Game development software on steam?

[SirPinki]

I was looking on the steam store a few hours ago and I happen to notice that there is a lot of software for game development and whatnot on the steam store. Im very interested in starting an indie game project (I have almost a year of c++ and visual basic programming experience, so I have the programming somewhat covered) My main problem however is that there are so many different brands of software that I literally dont know where to start. So my main question is what is really the best software on steam for game development? If not on steam, What else could be recommended? Thanks.

[Commander Makara]

It largely depends on the sort of games you wish to develop.

You have C++ knowledge, so could start right off just with MSVS and no other software whatesoever, but of course, this will require a lot more work if your gaem requires a more complex engine which you'd be coding from scratch.

Therefore, most startups take advantage of existing engine licenses at least to efficate the process or supplant a lack of resource.

There's no real 'best', since it is largely relative and dependent on the intended product. The Source engine is extremely easy to work with for 3D games in particular, and also, Unity is a popular choice. I would love to endorse "LeadWorks" and in many ways, the simplicity far outweighs its overall lack of comparitive depth.

Just as with any programming-related project, the key is really to breakdown the 'problem' and identify the best tools for each task. ame creation is no different. C++ is still hailed as the industry standard language, but the advent of mobile platforms and web-based agames, as well as the ease and accessibility of certain game engines has lead to a shift in many skill base requirements to favour the scripting of Python or Lua.
Although the techniques and understanding, say of OO features, or the importance of convention and organisation employed within C++ are employable in any such languages. 1 year sounds awfully short time, but I will not seek to judge anyone, I'm sure you know what you know. The point being that using C++ to develop a game ni entirety may be a little like a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Solo development is almost obsolete nowadays, at the very least, most independants, even the smallest houses, collaborate between artistic and coding talent, but usually with more than one skilled programmer.

[Paintbrush Poltergeist]

Most of the steam store stuff is drag and drop Unity crap.

[chibilibi]

If you're not interested in making games from scratch (which I do think is fun, but requires a pretty good knowledge of whatever languages you're going to program the game in), Game Maker is not a bad place to start. Many really good games have been made with it such as Hotline Miami and Gunpoint. I'd suggest getting it off of the YoYoGames website rather than Steam, however, mostly so that you don't have to deal with Steam as DRM.

Game Maker is only really good for 2D games though because its 3D features are fairly limited. If you're looking to make a 3D game, Unity or Unreal Engine 4 would be good bets. Source Engine 2 is also going to be coming out soon, so you may want to consider that as well.

[SirPinki]

I actually have the unreal engine installed. However It is (for now) only for academic purposes while Im still learning computer science at my local university. Besides, if somehow I did make a possible game anyway, you pay a 5% royalty for over $3000 in sales. Have any of you used the unreal engine?