I remember having to do something similar in college. I think the first time we had to do it in C, the second time we had to do it in C++ and make it OOPy. No GUI was required but with such a simple game it was possible (I think some students did it for extra credit?) to strap a GUI on top once the text based version was done. That might give you an idea of how to proceed. I was fortunate to have been programming before college but I was always amazed at how lots of those who made it to their junior year and beyond were basically as productive as me for school assignments despite only really starting to program in college. I still remember struggling with the syntax of the for() loop in PHP. My struggles are different now (and mostly related to modifying code that already exists rather than creating fresh new code) but struggle is a good sign that you're learning something. Just be careful it doesn't turn into never-ending masochism!