Game architecture and software engineering

[h2osmack]

This has been a sticking point for me for a long time. I am a neat freak when it comes to architectures but I can't get my head around them half the time. I look on sourceforge for architecture examples but what I really need is something simplistic and documented. I did a module about software engineering but have yet to put a lot of the work into practise.
Can anyone share stories or direct me in the right path to making a template architecture for a simple game such as space invaders/pong?