I always find that starting a programming project is the hardest part. Once I have a framework going and basics done, everything tends to flow nicely and any problems I have I can solve quickly, However getting past the beginning "How do I start" has always troubled me. Right now I want to create a Zelda style game but I'm not sure how to start out. I want to use C# and XNA or C++ and SDL (or opengl or directx) but I don't know where to start.

XNA had a gamestate management sample which I found very helpful and I want to use a framework like that to start my project. Anyway, my question is how do you normally start your projects? Do you have a basic framework pre-made that you use or do you create one from scratch ect.


Any pointers on how to get this project started or maybe an engine or framework that would be useful to me? Starting out is always the hardest part for me :/