Ratings are just based on how much you submit to The Daily Click. If you look under User Admin, you can see how many DC points you need for each rank. Downloads are worth 5 DC points, and reviews of other people's games are worth 2.
TGF has an easier interface to learn and only costs $20. MMF is more powerful and has less limitations, but costs $100 and has a more difficult interface. There are 30-day trial versions of both (you can't compile .exe's with them) on www.clickteam.com. Have fun!
"Omg. Where did they get the idea to not use army guys? Are they taking drugs?" --Tim Schafer on originality in videogames
The über(the right way to spell it) game creation tool list:
Multimedia Fusion - what almost everyone here uses
The Games Factory - Yet again, what almost everyone here uses
Jamagic - Again, used more than anything below here
Blender 3d - It's supposed to have a game engine with it...and I never knew this...
3D Game Studio - one of the best 3D game makers in my opinion
Gamemaker - don't use it, you'll be labeled a n00b forever, trust us, it is the worst program you'll ever use
C++ - the "official" and only way to make "real" games
Visual Basic - supposed to be good, I've never tried it though
REALBasic - like VB, only cheaper
there are many others out there too, I just can't pull them off the top of my head, I'd recomend MMF for 2D games and if you want to make 3D, use 3D Game Studio, but you need to know some C for that.
As a boy, I wanted to be a train. I didn’t realize this was unusual—that other kids played with trains, not as them.
I wouldn't recommend Visual Basic. Great for 'applications' but sucks for almost anything else, especially games. Go for C, C++, or MMF if you don't mind a challenge, or use TGF if you want to start slow.
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.