The good news is: these days, you don't need to know or understand any of that to make games. You can download Unity and if you've done some Java programming, you shouldn't be too lost. There's also solutions out there without any programming. ;)
But as you said, I'm kind of a "hardcore nerd" when it comes to game engine and tools, which is one of the reason I like to develop my own tech. ^^
But it's not necessary to make games these days, so don't let that discourage you! :)