New here.. I was wondering what you guys think the best design program is out right now to use if I am trying to start messing around and learning this. I had a buddy of mine when I was younger in middle school and we planned out exactly what we wanted to with our lives which was start our own video game company. I wanted to do more of the characters and make maps and worlds. I have many ideas of some great things that I think a lot of people would enjoy but you gotta start somewhere so here I am. Thanks for listening and hope to get some good programs back.

i feel like there is absolutely no reason you can't get started in the modding industry. Even when i was young i was making Counter-Strike maps and Unreal Maps using their editors.

There are many map editors out there that give you a lot of customization. StarCraft 2 comes to mind...Half-Life of course has a HUGE modding scene. Oblivion/Fallout, etc.

Modding existing games is a great way to get a feel for what makes a good idea work, and especially the pros and cons of specific map/level design.

Are there any good free programs to start working with? Or do I pretty much need to get online and buy the CDs for modding?

If you want to get into the modeling scene you could get Blender. Blender is a fairly good open source (free) 3d modeling program. Another good one on the rise is sculptris. Sculptris pulls away from the traditional CAD style development and is more like molding clay than doing all the hard grind work. Just be aware that the models aren't even close to optimized. What I do is make a model in a program like Blender and then take it to Sculptris for the details. Another big one that is closely tied to modding HL2 is XSI MOD Tool. There are a few for you to look into. Be patient. They can get a little tedious at first until you learn all the tricks. I would start with modeling simple things like low poly brains, soccer balls, pop cans and such. Good luck!