I agree. If you want to learn to make a game then you should learn the whole process. If you want to learn something new (through programming) then just solve specific problems you're interested in. Creating a game and dropping it once you've learned something new has wasted time creating the game around it.slime wrote:
Finishing something is a whole new problem added onto the idea you had for the project, so you only really solved half the problems.
A lot of tutorials and articles around the web encourage anyone (but newbies especially) to finish their games because it gives you pride in your work and a sense of progress, which are both important in learning. Here are just a few:
http://www.yourgamedesign.com/hobby-gamedev-manifesto
http://rampantgames.com/blog/?p=1645
http://lazyfoo.net/articles/article01/index.php