Hey, thanks a lot for the reply and insight.
I understand what you are saying, that fundamentals of game design are the most important thing I need to learn first and foremost. I've been playing the stuff I like on itch with a more analytic eye trying to figure out how they function as a game and why I enjoy them. And I've been designing the little Arkanoid game I want to make on paper with this regard too.
I did a bit more reading and watched some tutorials for the Pico 8 since last night, and it does seem programming language heavy but I think that'll be good for me. I think when people say it's good for newbies, I think they mean it might be good for newbies *who already have experience with coding* but I think it'll be a good learning tool to both understand what writing code looks like and how to make a game at the same time. I also found this game which has an accompanying free tutorial series on how to make it so I think that's a good start. Although I can't lie, seeing that this game alone has a 98 part video series is really putting it all into perspective for me lol
It is tempting to jump into GameMaker since they like to emphasise that you don't need to write code to make games but I know from experience that it's always better to learn how to do things the more technical way. I would like to be able to write code and have more control and understanding over what I'm doing. I suppose when I hit limitations with Pico-8 I can then move that onto another platform.
I appreciate your reply! The only skills I have that could be useful for game making right now are music and sound design, and writing I guess. My sister is a talented artist and when I told her I wanted to make a video game she was on board to do the art so that's nice too lol.
I guess an hour a day is what I can give to game-making right now.
