As of Game Maker, I'm considering making a project in it, but unfortunately, no matter how hard I try, I'm simply convinced coding isn't my thing. D=
My advice is to never give up. I think I started making games when I was 13 or 14, and they had things like memory leaks (this is very bad), they were coded totally improperly, etc. And the games were really lame as well (I didn't realize this at the time, but many of my friends said they sucked, lol). But, over the years of learning and practicing, I've become much better at it, and I know a lot more about what to avoid and what makes a great game.
The thing is, I wanted to make a Zelda game for my very first game, but I just couldn't do it; it was too large of a goal for my experience and understanding of programming. Knowing this, I didn't just give up, I simply decided to make something on a much smaller scale. I think I made some sort of pacman or something instead. And I completed it. It was really crappy, but it served as a stepping stone. From that point, I kept practicing and learning as I made different games, building off of previous experience and acquired knowledge from past games I made.
Because of all of that, I know that I could make a Zelda game today, provided I just had all the resources and time (unfortunately, I do not have the time to spare).
Actually, when I first started programming, I couldn't wrap my head around code either. My older brother often helped me at first (this is in QBasic for DOS). Then, when I moved on to Game Maker, I didn't even use code, just the drag&drop (that's actually all it had at first). Later on, I learned how to convert the d&d into GML, and I eventually switched to never using d&d again. So, it might help to start out by using d&d. Then, once you're ready, go back to a fully d&d project and simply try to convert it into Game Maker Language code. That's the way I learned anyway.
This is important because d&d will become large and cluttered FAST. It's simply unmanageable in a large scale project. In Game Maker, I just can't see how anyone could make even an "okay" Zelda game without using GML.
Also, when opening up a brand new program, like Game Maker, it would be unnatural if you weren't at least slightly overloaded by all of the options. With any new complex program, you have to give yourself time to get familiar with it. Once you know your way around Game Maker well, you can focus on learning GML. Also, a google/bing search for "basic Game Maker tutorials" would probably prove very helpful for any person who is new to Game Maker, and the Game Maker help is actually how I learned most everything.
