since you mentioned Rust, it can also be a matter of how you approach learning it – maybe learning a game might be more comfortable – as an example, Reddit’s r/roguelikedev links to multiple tutorials in multiple languages (with at least three Rust based options):

• Roguelike Tutorial - In Rust – also available as a book if you want something more physical
• Roguelike Tutorial in Rust + tcod – uses libtcod from the original Python tutorials they started with
• Roguelike Tutorial 2020