What school are good for game programming?

I am trying to learn programming, so that I can make games some day. WHICH PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE SHOULD I USE?

• Hello, I want to learn game programming so that I can make my own games. What I'm doing now is trying to make a Final Fantasy like RPG (Kind of like VI, so it'll be 2-D). I asked a question similar to this a little while ago, and someone told me to get Game Maker, so I did. I have three rooms, a bunch of sprites (that only add up to three characters and a group of soldiers chasing them :P) and a few other basic things. However, there didn't seem to be any options to make things like in game speech, trading systems, or a main menu, not to mention a level up/battle system, so I decided I would set out to learn a programming language. At first, I thought C++, because I heard that it was simple (heheh, as "simple" as a programming language can be...) and used alot. Also, my mommom had given me a book on it (though I can't understand a damn thing it says, because it seems to take something simple and use the most convoluted expressions possible) and I will be taking a class on C++ programming next year when I enter my first year of high school. However, I have also heard that Visual Basic (which I think may be a good bet because of the 'visual' part? Graphics, or is that something completely different that I don't understand as someone who's completely new to programming?) is good, along with Java. So which do I use??? C++, Java, and Visual Basic are what I've narrowed it down to...though I don't really know a thing at all :( I have a dual boot system, Linux Mandriva and Windows XP. On Windows, I got the '"Code Blocks IDE" for programming C and C++. I wrote my first program (from a free online text tutorial I found, cprogramming.com) and it worked fine. Now, I can make text appear on command prompt , and make it so it doesn't go away until I hit a button! Yahoo, hahaha! I saw a program to make text appear in VB, though, and it's 10x longer and more complicated! Well, like I said, I want to make a 2-D game like Final Fantasy VI, with battles and menus and equipment and a levelling up system, and all that good stuff. I think I'll try C++: I already have an IDE for it, I've written a few programs that show text (hey, small steps, right? I'm proud of myself, and seeing that program do what I want, even if I did copy it almost directly from cprogrammings website, was a real motivation booster :)) I found a site that gives me tutorials, and I have a book on it that maybe I'll understand; also, I take a full class on it in my first two years of high school. But please, PLEASE recommend YOUR choice of language. I want to know what you use, the pro's and con's, what it's best for...I just want to do this because it seems like Game Maker's AWFULLY limited, and who knows: maybe I might want to make a career out of it if I like it enough. Thanks again! Hope to see plenty of answers on here! :P

• Answer:

  Based on people I know who do game coding, C and C++ are the primary game coding languages used today.