[andrewmcwatters]

That's kind of a backwards goal (instead of trying to make a game, and moving towards the technology that enables that) but to entertain your question: there isn't one.

The game development community doesn't really buy into the crap that the web development world does. People care more about results than process there, and as a result, care far more about performance and ease of development, too. That means using tested technologies.

Large game engines are built in C and C++, and their exposed scripting APIs are provided in Lua, C#, and JavaScript.

I don't know anyone that writes games other than Flash ones that don't subscribe to the language ecosystems of the ones above or general game development ecosystem that you can take seriously.

Game development is a multidisciplinary field, don't test the waters there for playing around with a new language. You're missing so much more when you make that your goal.

[makufiru]

So you're saying I should embrace C/C++/a scripting language and not try to chase something new? I think my main reason for both requirements was so that I could learn something that'd help me in my current position, and also get started on the path I'd like to be on: toward game development.

[CyberDildonics]

You should decide what you are really trying to accomplish, because learning a trendy language and game development are not really on the same path. Maybe you could learn Go and use GLFW, but if you want to do things you can't do in javascript you will likely want to learn C++11/14 and get familiar with a couple of solid libraries. Cinder might be worth checking out.

[georgefrick]

If you are a full stack JavaScript developer looking at game development, then you might look at Phaser JS. It wouldn't involve learning a new language, but I've found its fun to work with both privately and professionally.

[andrewmcwatters]

I don't understand the mentality, though. If you want to make games, make games. There isn't a "path" towards game development, you just make them.

If you want to fool around with languages, you can do that without making games, but you don't have a game concept.