Hey, everyone! First of all thank you for looking at this thread. I just signed up to this website because I think it'll help me with my game dev goals so I hope you all can answer my question.

I've been very unsure of what game engine to use/start working with. I'm currently majoring in computer science so I can eventually work in the game industry after I graduate so I need to start getting a portfolio together. Currently, the languages I know Visual Basic, Python, and HTML5, but I am willing to learn whatever languages I have to. At the moment, I'm interested in making 2D computer games to start out with and go from there. I'm just not sure what the best game engine to use. I've been looking at those best game engine lists, but I'm still not sure which one will be best to pick. I would like something with good documentation (being a beginner I'll need to do a lot of reference making), something that will help me improve my game programming skills (so no drag and drops that don't use programming), and something that will be applicable to the game industry (if at all possible).

I was hoping as experienced game makers you all could possibly help me out? Thanks!

E: I would also like to add that I would prefer a program that is free to use. Paying to ship a game is fine as I don't plan to publish anything anytime soon. Thank you!

There is also Unreal Engine 4, which has a similar community size and a lot of documentation, but might be even more powerful when it comes to cutting edge 3D rendering than Unity, at the cost of added complexity, less well organized documentation and a less stable editor.

You do get a node based visual scripting tool with Unreal engine 4, which might allow you to do coding without having to know a programming language syntax (just programming basics). Personally I am not that convinced having used the system myself, but others seem to have different opinions so it might work for you.

But keep in mind, for what you want to do, Unity 5 will do it just as well if not better, while being less complex with a better structured documentation, and a better Asset Store. You cannot go wrong with Unity, really.

There are smaller, 2D only Engines like Gamemaker, which might be even easier to learn and pose less overhead for 2D only work.

Thanks for the inputs everyone! I'll look into what's been sent to me already!

As for my goals I need to start working on my portfolio so I'll need games of some kind made by the time I graduate. I haven't used any game engines at all (the only game I've made was on Scratch). I've looked at some advice on how to get started with making games and they all said to start small until you understand how to use the system and have a better understanding of game making so you don't overwhelm yourself. So right now I'm just trying to learn doing basic stuff (like make a character move or working platforms and stuff) and then move on from there. As of right now I don't think I'm ready for team development and I'd probably join a dev team for my first go instead of try and create one.

It seems like Unity or Unreal would be my best bets on this one. I considered those and I wasn't sure because of the 3D aspect, but I am doing this to start learning the basics so not everything has to be perfect right now.

Thanks again for everyone's help! I hope the additional information in this post clarified some things.