Need Some Input/Advice

I'm tinkering with Unity and also writing down an idea I have for a side-scrolling schmup. But the first step in making something like this is always the hardest. It's that age-old question for almost any job or hobby of any kind:
Where do I begin?

And, in all honesty..I have no idea where I start. I cannot figure out what Step 1 is..Unless it's 'Flail around in my ignorance'. If it's that, then I'm good; I'm ahead of the curve.

Jokes aside..any advice? Suggestions? Tips? Keep in mind; I'm a rank 0 newbie. I know enough Python 3 to get in trouble and I've barely made a working first-person camera in Unity using youtube.
I did try to look in the asset store for a side-scrolling shooter to open the hood of and poke at until it explodes in my face in a cloud of angry bugs & bad ideas, but nothing really jumped out at me. So if anyone can suggest anything, or has any tips for a newbie, I'd be grateful.

Thank you in advance,
Eguzky

 

I hate to suggest this because you are clearly passionate about what type of game you want to make, but I really think you need to start smaller or do a few tutorials first.

Even 2D games like the one you suggested have many more parts and systems to design than you realize. Once you get a few tutorials done, you will have a better idea of what your next steps are to complete your game.

If however, you wish to go on and continue, start with the basics: at a minimum you need some kind of ship and a way to get it moving around on the screen. Think in terms of what does every game in this genre have in common and what are the basics. That might be a great place to start. Almost every game you can think of is fun because of a few small gameplay elements

 

Fair enough I started with a roguelike but I was struggling, as I had no set ideas in mind, so I was not actually doing much for lack of interest.

I figured a Schmup could be easier, because it only simulates movement with a scrolling background; the enemies move from right to left, but the player only stays within a small screen.

And thank you for the advice!

 

In addition to what spryx siad, i can suggest you not to try to make a full game just yet.
There are plenty of toutorials, examples you can find online for almost any kind of genre. Even if you think you understood how the engine works there is much more stuff to be discovered.
What i am suggesting is that you can make small demos, prototypes of games instead of start to develop a full game.
Or even better start with separate projects for one system you want to make, for example "movement", create a new project and start experimenting there meanwhile watching tutorials but don't add too much stuff in it.
I started some projects that quickly became a mess because i was always adding new things i wanted to try, but after some time i discovered a tutorial/discussion where i found out that one thing can be made in a better way, or i realize i was developing things in a wrong way etc... and it was much more difficult to fix things when you have already created lots of assets and code for one project.

 

I'm making a space shooter game as a first project. Like Lifeforce or Gradius or whatever
You just got to start somewhere and keep moving forward. I first learned how to add a sprite, setup a camera, add a background, and make the sprite move. Then I wanted my ship to move on its own. Then, I wanted the camera to follow it. Then, I wanted it to stay within the bounds of the screen. Then I wanted ....... See how that works?

Try to find out what you want to do and then go on Youtube and start building something.

 

Learn to program first. Do some C# tutorials. Take the time to learn how to do basic console programs, and then maybe some basic apps with UI's too. The point is to learn how object-oriented programming works. After that you could move on to Unity tutorials. Unity has a pretty good one where you make a little space shooter.