1) By definition, games programmers need to know programming languages. For beginners, C# is almost universally recommended over C++, because it's a lot easier to use correctly (C++ is a dangerous language, for veterans and beginners alike).

2) If you've not used several game engines previously, then you will not be qualified to make your own.

3) Blender is a 3D modelling program just like Maya. There is also the "blender game engine", which is a game engine that is designed specifically for use with Blender.

Last Q) probably.

Some time in my life I would like to make video games, because I enjoy playing them and am good at drawing and writing.

First question: In order to be a game programmer, do I need to learn a programming language first? If so, do you think C# or C++ is better?

Second question: Is it better to create a game engine or use a pre-existing one? The idea of creating a game engine seems overwhelming to me.

Third question: What is Blender? Is it a game engine, or graphics engine?

Forth question: Can the Havok physics engine be use with Blender?

Fifth question: Does blender have Maya (a 3D modeling software) support, because I'm used to using Maya?

Last question: should I start out with a simple game development program like Gamemaker?

1. Not necessarily. You can do a lot with scripting and pre-made game making programs and engines. If you want to learn to program, I would recommned C#. It's more forgiving for beginners than C++, and is easier to learn.

2. Depends on what you want to do. If you want to make a game, then an existing game engine is the way to go. If you want to learn a lot about coding without progressing on your project very quickly, then you can roll your own. Engines are indeed overwhelming to build on your own, and as a beginner I'd say it's out of reach.

3. Blender is a 3D modeling program which lets you create and animate 3D models for use in games, movies, or whatever else.

4. I don't know for sure (I don't do much with graphics), but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to.

5. I'm not sure what kind of support you mean, but I don't want to lead you astray. I'll leave this one to someone who can give an experience-based answer.

6. Again, depends on what you want. If your goal is to complete a game as soon as possible, then yes. If you are more interested in design than coding, then yes again. If you want to learn about computer programming and are more interested in developing that skill than in designing games, then you might like to jump straight into programming.

And there's no reason you can't do a bit of both if you want to, especially if you start learning a language like Python instead of C# to start. Python is great for scripting and easy to pick up, and also has good support libraries that you can use to make your own games if you choose.

2) If you've not used several game engines previously, then you will not be qualified to make your own.

I'd disagree slightly there, I'd say that if you havn't made several games previously then you will not be qualified to make an engine. You don't have to start by using third party engines, you could alsostart by making less complex games without any engine and build your skills from there. (Allthough the short term results will be far less impressive)

[quote name='Hodgman' timestamp='1322715052' post='4889312']
1) By definition, games programmers need to know programming languages. For beginners, C# is almost universally recommended over C++, because it's a lot easier to use correctly (C++ is a dangerous language, for veterans and beginners alike).

What do you mean by 'C++ is a dangerous language'? A lot of people seem to use it.
[/quote]

The language is full of undefined behaviour and some parts (especially the C legacy parts) of it is inherently unsafe, The situation is made worse by alot of internet tutorials essentially teaching C with classes rather than C++ (Thus using things like C style strings and memory management heavily which makes it extremely easy to write software that will crash, burn and possibly open up the users system to outside attacks).

What do you mean by 'C++ is a dangerous language'? A lot of people seem to use it.

This actually one of the reasons that a lot of people use it ;)

It's based upon C, which was created as a "portable version of assembly" -- it's a very low-level language that tries not to hold you hand. You can very easily write code that makes no sense and trashes the memory used by your program, causing crashes, leaks, etc...
C++ modernises C somewhat, making it much easier to write object-oriented code (and many other styles of programming), but it still keeps the lower-level abstractions of C.
As the saying goes, "In C++ it's harder to shoot yourself in the foot.... but when you do, you blow off your whole leg."

E.g. C is renowned for not having a "string class", meaning that instead of thinking of it's basic text-handling as operating on "text", you've got to remember that they actually operate on "a memory address marking the beginning of stream of bytes, which terminates when a 0-byte is read"... If you want to modify text, you've got to manually allocate, deallocate portions of RAM (while keeping track of which parts of the code 'own' which parts of RAM) and manually copy arrays of bytes around...
C++ tries to make this simpler by adding the [font="Courier New"]std::string[/font] class (which handles all of the byte/RAM abstractions for you), however, you can still write dangerous code and circumvent these niceties, if you chose to -- all the tools to treat anything as a big pile of bytes are at your fingertips.

[quote name='Hodgman' timestamp='1322715052' post='4889312']
1) By definition, games programmers need to know programming languages. For beginners, C# is almost universally recommended over C++, because it's a lot easier to use correctly (C++ is a dangerous language, for veterans and beginners alike).

What do you mean by 'C++ is a dangerous language'? A lot of people seem to use it.
[/quote]
A lot of people use guns. They're dangerous too.