Game looks awesome, can't believe I never heard of it. I was really into Tempest. In any case, it looks like a pretty easy game to make. You could do it in 3D no problem, but I think 2D would be more fun to keep the retro look and also be easier for you if you are just starting out. The lines can be 2D sprites which move faster as their Y value gets closer to the lower part of the screen. The player ship is fairly simple, and any 2D shooter tutorial should cover that. The enemies will be 2D sprites as well, but have their scale determined by the Y value (so they get bigger lower on the screen). Otherwise it would just be about coding the enemy movement patterns, which can be confusing at first but you want to define different states for the enemies and then switch when something happens. Like they have a state "move_left" and if they hit the edge of the screen it switches to "move_right". And if they pass the player X value then they "shoot". Stuff like that. I doubt you will find a tutorial specifically for that game since it's so obscure, but I think it won't be too hard.
