Hello all, I am fairly new to the concepts of game design, and have a few questions about the best way to start out my first project. Of course it wont be anything too ambitious, but I would like to challenge myself and see how well I can do...

First of all, which genre is the easiest for a new developer to start designing? Also, conversly, which is the hardest? To give a little perspective, I am looking at "easiest" and "hardest" mostly from a coding standpoint.

Second, is it really better to lay down a paper trail before you dive in, or is it better to start designing, and work around ideas that arise?

Thank you to all in advance!

Regards,
DeKO_Mania