I’ve spent a great deal of time over the past few years investigating options for game making software, partly for myself and partly for use in by game design evening class. My criteria have always been the same: free to use; accessible to beginners; flexible enough for advanced uses.

These are some of the options I have experimented with:

• GameMaker - the obvious first choice, much maligned but still the most mature product out there. Some users have created some really spectacular examples, such as Derek Yu’s Spelunky. This is the software I use in my class, although I’m a bit gutted that the new version with an enhanced sprite system didn’t make out it in time for my September start.
• Construct - new kid on the block (relatively), this is my app of choice for my own projects. Free, open-source, 2D game development suite, uses DirectX9 for the graphics so it has some really pretty effects and filters. It has a really nice event based logic system that make prototyping ideas a really quick and entertaining process. The only thing stopping me from using it in my class is the lack of a v1.0 release. I’ll be writing about this one in more detail in the future.
• Flixel - Adam Atomic’s amazing Flash game library, this thing makes chunky pixeled flash games a blast to develop. Of course, it’s real programming using big scary AS3, no fancy shmancy IDEs involved, so it doesn’t really meet my ‘accessible for beginners’ requirement. Still, I’ve done enough AS3 to know my way around, and the way Flixel sets up sprites, levels and game states is so slick, the barrier for entry are as low as it’s going to get for serious game programming.

There have been more, like Microsoft’s XNA, Love2D, PlayBasic, Slick2D, to name but some, however none of them really captured the feeling of fun to be had from creating your own games. What I’m really looking for is a game development platform for designers, and I think the one that comes closest right now is Construct. Look out for some tutorials and examples in the future.