I would like to learn how to make games/programs. I plan to start small and increase complexity as my understanding develops. For example Pong>2d>3d. The time I spend progressing to understand a 3d game, I plan to experiment in 3d simultaneously by just jumping right so I will know what to expect before I get to that point.

I currently have no plan whatsoever to make any money with this. It will just be a hobby so program costs are a factor.

I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering and Associate in drafting and design.

I have experience in:

road, bridge, and land surveying

residential and small commercial building design

mechanical(primarily large industrial machinery, but also small engines and a lawnmower(once, fun stuff that was))

topography, maps, and elevations

art(non-computer based pastel, watercolor, charcoal, ect/with limited experience photoshop type software)

Programs(owned)-experience

Cad-10+ years, Can easily draw anything without trouble in 3d or 2d, motion studies, fea, renderings, flythrough, animations ect.

AutoCAD 2007

AutoCAD 2012(student version)

Autodesk Inventor(student version)

Catia(work)(example in attachment, not rendered)

Cadam(work)

Solidworks(favorite by far)

Visual Studio-College class experience, own book, and just playing around

-html college class experience

Can still get free versions of autodesk software(student versions)

Other resources:

Mom-more years of experience than I am old(25), knows more programming languages than I can remember, and has written plenty of programs. Lives 10 hours away, but with phones and internet receiving advanced help will be available.

3 high end computers

Lots of old computer programming books(most 10+ years old)

What I am looking for is a list of programs I will need, to know if any that I have are useful, a tutorial/example for a simple game like pong, and a exceptionally simple(as possible) tutorial/example of a 3d game.

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I second Plethora's excellent advice.

I wanted to add that with your art background you may find the following free programs useful:

GIMP

Inkscape

Blender

Synfig

GIMP is a great program for 2d raster artwork (although some prefer Paint.NET). Inkscape is a great tool for vector based artwork. Blender is good for a whole lot of stuff including creating 3D models for games. Synfig is a good vector animation package (and there is a plugin to export from Inkscape into Synfig.).

You might also like:

Shoebox

Pencil

Shoebox is good for working with sprite sheets and Pencil is good for prototyping GUIs.

Good luck!

I agree with Plethora. Start with a tool, it can be an object-oriented programming language or something else that you are familiar and comfortable with.

Once you have a solid understanding of the programming language, you can learn about GUI(how to create a window), Graphics(how to load/draw/move images on the screen, learning about graphics context, how to load/play a music and collision detection.

I agree with shadowisadog. GIMP is really good image editor-good for making transparent images.

Thank you for the advice so far.

I have started learning C# and XNA. It is similar enough to the laguage I already knew.

Gimp is the photoshop program I was talking about erlier so I will use that since I am familier with it.

I have Installed the following to see what I like best:

UDK

Blender

Maya

Autodesk motion builder(I'm not sure what this is for but I figuered I would check it out)

3ds

Also, I was wondering if there is any way I could use solidworks to build solid models and mate them together as a character(robotic) using their mate system as a way to control the movement. Then, import the file over to animation software.

My next question is similar to the last but with objects and landscapes, but not as solid models.

Also, I was wondering if there is any way I could use solidworks to build solid models and mate them together as a character(robotic) using their mate system as a way to control the movement. Then, import the file over to animation software.

My next question is similar to the last but with objects and landscapes, but not as solid models.

This is potentially possible. It depends on what file export options that solidworks has. You could probably export in .obj format and then import into something like Blender. I am not sure about the mate system. Typically animation for 3d models is done using bones and I think you would likely be better off setting up the rig in a 3D animation package (like Blender, 3DS, Maya, ect).