to gibe you a quick start: Godot, Löve2D, SFML, SDL2, or (ewww) Unity.
Our company, Quiver, has a free Godot 4 course that takes you from basics to a finished 2d infinite runner in about 2 hours. <a href="https://quiver.dev/tutorials/create-your-first-godot-4-game/" rel="nofollow">https://quiver.dev/tutorials/create-your-first-godot-4-game/</a>. Feedback welcome!<p>Full disclosure: I’m the founder.