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[BMcC]

I'm pretty sure it's C and DirectX.  But don't quote me on it!

[BenH]

I'm pretty sure it's C and DirectX.  But don't quote me on it!

[FARTRON]

The garagegames entry could be expanded.  They've got 3 different products, and the price range is greater than indicated; Torque Game Builder (their 2D engine) without the source code is only $100.  There's loads of tutorials at the garagegames wiki although you need privileges (an account with ownership of the relative product) to see them.

I don't know how to tell which of the games they sell in the store were made using their own products, but they have some notable games listed that are more relevant than Tribes: Gish, Marble Blast, Bridge Builder, and Rocketbowl for example.  Although I haven't played it Lore looks to me like Starsiege returns.

[Derek]

The garagegames entry could be expanded.  They've got 3 different products, and the price range is greater than indicated; Torque Game Builder (their 2D engine) without the source code is only $100.  There's loads of tutorials at the garagegames wiki although you need privileges (an account with ownership of the relative product) to see them.

I don't know how to tell which of the games they sell in the store were made using their own products, but they have some notable games listed that are more relevant than Tribes: Gish, Marble Blast, Bridge Builder, and Rocketbowl for example.  Although I haven't played it Lore looks to me like Starsiege returns.

Done.  I don't think Gish or Bridge Builder are made using Torque, though.

[jankoM]

Processing is very nice for certain types of projects. I use it when I need to much *processing* power to use flash (HaXe), want an browser option and don't need that much graphics power to use accelerated graphics package.

I would also like to add HaXe to the list.. it is very nice, free, quick to work with, Standarized ECMA Script (I think)... Once you learn Haxe you can also use it for other things (Neko VM, js)... produces regular SWF. Interesting project in a lot of ways.

Alien Zze is made in Haxe, This is made in processing (1234 for weapons, source is also there).

[ZombiePixel]

I'm going to stand up for Flash here because it deserves better than being hidden away in the "Game Making Software" ghetto.

Flash 8 is a complete development solution for 2D and even pseudo 3D (mode 7 / raycasting) games with all the tools for art creation and programming built into the software.  I found it to be as easy to learn as any of the Basics / Gamemaking software but has the added bonus of being able to export right to the web with the least number of plug-in or compatibility issues.  There's also growing support for Flash on mobile platforms and the ability to export to mobile (Flash Lite) is built-in.

The downside is that the price unfortunately will turn most people away but there is a 30 day demo and it shouldn't take longer than that to learn and start making games.

Community:
Go local - most major cities will have their own designers group.  Here's Toronto:
http://www.flashinto.com/phpBB2/index.php

Tutorials:
The BEST Flash tutorials online - you gotta pay, but worth every penny!
www.cartoonsmart.com
Free Flash tutorials are everywhere but these are the better sites:
www.gotoandplay.it
www.actionscript.com
Since you mention N as a noteworthy game I might as well include his Flash tutorials:
http://www.harveycartel.org/metanet/tutorials.html

Noteworthy Games:
Coffee Tycoon:  www.coffeetycoon.net
Dofus (MMO):  www1.dofus.com
Two Kingdoms: www.twokingdoms.com
You linked the Newgrounds but forgot to mention Alien Hominid:  www.alienhominid.co.uk/GAME.html
C64 Emulator:  www.gotoandplay.it/spotLight/fc64/
- there really is a lot more than just the crap free games you find online

Sorry for the hard sales pitch but having discovered Flash I will never ever use another platform for 2D game development.

[Shabadage]

TGF2 might be worth putting on that list; it's essentially MMF2 without aplha channels, and I believe it's only like $50 or so.

[moi]

Lightweight Java Game Library a game framework for java, with bindings to OpenGl, OpenAL and lots of game related goodies.
Princec uses that for his games (Titan attacks).

[Arne]

I've been using BlitzBasic for a while, and I have a licence of the new-ish BlitzMax. What I like about it is the OOP stuff. Kind of best of both worlds for me. I'm terribly lazy so the BASIC aspect of it allows me to plop out working stuff fast, and with the OOP stuff I can do relatively advanced stuff aswell.

