Hello everyone, So I am very interested in developing video games apps (specifically for the iPhone right now and Android potentially later). I just want to start off with something basic and simple (like FlappyBird or a simple Tower Defense game) and eventually move my way to harder games like platformers, RPGs, etc. Are there any free game development software that will allow me to do this? I know most software requires you to pay a licensing fee so you can then publish to the app store or online. I mean eventually if that is the route I must take then I have no problems doing so, however, I do want to see if I am capable of creating an app in the first place and then improving it and making it better. I have a little bit of coding experience but was never too good at it. I don't mind picking it back up, however. Thank you very much for your help!
if you want it to be completely free then develop for android, as far as i know there isn't a way to publish to iOS without paying. For the beginning I would maybe recommend using a html5 engine something like Phaser which is aimed at mobile devices, and using something like PhoneGap which wraps up your game and allows you to publish on multiple mobile platforms without much effort. Another way of doing it (if you don't mind not making much money) is to develop with html5 anyway and just hosting it on website, because iOS and android support HTML5 they can play them directly from a website just like a native app. hope that helps at all?