Reality check

Just first entry on my itch.io dashboard... learn by doing as someone would say. Nothing tangible created right now, but i am going to try. 

Hi,

I need some form of reality check. Also this will be little longer. And chaotic. First things first, i am M41, playing games since I can remember, tinkering with games and mods here and there. Lately i have nothing to do with my free time, i have stopped doing most of the sports due to increasing number of injuries and some body parts being at their limit of usage. And because i cannot just work and get drunk all the time (it was fun when i was 20, it was not so fun in my 30's and now i suffer even longer in my 40's), i am trying to add some new skills to my skill set. Game development. Rest of CV is that i was over 15 years PLC programmer, and right now i am finishing my first decade as project leader in technical / automotive industry. I know how programming works, at least general principles, and project management is in my blood.

That brings me to second part, i have some idea how complicated development can be. I have kind of my "dream game", which i broken down with C4 to small parts, which again I broke down to smaller particles, and those were broken in elemental particles. Right now i have mind-map which i am trying to put on paper, and lots of questions - the dreaded reality check. I have decided to start with GODOT and create some small games (1-2 hours of gameplay max) to learn basic principles, test mechanics that can be used in further projects, learn what is possible and what is not. In general i have created small projects (elemental particles) which will have some game principle that will be used later down the road to learn that one mechanic and coding before moving to next step. No marketing, no sells, just learning experience. You know, cantrips before fireballs.

Now the long part

• my PLC programing experience, can it be at least partially advantageous in learning game engines, or it's more of hinderage? I have probably hardcoded lots of principles in my DNA which can be counterproductive.
• i want definitely to do it as sideproject hobby in foreseeable years. Does anyone have some insight on starting this quest at my age as hobby and not going all in?
• how much crucial are design documents, roadmaps, and task tracing for really small scale projects? One way is to learn as much and forget about that, or focus on learning and this stuff to get used to is as early as possible?
• functionality over form. I am definitely not able to learn graphic design. So right now i will be just using free assets, for first few tries. How do you solve this as solo dev? Contracting designers per use? Looking for someone to collaborate? Long term cooperation?
• 2D or 3D? My plan is to do 2D spaceship flying, 2D side scrolling and isometric diablo-clone (technical viability test) and move to 3D when i feel comfortable with GODOT. I am not sure if i shouldn't start right away with 3D, but my feeling is to learn basics, and then add 3D.
• AI incorporation. How much helpful can AI be? I have ChatGPT+ which is able to help me with scripts so i don't need to read manual every 5 minutes and instead ask GPT for script and then i can check function which i actually need and learn how they work. How much can be DALL-E used to help me with assets? I found out that it cannot create weapon pictures, and lot of other stuff which can be considered offensive by someone. What is your actual experience with AI in development?

aaand.. it wasn't actually that long. It turned out, that when i wrote it down, i answered my own questions.