Game Making Tools

This is a great time to be interested in games.  We live in a time where game making tools have reached that special level of sophistication where everyone interested in making games can actually do it.  No previous experience required.  No coding necessary.  You don't even have to purchase your own domain name to share your work online.  For those with some programming experience, we live in a time of copious game libraries and dedicated SDKs for game creation.  Pick a language, any language, and I'll bet somebody somewhere has created game making tools specific to that language.  These truly are great times.

With so many options, I don't know where to start.  There are just too many damn things I want to learn!

It only took me three or four minutes to compile the following list of potential tools, libraries, languages, APIs, and development kits I'd like to utilize in my projects at some point:

• Construct,
• Stencyl,
• Corona SDK,
• cocos2d,
• Slick-2D,
• GameMaker,
• Scratch,
• Unity,
• Torque,
• Flixel,
• ActionScript,
• FlashPunk,
• Klick & Play,
• Games Factory,
• Inform 7,
• Knytt Stories, and
• ZZT.

Obviously, everything listed serves a different purpose and requires a different time commitment to gain proficiency.  Some are all-in-one game making tools that require nothing in terms of programming.  Some are entirely new languages for me that require everything in terms of programming.

Like I said above, I don't know where to start.  Slow.  I think I'll start slow.  When I get moving, I'll post something.

Cheers,

Danny