Yeah I get what you're saying, Anon. It's confusing on where to start with game development. Luckily for you it's easier than ever to become a game developer. The real question is , is it really a good career path and good use of your time? I digress, I'm just going to tell you what helped me. I bought RPG Maker on steam when it was on sale for $10 becuase, well yolo, and it started a whole journey. Now I'm a full fledged unreal engine developer. Okay I'm going to just list steps from here to keep this brief
Step 1) Brainstorm an idea (The easiest part) - There's no shortage of guys out there that say things like "MAN I HAVE THIS KILLER IDEA FOR A GAME" and then it doesn't go any further than that. Don't be one of those guys, if you're serious about this stuff. However at the same time, you need to have an idea to work from. The simpler the better, it's very easy to think you can make a game that's going to rival Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty, but let's be realistic here. Those games take years to make and are worked on by teams of a 1000 people are more. Takeaway: Come up with a SIMPLE idea to work form it.
Step 2)Pick an engine - Alright now we're getting into the nitty gritty. What type of game was your idea? Is it 2D? 3D? Virtual Reality? This isn't to overwhelm you, but you the modern dev have way more options than game devs of the past. If you're doing a 3D game Unity or Unreal. These engines do support 2D as well though, but they're mostly 3D centric. If you want to make an JRPG there's always RPG Maker, if you want to make an Isometric game godot is great for that (it can do so much more though). Takeaway: Pick an engine that gels with you and the type of game you want to make, learn it's workflow and get to it
Step 3) GET TO WORK YA BUM jk but yeah just start somewhere and keep at it, an hour a day is a start, just focus on implementing one feature a day and then polishing it the next. Get a very basic character into the project then work on the mechanics that your project will need.
Step 4) Once your mechanics are in place (they don't need to be perfect just in place) you can then move on to things like character models, animations, level design, and audio. Don't get overwhelmed just pace your safe keep the stuff you want to implement simple, and keep chugging a long.
Step 5) I should've put this earlier but you should have been doing this since step 1, watch youtube videos and google EVERYTHING, and I mean EVERYTHING
Step 6) KEEP WORKING try to be a perfectionist, stick with it, but also be realistic about your expections and content delivery
Step 7) Start showing gameplay and stuff on your social medias to build some hype
Step 8)Once the game is done, packaged, playable and ready for mass consumption upload it to steam and set your price! (as I'm writing this you do have to pay a $100 barrer fee to put your game up) but it is the biggest marketplace on PC and they take litterally anything (Seriously go on steam and search up Hitler lol)