An update on how work is going so far:

There's only three months left in the year, and I've decided to use these to build up my skills while slowly working on my design for "Project Hamlet". Here's a breakdown of how the skill development is going:

• Music: I've finished one piece, and am tidying up three more. When these are done I'll post them up for review. They're certainly not perfect, but it's a start.
  
• Art: It's still dreadful. I'm not sure on the best way to work on this. I've got a few "how to draw" books in my collection that I never really got too far into. However, I'm not sure if pencil drawing is the best way to become a computer graphics expert. I might work through those tutorials on how to become a tile artist, as "Project Hamlet" and my little games are probably going to be based on tiles. I'm open to other suggestions though.
  
• Programming: I need to revise my C. I'm going to be working in C for my study work, so that's a start. But I'm thinking that it might be best to practice C by actually writing a game, so I might get started on the first of my small games ASAP
  

I am also thinking about which small game I should work on first. It has to have the following properties: easy to design, quick to write, and minimal art assets required. Since it's the first game I'll stick to a conventional game design, and probably pick a close clone to an existing game type. So far I think I'll pick one of the following two options:

• One of those square based puzzle games, like Tetris or Tetris Attack.
  
• A scrolling shmup, with stylised spaceships set on a starry space background.
  

The last time I tried something like this I got bogged down in ensuring my software architecture was perfect (a legacy of my engineering background), so I'll consider this to be more of a throwaway prototype, so the code can be ugly. Then I might work on a project with cleaner code, probably another arcade type game but with more art.

Any suggestions from the other denizens in Journal Land?