The 2D stuff is quite fast if you're just doing tons of bullets and ships. I used AMOS on the Amiga and it was always a mess to deal with Sprite/Blitter limitations. Nowdays there's little to worry about from that aspect. Drawing rectangles, circles and plotting is kinda slow though.

[DrPetter]

I don't know if this thread needs recommendations for good tutorials, but I'm going to assume it does considering the title (PROGRAMMING for newbs, so you'd expect readers to want to learn actual coding). Just hurling programming language suggestions out there will only get people so far.

A fellow Ludum Dare participant is running a podcast which is basically a series of sober lectures on C/C++ game programming for beginners. There are 10 episodes so far, covering stuff from the absolute basics up to pointers and memory allocation. Apparently 2D graphics is next on the agenda.

http://www.flammablepenguins.com/podcast.php

For people who haven't taken/aren't taking real classes on the subject it should be very useful.


EDIT: Ok, so I see there's a general tutorials link on most of the languages suggested. My bad. Still though, this might be an underdog, and actual spoken tutorials are rare

[Hamish Mcleod]

I'd say it's a great way to bridge the gap if you're intimidated by a programming language.  And it's also how Derek, Hamish, and a number of other great developers got their start.  (Though I don't know how many of them will admit it!)

Multimedia Fusion, Klik and Play, etc is a great way to get started. I got into it when I was like 8, way before I could actually program a full game. For serious game development, it's great for making low-res games that work within its event system. Lots of good platform games have come out of it. If you're thinking of making an old school RPG though you'd be better off with RPG Maker.

I also think you should mention that even though Blitz Max is the newer Blitz product, it doesn't have full 3D capabilties like its predecessor Blitz 3D yet. Blitz 3D (the actual language) is slightly simpler and has a huge amount of user-created libaries and dlls, while BlitzMax is multiplatform and much more powerful for 2D - B3D can do hardware accelerated sprites but it fucks around with the z-ordering alot, which I learnt the hard way.

[gnat]

Yo Derek, be sure to throw BGE up on there.  More info on this post.

If you need eye candy for the blurb, check this thread out. 

[Icedemon]

yea, i've heard of BGE... i like gamemaker the best personally, but to make this a slightly informative post, ill say that the drag and drop interface on gamemaker doesn't necessairly give you that much programming experience. the flipside is its easy to use, and if you ARE any good at programming, can work wonders.

ight im done friggin promoting gamemaker now. I'd rather promote mine. 

word fellas, word.

[Albert Lai]

I'm currently giving Processing a try - it's definitely very easy to use (where as I'm, paradoxically enough, confused by GameMaker). Bah, but I'm new at developing something from scratch, as opposed to adapting an existing engine.

Maybe I'll just go and look at the source for LA2 or something -mutters-

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Oh, I should stand up for my origins: The O.H.R.RPG.C.E.

Like RPG Maker, it makes RPGs. Unlike RPG Maker, it's 320x200 resolution, 256 colors, restricted to 20x20 sprites, restricted to 16 colors each sprite... but it's easier to use and the community is nicer (I met virtually all of my online friends there over the last ten years), it's open source, and its games don't often rip graphics like you see in the RPG Maker community. It can make more than RPG games, although that requires scripting in Hamsterspeak -- but if you are just aiming to make a FF4 style RPG, you can do that without any scripting pretty easily. However, I don't really recommend people use it *unless* they want to make a simple RPG or learn about game design -- for most other types of 2D games, or even for complex RPGs with custom battle systems, I recommend Game Maker more.

Example games:
- Wandering Hamster (flagship title made by the creator of the engine -- you know an engine's unique when the creator created it just to make the types of games he wants).
- Arfenhouse series (famous "joke games" that make fun of badly designed amateur RPGs).
- Missing, Sword of Jade, Boundless Ocean (they're really great games, and I'm saying that even though they were made by my friends)

Other stuff:
- Community site with downloads for the thousands of games made on it.
- My old magazine on it.

