After reading through the first page and then skipping to this one, I'm going to dive right in and ask some questions. I have been creating game concepts for as long as I can remember. Since I've never actually made any of these concepts I won't say that I'm qualified, but I will say that I'm not new and not naive. I know how much work goes into developing a game and I think I have a pretty good idea of how much planning it takes to make one successful. I believe I have some pretty great ideas and would love to see them realized. That said, I have no clue where to start. Initially, I heard GameMaker was a great way for beginners to start putting out games. However, I also heard that it's a "joke" in terms of game development. I know that C++ is an industry standard, so I figured I could bite the bullet and start learning that, however, I'm afraid I'm going to get bored learning the basics before I can really do anything. Additionally, and probably a bigger hindrance, I can't find any good sources on how to learn either of these. Many of the text tutorials are confusing and the video tutorials tend to be pretty narrow and specific.
In terms of what I want to make, I have ideas in both 2D and 3D covering a whole mess of genres. I've accepted that making a 3D game will be a ton more work, so I am fine with sticking to simple 2D games. I understand that network multiplayer is also complex and am fine with creating a singleplayer or same-console multiplayer experience. Among these games, I have ideas for platformers, top down adventure games, etc. All of these should be relatively easy to get up and running.
I guess my question is where should I start? Is GameMaker worth learning, or should I buckle down and learn C++ right away? When creating a game, how should I scale everything? Should I make the art first and then resize it in game to fit my needs, or should I size the art and build the game around that? Obviously I should prototype first with simple images, but what scale should I use as a starting point?
