As mentioned on Episode #580 of Orange Lounge Radio, here's my list of game creation tools for those of you that wanna participate in the upcoming VOG Game Jam: "A buggy game" is the official winning theme! (which could either be bugs as in the game doesn't work right, insect bugs, or maybe even a volkswagen bug or similar vehicle like a dune buggy? I think they allowed a pretty broad meaning to 'bug')

Klik n Play hosted locally on Glorious Trainwrecks (They do game jams all the freaking time, a few years ago I even submitted a couple games)
Twine Editor great for text-adventure games ala Zork and the like
Scratch
Game Maker
Ren'py Supposed to be good for Visual Novels (I think stuff like Snatcher)
Inform7 free multiplatform interactive fiction
Knytt Stories Level editor for the indie platformer Knytt
Adventure Game Studio
Multimedia Fusion/The Games Factory/Clickteam Fusion 2.5 | Link to Clickteam's Retired Programs page, where you can freely download the pro edition of TGF1
- TGF is the one I swear by, It's super easy to create a simple game in a matter of minutes! Clickteam Fusion 2.5 is also free and exports to HTML5, so it might be worth checking out as well!
Construct
Construct Classic haven't tried this one yet, but I might at some point
Construct 2 as mentioned in my FOOGLE response on OLR the paid edition is pretty pricey, BUT the free one will still let you export games in HTML5, so it'd be perfect for this!
Processing free, multiplatform simple Java-ish platform
Unity 3D need I say more?
MegaZEUX | ZZT hat tip to OrangeRight for finding the link to ZZT!

Best of luck to all the VOG people in the forthcoming Game Jam!!

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OLRmy since 6/23/2002!
OLR Wikia | OLRChive (now with Vanilla skie episodes!) | OLR: Best Hits Volume 1 (highlights from our first 30 episodes) out now! | OLR: Best Hits Vol. 2

Tools
1. Bfxr/as3sfxr

Bfxr is a nice little free tool for easily making retro-style sound effects. It offers a range of preset sound effect types to choose from and an easy to use interface for tweaking those sounds exactly to your liking. As3sfxr, on the other hand, is a simple ActionScript 3 port of sfxr (the predecessor to Bfxr) that allows you to dynamically create sound effects in real time using the same parameters as Bfxr, whic his very useful when you want to randomize an aspect of a commonly used sound.

Check out the article on Bfxr and its sister programs to get yourself started with the tool.
2. Ogmo Editor/Tiled Editor/Dame Editor

Here are three free and easy to use level editors with versatile exporters that allow them to fit into the workflow of almost any project. Rather than making your own level editor, it can be a huge time saver at first to use one of these to get things started. Who knows, you may even find that they have all the functionality you're looking for.

We have guides to both Ogmo and Tiled on this site, so I encourage you to check them out.
3. Pixen/GraphicsGale/Aseprite

These three graphics editors are incredibly useful when making games using pixel art. They all have support for sprite sheets as well as a host of other useful features to discover.

My personal favorite here is Pixen due to its tiny size and extremely clean interface, but it isn't free and only works on OS X; GraphicsGale also costs money and is Windows-only. Asesprite works on everything under the sun and is free, so give it a look if you, like most people, don't like spending money.
4. Blender

Blender is the quintessential tool for making 3D graphics on a budget of zero dollars. It's one of the easiest to use 3D modelling programs out there, once you get over the initial confusion you'll have with the interface, and it's surprisingly robust for its price tag. Be warned, though, 3D modelling is very difficult and even as elegant a program as Blender can't change that.
5. Musagi


From the same mind behind sfxr we have musagi, a relatively simple tool for making your own chiptune music. Just like with 3D modelling, the term "relatively" is important here. Making music can be difficult and musagi can't change this, but if you have the necessary skills it can be a great outlet for making music very quickly.
Resources
1. OpenGameArt.org

Open Game Art is a great resource for free video game art (go figure). With everything from sprite sheets to 3D models all the way to music and sound effects, this site is an invaluable resource if you're not of the artistic inclination. I highly recommend you take a look.
2. NoSoapRadio.us/Incompetech.com

These are two useful resources with free music for use in your game. No Soap Radio is particular in its search features, which allows you to sort music based on attributes like the type of game you are making and where the music will be playing in your game. Incompetech is a much more standard database, but provided you are capable of finding the type of track you are looking for, the music is generally of much higher quality.

Both of these resources are useful for those less musically-inclined and can really step up the quality of a game, as good audio is one of the pillars of the gaming experience.
3. FlashKit.com

This website has a huge repository of both retro-style sounds and more realistic foley for use in your game. I personally prefer using Bfxr if I'm going for retro sound effects, but FlashKit is invaluable when trying to go with a more realistic style. (Unless of course you have a great mic and a sound-proof room to record a police siren in.)
4. CGTextures.com

CGTextures is exactly what it sounds like: a site filled to the brim with texture for use on various 3D models. Most of the textures are free, and they are of very high quality. If you are going the 3D route, this site can be a massive time saver, though you do need an account to use the site.
5. Orteil's Game Idea Generator

If you're really in a rut and can't find any ideas for what you want to make you might want to take a look at this site. Though hit or miss, this site can often generate some cool game ideas that can be both original and hilarious. Take a look when all else fails.

Also would like to add Kenny's art packs (kenny.nl), and dig.ccmixter.org (as long as the tracks are CC-BY).

oh yeah! I forgot to link to somewhere where you can download free graphics/music for your games, so that's also a huge help!

_________________
OLRmy since 6/23/2002!
OLR Wikia | OLRChive (now with Vanilla skie episodes!) | OLR: Best Hits Volume 1 (highlights from our first 30 episodes) out now! | OLR: Best Hits Vol. 2

_________________
OLRmy since 6/23/2002!
OLR Wikia | OLRChive (now with Vanilla skie episodes!) | OLR: Best Hits Volume 1 (highlights from our first 30 episodes) out now! | OLR: Best Hits Vol. 2

I also like Argofox Creative Commons on Youtube/Soundcloud for CC-BY licensed music that's not too bad.

Recently I've been playing around with this website: www.beepbox.co it lets you compose your own chiptunes (think retro videogames prior to the playstation/saturn/cd music era) right in your browser, and export them to wav file for use in whatever you want!

_________________
OLRmy since 6/23/2002!
OLR Wikia | OLRChive (now with Vanilla skie episodes!) | OLR: Best Hits Volume 1 (highlights from our first 30 episodes) out now! | OLR: Best Hits Vol. 2