I've been playing online games for years and finally decided I wanted to try to make my own. Once I get an idea in my head I get all obsessive, so this isn't just on a whim :). However, I have absolutely no idea where to start - as in, what programming languages I need to learn, what websites would be the most helpful, what books I may want to read and so forth. The game wouldn't have any graphics, so that's a non-issue. Nothing 3D or any of that. It'd be an animal sims of some variety. Probably horse racing, so a randomizer for birth stats and eventing is important. There would be progression (training, aging, etc). The two games I've scoped seem to be using PHP. I'm just doing this for fun to learn something new, so I'd like to stay away from languages I have to pay for. Can I get away with only learning PHP and MySQL? Are there any websites or books you would recommend for n00bs who are just getting started? Am I missing any questions that I should be asking, or any information I should be providing? I'm open to any information or advice. I already know that this will be a lot of hard work and that I won't be making any money. Thanks in advance :) Kay-