Sometimes new people have no clue what ideas they should start with to keep it simple to begin learning. In many cases they aim far too big and for goals far more loftier than they should and it results in some people never actually getting anywhere in game development.

I've seen the request for information for some good projects for first time game developers to undertake. I am going to dedicate this post to that. I will have this blog entry broken into two major segments. The Very Easy, and the Easy. I will try to include different types of games in each of those sections so that hopefully something will lend itself to helping you. In reality, the place to start with making such games is usually by going back in time to when video games and arcades started out. Games were simple, but fun then. That is a good place to start.

Very Easy Game Ideas

The very easy game ideas is going to tap into the nostalgia from the beginning of gaming. It should offer some simple goals and give you a chance to play around with the basics, before reaching for something more ambitious.

Space Invaders - 1978

STYLE: 2D
Techniques - simple 2D sprites. IF you want to use the ground barriers below like in the video you can do that by reading pixels on the textures for that area. You also do not need to remake Space Invaders, but something in this design is one of the easier type of 2D games to design.

Galaga - 1981

STYLE: 2D
This is a more advanced version of some of the techniques used in Space Invaders. In this one you would need to work out paths for your aliens to fly as levels. That is an important part of this game, the fact it has repeating wave patterns that learning each pattern is partially how you advance in the game. You can also get extra lives and it has simple scrolling stars and things like that. Games like this can be a lot of fun and they are not very complicated by modern standards.

Defender - 1981

STYLE: 2D
From a side scrolling perspective this uses some techniques similar to the others and is a chance to mess with parallax scrolling and other things.

Combat - 1977 (Atari 2600)

STYLE: 2D
Simple driving around tanks and shooting.

Pong - 1972

STYLE: 2D
It doesn't get much simpler than this. If you want to look at single player games with similar techniques that are more advanced check out breakout and arkanoid style games. These could be accomplished quite well with physics and colliders. You could also consider making a 3D version, but that would be a bit more advanced. I recommend the 2D variants to start out.

Source: gamedev.stackexchange.com - Breakout

Source: gameogre.com - Arkanoid

Solitaire

Source: wikipedia.com
STYLE: 2D
This is a standard solitaire card game. If you plan on working with card mechanics once you have the basics of shuffling, placing face up, flipping them over, and any other animations you might want then you have essentially the tools in place for making just about any card game.

Asteroids

STYLE: 2D
Unlike most of the games above (except combat) this will enable your ship to fly in more directions and you will need to update your map accordingly. This can be a complex and interesting design if you like, or it can be pretty simple.

Easy Games

These take some of the above concepts and are a little more complex. I also am going to try to at least give you a couple of 3D titles in this area, though in general working with 2D initially is a lot less complicated.

Spy Hunter - 1983

STYLE: 2D
You need to work on some more complex map scrolling and border checking, but this just expands upon the techniques used in Galaga, but with added nuances.

Pac Man - 1980

STYLE: 2D
This has a maze and AI that chases you through the maze. The maze are predefined maps so you do not need to design them randomly. The AI movement and such would carry over well from Galaga and other games.

Xevious - 1982

STYLE: 2D
This is essentially using the techniques you encountered in Galaga with a lot more detail and extra options.

Pitfall - Atari 2600 - 1982

STYLE: 2D
This had only a few level possibilities that it connects together in specific ways. It is useful for basic platformer run, jump, climbing, falling, and swinging.

Donkey Kong - 1981

STYLE: 2D
This is one of the early and highly successful platformers in the arcade. It went on to inspire so many spin offs and everything you know of as Mario today.

Mahjong

STYLE: 2D or 3D
This is an Asian (Chinese) solitaire style game, though there are variants that are not solitaire. It can use 3D pieces if you choose so this can easily be a 2D or a 3D game.

Chess

STYLE: 2D or 3D
Getting the basic pieces to move properly and writing a rudimentary AI would be a learning experience. The AI will likely be one of the more challenging pieces if you undertake this project. You could expand this though and instead aim for something like Archon.

Source: abandonia.com - Archon

Source: youtube.com - Battle Chess

M.U.L.E.

STYLE: 2D
Making a clone of the original M.U.L.E. game. The game itself is not complex, but the AI in the game can make or break this game. To make this game a lot of fun you will need to really do some work on the AI. I recommend checking out Planet M.U.L.E. for more information on this one.

Conclusion

There are obviously many other game types that are possible to consider starting out. I could post many post on older games. My goal here was to perhaps give you some examples that might be interesting enough that you might consider them for learning to be a game developer.

Steem on!