Thanks for the sobering counterpoint to my perfect formula for success :)

A game is really a tough one though.

a game seems less about solving a problem though. Educational games can semi help with solving the problem of learning specific topics, but often hard to pull off well.

I'm sure you've tried but you might want to try and find another perspective. I did a similar joint project with my wife. At more than one point we butt heads. It was pretty tense to say the least I don't want to embellish. On the other hand we did create something and learned much about each other along the way. If you finished something that is a success.

I'm not saying it can't be a positive experience, just telling a story how it absolutely wasn't in this case.

We've got a ton of those stories, but creating a piece of software is probably not on the table in the next 1-2 decades. :)

My wife and I also started making a game. Though the game didn't go far, I ended up learning new technologies specifically for the game to be scalable that landed me a nice job in another country.