Adobe Flash CS3 - Newest version of Flash and the first to be published by Adobe. This is the ONLY program that Armor Games supports for games on the website, unless you have another way to create an .swf file. Cost: $699 (30-Day Free Trial Available roduct=flash">HERE)
Game Maker 7 - An extremely popular program that's used by many indy developers to create games. It's extremely easy to use, and is great for those of you starting out. Cost: Free!
This topic is a work in progress and will be edited to include more programs at a later date. If you want to see a program added, or need help with game development, please leave me a comment of my userpage. Thank you.
You won't be able to make games right away. You need to learn a lot of code. Not like game maker. Its going to take a long time. Just don't to expect to be be able to make games just because you downloaded Flash.
Wait, it's only $699. But yeah, it's a challenge. Not only do you have to get into the programming mindset, but you also have to figure out how to do it in the specific language, which can be tough at time. It takes a lot of practice and hard work to succeed in this.
for those people who complain about the link not working, if you want to find a program i suggest youtube if its a good program there will be videos on how to get it.