Personally I'd suggest learning to program. Best damned way to make games, and you'll get the best results too. If this is what you intend to do, grab Visual Basic. It's easy to learn and you'll be making simple games in just a few weeks. This (leaning how to program) is the way to go if you're serious about game-making. In time, if you want to work on more serious projects, you should move to C++, C#, a .NET platform, Python, or some similare language.
Barring that, if you want fast results at the cost of less freedom, you can opt for a 'maker program like GameMaker or RPGMaker. The results are always going to be poorer than what you could potentially pull off with a good programming language, but it's still worth looking into. If you're just a hobbyist and have some ideas you want to get out there, this is your ticket to game-making.
I use
Tile Studio to do my pixel art. It's a very handy program.