Your journey is my journey, many times. I've tried so many different game engines and such. What I've learned that works for me and scratches my creator itch perfectly is:
- Make small games. And I mean SMALL. Like what you've done
- Write them for the web to trivialize sharing them with the world
- Use very basic HTML + JS/TS and maybe add React if you've got a lot of UI. And Canvas is great.
- Look into Pixi.js as an abstraction on the canvas API that gives you a ton of great features and huge performance for free (free WebGL if supported). I love Pixi because it just tries to be a renderer. It isn't a game loop or sounds or IO or physics.
- Explore the game you're developing, but don't succumb to scope creep. Know when to decide "that's a really cool idea, maybe I'll save it for my next game." I have too many games that are large in scope but totally incomplete.
- Never be deterred by "this is already been done" or "nobody will want to play this." The journey is the point. Sharing it with us is just a bonus.