There are tons of things to say on this topic. But I'm going to let some guys do the speaking who have a lot more experience with the subject than I do.
Extra Credits is a series of web videos centered around game design. They're written by people in the industry who have made games before, and worked as consultants on game projects. The vast majority of their videos are excellent resources in general, especially any that touch directly on an aspect or feature that you know will be in your game. But they also have a small mini-series specifically centered around making your first game.
In addition to those, I would specifically call out a few others as being excellent viewing material for someone looking to start development for the first time.
Fail Faster: Cannot stress this one enough.
On the idea of keeping things simple, we also have Depth vs. Complexity. Since keeping things simple on yourself will be important as well, this one bears receiving special attention.
More than ExVery useful for anything with heavy story, like an RPG.
Following that, we have Word Choice: Another excellent one for story heavy games.
So you want to be an Indie: This is probably the most helpful of their "So you want to be" videos, especially if you're planning on being a small developer.
Yes, there's a lot there to watch, but they offer very, very good advice, and it comes from people who have worked directly with the industry and have seen how these things can turn out. Honestly, if you have time, I'd recommend watching most of their videos. You're going to need a lot of help on this sort of project, and there is going to be a lot of research to do. It will all help, even if just in some small way.
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