RPG Maker XP is fun to srew around with. Thats my 2 cents and now i gotta go.

Don't listen to Shamless. What a DOWNER!

A famous man once said, "Do what you love and you never have to work a day in your life."

If it's just a hobby, Flash isn't very difficult to pick up. ActionScript is fairly easy to use without having to actually know how to program. That's what I use to make games. As a bonus, there are many websites that will sponsor your work if you get good enough.

If you want to try something more professional, I wouldn't argue against learning something else.

Free software:

Game Maker: very good and you don't need any programming experience to start making games. you can pay very little for a few great extras if you like.

Blender: Free 3D modelling software (I prefer it over Maya) that comes with a basic 3D game engine for games with little or no programming experience... you can learn python if you want to start programming

Gimp: free image manipulation software, like Photoshop, with bunch of extras and many great tutorials online, it can be used for blender or even Game Maker.

Irrlitch:ONLY and ONLY if you are willing to get into C++ programming, you can use any ide like VisualC++ Express or Dev C++ and have a blast :D with an easy setup


Cheap Game Engines

Dark Basic very good cheap software and a good start for game developing with a programming language (not the best but easier for small games). there are many projects in youtube for you to see

Torque: very good but a little long learning curve... haven't tries the game builder though. nut yu can make great games with this.

I am a .net developer, and while I don't make games, I have made some simulators that could almost qualify (for the military).

.net is not the perfect gaming platform, but it's not bad, and if you learn it, you will open up yourself to huge career opportunities.

You can start here:
http://www.microsoft.com/express/