Me (Clara) and my brother Danny make games using gamemaker a package to create your own 2D games. Easier than programming but still very much your own creation especially if you draw your own sprites (images). The site to download games people have made is: http://www.gamemakergames.com. Check out moogle301 which is me and danbanzero which is my brother.
My brothers games are far better than mine. He has made Bearland games which are like Mario although he has made a Zelda type one and a dancing game. He also has another side view game which I like named Eggberts Adventure. He has also made some short games such as shopping racing and football. If you want to download any of them go to his website with this link: www.freewebs.com/bearlandgames.
I however haven't gotten round to actually finishing a game but I have adapted his dancing game adding extra characters including my brother and friend Louise. I have also started a platformer game named Bouncer and Big Dave where you- a bouncing blob start a quest to find your old friend Big Dave and over time fight and control a flying elephant named Ellie (yes I know, copying Dumbo but my Ellie is sooo much cooler! She is blue and has a green glow around her because I drew her on a patterned background and couldn’t remove it but I invented the storyline that she was tested on by evil scientists with radioactive material and hey! It becomes a bonus!) and play a two player mini game in which one player is a fish and the other is Bouncer walking (or swimming) it. I have tried making RPG’s but World Maps etc are very difficult because so far I can only make linear games. I have managed to make a playing story of Jack and the beanstalk probably my best game yet.
If you have never seen gamemaker you should definitely try it and maybe even make a game yourself which isn't as had a you might think as you don’t need to know programming. So go on gamemaker (Although sometimes things can get so damn frustrating you wonder why you bother) but trust me it is worth it, and play Squaresoft games!
If you need any help my email is: piggymad@btopenworld.com