You click on objects in the world and get their name and how it's pronounced, in Russian which is my native language.

That's pretty much it. Basically I want to be 100% sure that I can accomplish the project. The problem is, as a player, would I want to buy it? I myself am poor and consequently very selective with my entertainment spending. Which means, it'd be too lean an offering for me.

On the other hand, I more or less believe that there are... enough "suckers" out there who'd pick up anything with "language learning" in description... To put it plainly.

I guess that's the short of it. I don't know if that last intuition of mine is correct. And if it is, I don't actually want to scam people. But I don't want to promise something that I don't know that I'll be able to deliver, like... voice recognition or anything as useful and preposterous. Or even a story. I've never written for games. I've never designed a puzzle. All of which would probably add all the value necessary, but more likely just show me my limits.

I suppose you could say "make a prototype". And I know I won't enjoy playing it, simply because, well, Russian is my native language and I like challenge. But I'd enjoy making it, and I like the idea of using videogames for studying languages.

Any thoughts to help my conscience, more or less?

So, maybe don't just make it JUST for Russian?  You want a challenge, write it for Russian, and 2 or 3 other languages you really want to learn?  Or make it online, and just a touch social, make it extendable easily so players can add the words from their own native languages(this could be a reward for finishing certain levels/skill points/etc..) with a voting up/down or approval system of some sort so people don't just graffiti the hell out of it.

I like the idea.  Have FUN with it.  If it's fun enough, you don't need extravagant anything, or suckers.

Make it.

Another take, make it a FIND the object game.  Find the object in whatever language you choose game... etc..  Points given for time and taken away for failed attempts, etc..  There's a lot of ways to make language into very simple yet entertaining games.

Yet another suggestion, this might help you with making it more of a game.  Get a cheap book of simple word puzzles and start thinking about how those work, you can incorporate almost any word puzzle into a game that is about language.  People love them.   

Okay, I think I'm done now.. haha

This is an opinion as a player. I don't think this is a game me or anybody I know would pay for. Nevertheless, if I heard about the fun I can have with it and it's free but has some ads, I wouldn't mind giving it a chance and who knows if recommending it to people.

Regards and good luck with it!

The problems with some of those suggestions that I have absolutely zero experience with social or mobile games. So that would be adding risk factors that I'm not comfortable with... Although truth be told, I'd probably prefer a casual game like that in the browser. But I've heard there's no money in that. Not to mention that, again, I don't know the technology.

Without trying something new, you will never achieve the experience level that will allow you to produce something that is worth buying, not trying to be harsh, but that's what's up.  I spent the first 20 years of my programming hobby approaching things exactly like you seem to be doing now.  It helped me produce exactly ZERO saleable softwares/games in that time..  All I cared about going into each project was how much money I thought it could make me.  I don't think I even made it half way through most of those projects.  I had NO interest in the final product itself.

I feel like you may be severely limiting your own potential here.  If all you are trying to do is make some money, go get a day job.  It WILL pay off faster.

What's all the risk you keep talking about here?  Are you trying to start a business with somebody or something, you can't start a business without an actual product.. And without some risk, there's rarely any gain.  Sounds cliche, but it's still truth.

If you're just worried about failing your own goals, then well, that happens.  Especially with this "business"..   You just have to take the lessons you learned from trying NEW things and apply them to something better.

I try to think about my game projects as mere milestones towards the one that finally goes where I never expected it could.  Even though I'm actively trying to make them into something fun and enjoyable to play.  Fun and enjoyable sells itself.  It takes WAY less "work" when you enjoy debugging and playing it too.

Sorry for the ramble, but I hope you take something good from it.

Well, to be completely brutally honest, I'm quitting my current job. It has nothing to do with this idea, or with my really non-existent game-dev entrepreneur aspiration. But I've still tried to size it up in some way. And my conclusion is that there's no way this project or anything similar can contribute to my continued survival in any foreseeable future... So. Yeah.

I do in general agree with the attitude of continuously trying things out for fun. I used to consider myself the auteur type destined to work 10 years in obscurity on my dream game... and maybe that works for some people, but in the end I personally can't have one thing that I do define me.

Well, that sounds like a tough/interesting/exciting position to be in.  I wish you the best of luck in your next steps.  Try to take all my ramblings in the context of your proposed game project, I don't like to be the one giving out life advice.   Nobody want's to get that from me. hahaha

I wouldnt pay for a "game" like that. But MAYBE i would install it if it was for free. Then you can have some ads maybe.

But again, if you start out fresh, to deploy this to mobile will still take alot of work from you. You wont see any profit soon (and quite possibly never). There is ALOT of competing apps out there.

If you want to do it for fun and learning, that is another thing. But this "game idea" will not be a safe cash cow for you

Yeah, it's probably best that I focus my mental energy on something more productive at the moment. Just to figure out, what.