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[NRDL]

Read the title.  What I'm looking for is something that will allow me to make fully fledged games, and is also not that hard to master, if possible.  Let's assume that I have no prior programming skill ( which is true ). 

Also, leave a link, so I can find and look at it myself. 

Please. 

[kaijyuu]

Game maker.

Actual programming languages will not fit the "not hard to master" requirement. You'll have to use a pre-built engine with easy to use tools.

[Simmura McCrea]

Flash/actionscript. I personally hate actionscript, but it's good for making a game with relatively little difficulty. It doesn't do 3D, but IIRC the unity engine's going to work with flash at some point, so you'll be able to use that. I'd suggest C++, since it's the industry standard, but it's really not for beginners.

[NRDL]

Okay, I'm actually willing to learn a type of coding language, I just want one that will allow me to make games, actual, good games, like Mount and Blade, DF, etc.

[Aqizzar]

Okay, I'm actually willing to learn a type of coding language, I just want one that will allow me to make games, actual, good games, like Mount and Blade, DF, etc.

Well, bear in mind that you have a very long road ahead of you, if that's the kind of stuff you have in mind.  And from a purely technical standpoint, you could hardly pick two more different game engines than DF and M&B.

Anyway, I'm sure there will be a crowd of people storming in any time now to sing the praises of Python.  I know nothing about it, but as an example of its extensibility, all modding of Civilization 4 is done in Python, as the engine is heavily based in it.

The only one I have any experience with is C#, which is mostly useful in that it's among the most heavily and concisely documented programming languages out there.  C++ has it beat in overall history, but it's a bit harder to wrap your head around, and good luck finding a straightforward self-teaching method.  The main hitch with C# is that it's Windows only, which is only a problem if you want to go cross-platform.

Other than that, Java isn't a bad recommendation.  In "difficulty" terms, it's usually placed in between C++ and C#, and I can kinda vouch for that.  Example there: Minecraft.

[NRDL]

What does Toady use to program anyway? 

Also, downloading Java. 

[Simmura McCrea]

IIRC DF's in C++.

[NRDL]

Okay. 

Never mind on the java thing, found out I still have Python, never got around to learning it. 

Should I close this thread, or what? 

[ECrownofFire]

Keep in mind that Python is a scripting language and is therefore quite a bit slower and less powerful than most other languages. But it is simple.

Also, C++ is fast and very powerful, but it's also complicated.

Choosing a language is very much a case of "pick your poison".

[NRDL]

Yeah, a rather difficult, and slightly boring, road ahead, if I actually choose to make a game. 

Please, leave tips, suggestions, anything you can think of.  I'd appreciate it.   

[Frumple]

This might help once you start having specific questions.

[Shook]

I can vouch for Game Maker, it's actually a surprisingly capable engine, and it comes with its own programming language for those who want to fiddle with it. Great for the people who are too lazy to fully indulge in the learning of a whole programming language (read: me), since it produces actual results very quickly. Notable games made with Game Maker: Iji and Battleships Forever. One slightly unfortunate note though: The full version costs. There's a free Lite version, but it obviously has fewer features.

Other than that, i can only offer one piece of advice: Be patient. You already know it, coding takes a long time to both do and learn. Major props if you manage though, i ground to a halt last time i tried.

Also, tip: If you for some reason find yourself using the same numerical constant many times, and you might need to change it in the future, make it a variable and use that variable in all needed equations rather than the number itself. I know it sounds like a given, but dear god it has saved me much time (inadvertently), and it makes it so easy to tweak the variable to perfection. It also feels really cool when the code you made automatically adjusts to changes. Example: In the game i'm making, there's a spread shot upgrade. I can change the number of shots fired, and the coding will automatically calculate the angle of all fired shots to make a neat fan with exactly X degrees (X meaning a number of my choice) between each shot, meaning i only have to change a grand total of 1-2 numbers.
In other words, variables + functions = yummy. If your function works for all possible scenarios without changing it, then YOU HAVE DONE WELL.

But, i digress. Lua is also a possible language to use, and it's relatively easy too. From what i've seen, quite similar to Java. It's not as widely used for whole games, but with a proper framework (i.e. Löve 2D) it should be possible. These guys make games with it. I guess this also counts as an endorsement of Java.

[GlyphGryph]

I would recommend learning some Lua and modding some games as a good first step. Build some Wesnoth maps or something.

Because if you're interested in making a decent game, well... there's no easy ways to do it. There's no best way to do it. What you need to do is become good at something, and get better at seeing what sort of games you can build with it.

[Lectorog]

This might help once you start having specific questions.

Or this.

I learned C++ from here (a free online tutorial), and that went pretty well. If you're interested in C++, you may want to read through a bit of that at least, just to see what it's like.

If you're interested in making a game, a roguelike may or may not be a good place to start. If you want to go there, here are many good pages to read. One of the major purposes of that site (RogueBasin) as a whole is to assist in the creation of roguelikes.

A third route is free college Computer Science classes (from this topic). That may be a bit too advanced to start from, and possibly overall useless for learning to program, but I've found my (very brief) look into this to be a bit interesting and informative.

Other than that, i can only offer one piece of advice: Be patient. You already know it, coding takes a long time to both do and learn. Major props if you manage though, i ground to a halt last time i tried.

Also, tip: If you for some reason find yourself using the same numerical constant many times, and you might need to change it in the future, make it a variable and use that variable in all needed equations rather than the number itself.

Both of these are very true. Listen to this man. Just make sure to not change the variable at any point.

[Shook]

Wouldn't that make it a constant? :U
But yeah, if they're intertwined a lot with your code and you didn't expect them to change to begin with, BE CAREFUL. So much shit can go wrong. In fact, speaking of wrong, getting something right on the first shot is damn near impossible, so don't be discouraged by faults. Getting angry is fine, though. I keep saying that my mods for any game consist of 90% rage.