[eka]

I'm going to stand up for Flash here because it deserves better than being hidden away in the "Game Making Software" ghetto.

Flash 8 is a complete development solution for 2D and even pseudo 3D (mode 7 / raycasting) games with all the tools for art creation and programming built into the software.  I found it to be as easy to learn as any of the Basics / Gamemaking software but has the added bonus of being able to export right to the web with the least number of plug-in or compatibility issues.  There's also growing support for Flash on mobile platforms and the ability to export to mobile (Flash Lite) is built-in.

The downside is that the price unfortunately will turn most people away but there is a 30 day demo and it shouldn't take longer than that to learn and start making games.

Community:
Go local - most major cities will have their own designers group.  Here's Toronto:
http://www.flashinto.com/phpBB2/index.php

Tutorials:
The BEST Flash tutorials online - you gotta pay, but worth every penny!
www.cartoonsmart.com
Free Flash tutorials are everywhere but these are the better sites:
www.gotoandplay.it
www.actionscript.com
Since you mention N as a noteworthy game I might as well include his Flash tutorials:
http://www.harveycartel.org/metanet/tutorials.html

Noteworthy Games:
Coffee Tycoon:  www.coffeetycoon.net
Dofus (MMO):  www1.dofus.com
Two Kingdoms: www.twokingdoms.com
You linked the Newgrounds but forgot to mention Alien Hominid:  www.alienhominid.co.uk/GAME.html
C64 Emulator:  www.gotoandplay.it/spotLight/fc64/
- there really is a lot more than just the crap free games you find online

Sorry for the hard sales pitch but having discovered Flash I will never ever use another platform for 2D game development.

Now you can download Flesx SDK for free and compile to .SWF, you can use AS3 and Flex2 libs. for no cost

[Xion]

Yo Derek, be sure to throw BGE up on there.  More info on this post.

If you need eye candy for the blurb, check this thread out. 

I've been toying around with Blender and iz wundering: Are there any 2d games made with it? Is it any good for 2d games, even?

[Kon-Tiki]

AGI
AGI Studio
Link
AGI Studio's used to make adventure games in the old Sierra style, with the parser and 16 colours, Leisure Suit Larry/King's Quest 3/Space Quest 1-style

Best version isn't the latest one, but 1.34. The versions after that have a bug in the view editor (used to make objects and animations). Version 1.34 can be found here, along with alot of other tools you can use for it (AGI Studio doesn't have a built-in background editor or sound editor)

WinAGI
Link
AGI Studio's used to make adventure games in the old Sierra style, with the parser and 16 colours, Leisure Suit Larry/King's Quest 3/Space Quest 1-style

This is a newer studio, still supported and further developed.

Games made by these:
(These count for both. Different development studios - although WinAGI is backwards compatible with AGI Studio - but same interpreter. Can't really say which game's made with which tool, but it's always one of these two)
Enclosure
AGI Hobbits (Unfinished)
More

And if you need more recommendations, just let me know. There're quite a few good ones out there, which the indie scene doesn't seem to've discovered.

[Buff Cardstock]

I think SDL should be noted somewhere.  It looks to be roughly the same as Allegro, and sure, most of the games the SDL site lists (here: http://www.libsdl.org/games.php) look like turds, but it works fairly well for something so basic and simple to use.

[Kekskiller]

I'm not sure if its suitable for any type of special project, but Purebasic is a bit like Blitzbasic (note the gaming library are just "additional features"). It has everything for to code games and implement other engines. The feature list is VERY long, reachs from simple Blitzbasic-like game coding functionalitys to more complex things like inline-ASM, very uncommon OOP, macros... whatever.

It's good for: small 2D games, games using 3D sprites (also ALPHA CHANNEL SUPPORT)
It's NOT good for: 3D games (fuck off that crippled OGRE engine...)

But there are many extensions for using several 3D engines (for e.g.: Irrlicht Engine) and many more things. Give it a chance - you won't regret it! I'm still using it to code my game tools (compression tools, crypterizers for file archives, etc...).