I thought of some more things:

- inputs are usually callback events, so the thing I usually did was accumulate all inputs in the callback events and then processed them in the processInputs() method. Accumulate was something simple like pressedKeys |= pressedKey

- updateScreen() is usually just a call to repaint() or something like that, which makes the Operating System call your applications paint() method. My paint method looks like

paint(Graphics g){

drawBackground(g);

drawCounters(g);

drawMonsters(g);

drawPlayer(g);

}

and so on... Flex does things in a slightly different way, so it really depends on the technology you choose.

Good advise. I'd recommend starting with something like Asteroids, because it's even easier than Tetris (no tricky rotation/bounds logic) and more rewarding.

Thanks for the advise. I'll try that.

I'm guessing deciding on the game's look&feel, designing and integrating the graphics and tuning the difficulty is the hard part.

Definitely. A good rule to follow is that almost everything that turns out to to be hard is something you never thought of before you started the game.

So my advice to anyone who wants to make a game is to just start, there's not really any other way to learn.

That is also why it is so much fun ;-)