What to use

Read this and this. Ask if you have more questions.

Thanks! It looks very helpful. I believe I will end up in the end making my game with Java, but learning C first may be the proper way.

Also: I plan on writing alot of the code on a mac, is this possible, or will I run into problems with C?


What program do you recommend for doing the actual coding?

Notepad2? SOmething else?

There is a lot of programs, libraries and languages out there and most of them can be used to make a good game.
Making a good game is just the first step though. The gaming market is a fierce one and making it in the industry requires a lot more than good programmers and a good idea.
But that shoudn't discurage you if you are interested in creating stuff and make it work

By the way, If you want to learn Java, learn Java. Not C.
Starting with C if your goal is Java is actually a pretty bad idea.

Another language that I would put high up on the list for a game is python (Python can now be developed in the Visual Studio 2010 Shell!).
But then again, it depends on what type of game you are going to make.

I was also considering Python. I just wanted to make something easily compatible with Mac as well

According to the person with the idea of the game, it's going to be a real Role-Playing game, not a normal "rpg" She wants it to be a multiplayer (not massive, just a few people) game where the game sets the "scene" and the players determine everything that happens. No quests or anything, just pure roleplay.

According to the person with the idea of the game, it's going to be a real Role-Playing game, not a normal "rpg" She wants it to be a multiplayer (not massive, just a few people) game where the game sets the "scene" and the players determine everything that happens. No quests or anything, just pure roleplay.

How about sitting down at a table and playing a nice p&p game?

No just kidding well try to get some grasp on game programming. there are alot of good books out there.
It doesn't really matter which language you use in the end but for a beginner python, java might be a good choice. If you want 3d and java i heared jMonkeyEngine is a nice toolkit.

I was saying what the type of game was because according to alot of people here, that makes all the difference in what type of programming language to use

Read this, it is a bit of a primer on getting started in game programming.

That said, it was Windows centric, so there are a few differences when dealing with Mac programming.

First off, the primary IDE is XCode instead of Visual C++. Second, XNA is simply not an option. Third, Objective C is more popular ( although highly NOT recommended for a beginner ). The majority of IDEs I recommend are available on Mac OS/X though. They also have their own community.

Everything i have seen says to start with Tetris-like games, move up to mario-like games as you go.

But I have no idea where to actually get started? Should I read a massive 600 page book just so I can learn how to make Tetris? Is there no "quick tutorial" like there is for BASIC?

I'm leaning towards Java or Python.

Edit:
I am not saying I want to learn the entire thing in a day, but some sort of "step by step, learn this then learn that" would be great. And some examples.

You need to focus on getting the language down first. There is a lot of things and quirks you need to get down before you can make a decent 2d game and feel that you are actually learning and enjoying it as you go.
Getting a book is a good idea. (At least for someone like me who went through 15 years of school using nothing but pen and paper),
but its not necessary. It depends what kind of guy you are really. You can get all you need online, but you have to be able to find the gems among all the garbage.
Unfortunately I don't know any really good online resources for those languages.

One thing I find useful is to do a solid read first, without doing any coding. These days I'm looking into assembly and the first thing I did was to download the book Art of Assembly and all the developer documentation from AMD and Intel. And just read away. The more I read, the more my fingers itch. The big pictures starts to emerge in my head and the motivation rises. One of these days I'll burst and start hammering down some serious assembly instructions