Help for a total noob

Hey everybody. So I'm gonna just come right out and say I have very little knowledge of programming. I've been following the psp homebrew scene for ages but I've never coded anything...... but I'd like to. I have lots of free time coming up and I'd like to finally learn how to code a decent scroller for psp. I have lots of really good ideas (the easy part) for a game but I have no idea how to put it together (the hard part). Now's a good time to learn methinks. So, whoever has a decent knowledge of putting together a side scroller and time to spare could you please walk me through the basics. Essentially I want a side scrolling shooter with all the physics you'd expect from a modern game (I guess I mean ragdoll). Doesn't have to be too advanced. I want nice fluid sprite animation, maybe even rendered in 3d (eventually for dramatic camera panning, am I getting ahead of myself.....) and decent looking effects like explosions.

I'll explain the game in more detail if anyone's interested in helping me out.
Thanks for reading.

Gar

Read: http://www.gp32x.com/board/index.php?showtopic=38391

Also: GameDev's Start here page

It will be a long process using months and even years as measures of time.

the first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with c and c++