I want to second LÖVE [1] as an easy way to build games! Some user "adn" has documented almost the whole process using the framework to build his own game (which he released on Steam) on Github [2], so it's fantastic starting point..

I hope this year I'll have some time to participate!

[1] https://love2d.org/

[2] https://github.com/adnzzzzZ/blog/issues/30