Java programming path

I’m having trouble learning game programming. I do know a lot of advanced material from my basics. I can construct a game loop. Render other imager images and refresh screen, and add keyevents to move it. As far as that I don’t know what path to take now. I tried reading killer game programming in java and that seemed a bit confusing. I have the book programming video games for the evil genius but he doesn’t use a proper game loop to me. I also have beginning game programming in java 2nd edition which is outdated and mainly focused on applets. I REALLY could use a mentor to make sure I take the right paths but I don’t think anyone would want to do that for free. Can someone just choose a book that really helped them understand game programming? ??? :clue: :clue: