A bit of a late response as I just noticed your comment "I'm considering avoiding the JVM for games."
I have found myself in this boat many times. I have coded games in Purebasic, TI-83/89 Basic, Z80, C/C++, Java, Kotlin, Javascript, Haskell, Swift, etc. If you are an indie/hobby developer, don't worry about the language too much. Just do it in what's comfortable and enjoy the process. That alone will increase the odds of you completing the game by 50% (random number).
I have found myself in this boat many times. I have coded games in Purebasic, TI-83/89 Basic, Z80, C/C++, Java, Kotlin, Javascript, Haskell, Swift, etc. If you are an indie/hobby developer, don't worry about the language too much. Just do it in what's comfortable and enjoy the process. That alone will increase the odds of you completing the game by 50% (random number).