Ten things to achieve when starting 3D programming (gamedev.net)

This is a great list.

I would probably put number 4 "Learn everything you can about vectors and matrices" right at the top though. That stuff really is the foundation of most of what you do in 3D programming.

Trying to implement a camera viewport without some significant investment in vector & matrix math is a recipe for disappointment & throbbing temples ;)

This list has nothing to do with say, creating a 3D game like Minecraft.

There are other ways to go about it. This is a good example of one way to do it.

I think that's a great list, and for the most part, how I'm going about it.

But I don't think these need to be done before you actually make your first 'game'. It's perfectly okay to use other peoples' methods for a while until you solidify what you think is wrong with them, and how you think you can improve them. At that point, it's probably time to code your own and find out all the little intricacies.

You will eventually want to know all this, though.

I had done all of this by the time I hit 10th grade. I hated my 10th grade geometry class because I preferred spending my time writing 3D games to applying the law of cosines and proving millenias-old theorems. I'm now confident that was the right choice.

One thing missing is a physics engine/collision response. Sounds hard but not really. Only implement the collision response after you have implemented collision detection.