I don't know what GDE is , but it sounds nice. I wish you continue with this journy but, the reason why it's worth to learn a programming language is because you will not be limited anymore. You can turn your ideas into code and have it working. I have an issue like you, I am not sure what to do, I need somebody to guide me seriously. I am now going with Python but have already heard enough that it is laggy and consumes a lot of resources in games. I am trying to use PYGame but couldn't find a documentation explains how to develop an audio game using this library. It's like I need a rescue because seriously I don't want to have BGT the only source remaining. For now NGT is not yet done and it lacks a lot of implementations, that's why I am obliged to use Python. Yet no guide on how to begin with PyGame. Because the rest of Python syntax should already be easy to grab

@1
Programming isn't all that different from an engine, its just a bit more abstract and requires a few more explicit steps. For example, creating a map is as simple as using a 2D array with each variable in the 2D grid representing a type of tile. So for example 1 could equal a wall, 0 an open floor, 2 a door, 3 a switch, etc. Learning to program with a specific language just helps you get a handle on the basic building blocks for putting these kinds of things together, and then building on them to create what you want. I would advise learning the basics to begin with, variables, operators, if/else, loops, functions, and classes, so as to build the core logic of your game, then you can move on to things like Pygame for handling windows, keyboard/mouse input, and audio playback. Of course, there's nothing wrong with playing around if you like, so feel free to take it at whatever pace you like.

@2
Python isn't laggy nor resource hungry, like any language it can depend heavily on how you use and/or optimize it. Some lower level languages can be more optimized and efficient than others, but that also comes at the cost of being more cumbersome and time consuming to write and manage. If your looking for a particular guide, I do believe there's one by amerikranian in the Articles section.

Over the years I've also posted a number of python examples for things like Menu's, audio/keyboard handling, and network programming if either of you are interested in playing around with something. You can find a bunch of them here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Start small.
Learn one or two tricks, make something to test your understanding, then make the simplest game you can with only those tricks. Add some complexity, then learn some more powerful tricks. Repeat until you can get the levels of complexity and quality you want.
There's a reason companies divide the process into designers and programmers (and the bigger teams assign programmers to different aspects of the project). The skills involved are legion. But in spite of that, there are many solo developers who make good games, so it's not as overpoweringly complex as that might make it sound.
So, where to start? I guess it depends on what you'd have the easiest time using as an entry point, and that's hard to determine. Personally, I started with basic HTML and javascript, using Frontpage and basic online tutorials. But that was back when HTML and javascript were far simpler (and less standardized). These days, I'm not sure how beginner-friendly either is.
Lots of people suggest Python, which does have a few advantages, though every library or module you add is a whole new thing to learn. One of the great things about Python is that it comes with a command line interpretter, so you can quickly try things or check the built-in documentation for whatever you want to learn. The deeper you go down the gaming rabit hole, the more you have to start worrying about if this version of that module supports this other module's current version, or if some leftover 32bit dll is trying to load in a 64bit environment, or some mess like that... But, in theory, by the time you get there, you should have an idea of how to cope. To get started, though? Just install Python, learn the basics of command line use, and start playing with basic input and output. You can do a lot with input / print / if / while, if you're OK with text as a medium.

@7
That's... a pretty good idea actually. It would be more convenient to have a single page to reference for all the examples that have piled up. I'll look into putting something up in the Articles room and updating my previous post.