Hello, I really want to start making games, I want to start with very simple ones, currently, I'm trying to make a snake game, but I'm encountering a few difficulties that I don't know how to solve, so the question is, are there simpler games to start with then work my way up, or should I keep on trying to make this snake game? I've been trying to solve a problem in it for about three days now but I still can't figure it out. Is pong suitable? What suggestions do you have? Thank you!

Pong is pretty much the most basic beginner game that gets recommended... another venue would be text adventures, though at that point, you are throwing graphics completly out of the window, and your game loop will be quite different (in most cases it will stop waiting for input) than what other games use.

Why not describe your difficulties so that members on this forum could try to help you? Probably someone has an idea how you could solve them.

Games that don't require "graphics" are generally easier to start with; ones that function will with just text-based input and output. "Guess-the-number," Hangman, Blackjack, text-based adventure games. That sort of thing.

If you've built those and feel comfortable, moving to graphical games via some windowing API like SDL or whatever, and then focusing on simple games there like Pong or Asteroids is a good next step. Snake is not a terribly more "advanced" game than either of those though, so if you're otherwise comfortable with everything you've done with the game so far you probably don't need to backtrack to a simpler game.

Instead, why don't you try to explain the problem you're having and how you've tried (and failed) to solve it so far? You will always run into these sorts of situations when programming and generally avoiding it and going back to a simpler project isn't going to be helpful (or possible). That doesn't mean you just have to beat your head against a wall when you're stuck though. You can ask for help.

Non-Realtime games for the command line/console are a good start to get familiar with the language basics.

I like to add Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect Four, simple form of Monopoly and quiz games to the list.

Others have already touched most points, let me give you a link to an article that discusses how to begin (in any language) http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/technical/game-programming/your-first-step-to-game-development-starts-here-r2976

3dbuzz actually has a pretty darn good tutorial series for gamedev. However it costs money.

Pong is pretty much the most basic beginner game that gets recommended... another venue would be text adventures, though at that point, you are throwing graphics completly out of the window, and your game loop will be quite different (in most cases it will stop waiting for input) than what other games use.

Yeah but it still helps gives you a rough understanding of game states. You just aren't updating it many times per second :P

Pong or snake.. Or both you know.

The best game to start with is one that is simple enough to complete, but complex enough to be challenging. Snake fits that bill. If you only ever look for simple challenges, you won't progress beyond hello world. The joy of programming is finally solving that problem that has had you stumped for 3 days.

When I was starting I found pure (text) Roguelikes to be quite accessible, as well as Text Adventures (never found a decent tutorial for these, though), as well as adventure Myst-like games, if you have the skills for graphics, or if you like taking photos for the scenery.

Still, some nice choices would be Pong, Arkanoid, Space Invaders, Tetris, Snake, Pacman, Super Mario, 1942/43. It's worth noting that these games get often suggested for learning, not because they're renown titles or challenging to make, but because they all entail a number of important concepts that you'll need to learn in order to make any game you want to make.

Flash games sometimes bring up great simple ideas, like 2D Shooters (those you control a crosshair and shoot things) and simple puzzle games and top-down stealth/shooting games.

There are some games that look simple but in reality (or as far as I can tell) are quite more complex, such as Worms and Lemmings.