Adobe flash is what I personally use, but it is a little on the pricey side. I like the integrated developer environment (IDE), it helps me visualize my work, and makes using graphics easy. It does have a 30 day free trial, so feel free to try it out. If you manage to make a game that makes that much money in 30 days, then purchase away!

Download Adobe Flash's free trial here



If you are used to a code only environment, then Flash Develop Might be for you. Best of all, it's free! I havent used flash develop personally, but I know a ton of developers who swear by it.

Download Flash Develop Here 

If you are just starting, learn ActionScript 3 (AS3).  If you are planning to be serious with flash game development, the performance difference is astounding. It is also the closest to a real coding language out of all the AS versions.

Here is one of the best tutorials for learning AS3:

Michael James Williams Avoider Game Tutorial


Note that you should never just copy/paste code to make a game. You should make small changes when you get comfortable enough with the language and make it your own.

Here are some awesome books on AS3 (remember I told you to learn it if you are getting serious). These will expand your knowledge of AS3 exponentially, and you will be able to make whatever you want (with a little imagination).


Wiley's Actionscript 3.0 Bible


Colin Moock's Essential Actionscript 3.0


Advanced Actionscript 3 with Design Patterns


If you are serious and in AS2 but dont want to spend the time migrating to a different language, then AS:Main is still probably enough for you. If you still want more, then:


Colin Moock's Essential Actionscript 2.0

Here is a really great website that will virtually solve all of your programming problems:


Google

One of the many motivations for making good games is that you can make money off them! Money is certainly a nice thing to have, so here is the best place to make money from your flash games on the internet: FlashGameLisence.com! Not only is it the best place to montetize your game on the web, but it's also a very tight-knit community of proffesional game developers. They wont hesitate to help you with some problem code, give you advice on how to improve your game, or even just knock around ideas and have fun. They have a lot of connections to flash game companies, and have multiple other sites in thier Flash Game Network (FlashgameArt.com, FlashGameDistribution.com) to assist you further. This is by far my favorite flash game resource of all time. Click the image on the left for the link.

Another great source of information is on fellow flash game developers websites (such as mine). They usually have a blog about their projects, about studies or post-mortems (afterthoughts on a released game fo thiers), and other cool stuff.


Here are some fellow developer sites:

If you want to make a website to display your works in, or have your own developer blog, but want it to be as easy as possible, then heres the site for you! Weebly.com is an easy to use website builder that requires no web coding experience at all! It's really easy to set up, and its free. You should give it a try: