Hello, I'm in a bit of a quagmire. I keep flip-flopping back and forth between game ideas instead of confidently commiting to one. I'm working solo, and I find that my biggest limitation is in the visual arts department. I have a degree in programming and have made a couple of games in the past. While I have some basic art skills, they're definitely lacking. But I've found that I can make some acceptable chibi-art, which actually works nicely for a small phone screen.

Anyways, here's the crux of my problem. I can't decide between doing a platformer, a space shooter, or a turn based rpg. All three have their ups and downs. The platformer I feel requres the most animation to look legit, but it might be the simplest in terms of programming complexity. A space shooter can get by with static images since space-ships typically don't have moving parts, but it can become rather complex programming-wise when deciding the AI of the ships and the numerous paths they can take on the screen. A turn-based rpg can also get by with static images, but the images should probably be high quality and detailed. A turn-based game is unique in that the programming is all about statistics of moves and characters which I find enjoyable, so right now I'm leaning towards turn-based.

What do you think is the best choice for me? Or... what are some other beginner friendly options for game genres that I'm not thinking of?

Don't worry about art at first.

Produce a proof of concept using programmer art, and if it's good you can then decide if you want to try and find an artist, buy or commission paid artwork or use open source or public domain artwork e.g. from opengameart.org.

in short, a good game stands alone even with bad programmer assets and you will know at this point if it's good or not. Iterate as fast as possible to reach this point so you don't waste time creating art for dud ideas.

This is how I work and it works for me, I'm OK at editing existing art but can't draw new art very well and consider myself a competent programmer.

Make sure you create your game in such a way that artwork can be easily changed by the artist you hire.

Hope this helps!

If its for profit, you should take a look at what will sell well.

If its for learning, you should do do something that will increase your skill set.

If its just for fun, you should do whatever you're most motivated to work on.

BTW, technically speaking, the only real difference between turn based and real time is the "do { move_units() } until (end_turn_clicked());"

Stats is more about how in-depth the game is.

It just so happens that many real time games tend to be lighter on stats, that's all.

But not all real time games are light on stats and depth.

Consider batlefield mode in Total War. real time, and lots of stats.