   newbie
  Well i havent ever payed attention to any Game Programming other then what i did on RPG Maker XP, but its kinda caught my eye now and i was wondering where to start... I am a fast learner and fluent in Java, Visual Basic and C++, i am learning Python and Perl as i hear they are usfull to know when doing game development...My aim is to create a RPG, I have a very good story line that I have worked on and buffed up for years... Now i just goto learn how to... and put it into a hopefully good game...   
  In order to draw graphics on the screen, you will need to use an external graphics API.  Java has its own built-in 2D API, though you can also use JOGL (Java OpenGL).  With Visual Basic (assumming VB.NET), you will want to use Managed DirectX, and some of the more common choices for C++ are DirectX, OpenGL, and SDL.  Python has the PyGame library, which is probably the simplest and easiest to learn out of everything in this list; a very good starting point if you're just beginning to do graphics programming.  Once you've selected the language you will use, look through the documentation of the API's mentioned above and see which one you like best.   ;  I personally never touched Python..When I first started game programming..I worked in BASIC with the compiler "blitz basic".  For me, that is the easiest programming language to start out with for 2-D games.  With it, I could make a fully grown game within a week or two because of its simple structure (like for drawing an image, you just say DrawImage(), or for image collide you say ImgCollide()).  It's good because since all the setup code is basically done for you, you can focus mainly on game programming logic.  After exhausting BASIC, or any other simple language, you should move on to the more powerful languages (C, C++...yada yada).  At that time you will then have to learn DirectX and all the various things within it.  Once you get past that point though, you will be set for making a really kickass 2D/3D game.  Whatever you do though...you need books.  Lots and lots of books..lol.  If you choose to go with BASIC, I would recommend "Game Programming for Teens" by Maneesh Sethi.  That's the book that really got me started on games.  If and when you go to C++, I highly recommend the "Introduction to Computer Game Programming with DirectX 8.0" by Ian Parberry.  Long name..lol..but that book has a fully developed game engine inside that the author gives to you.  The whole book is based off of how the engine works and how you should use it, AND he explains a lot of things about DirectX (hence the title).  Hopefully that was helpful to you..  I'll be looking forward to downloading that RPG of yours in the future :D   