Torque

Game Maker is often what amateur game developers that don't want to program use to make 2D games. I tried it, had a bit of success, but ultimately I didn't really like the interface. I tried out Torque Game Builder and liked it quite a bit more, so I shelled out a bit of cash for the indie license (I had done the same for GM as well) and that's what I've been working with.

I almost went back to Game Maker when I was having some scripting problems I knew I could solve with the graphical scripting stuff it has (which is GREAT by the way, if you really don't want to script anything yourself), but overall I have been happy with Torque so far.

Anyway, here are some other games that have been made with TGB: http://www.garagegames.com/games/2d-games

There are a few semi-major indie releases there. I think I own at least one or two of them, but it's hard to remember sometimes with all of the indie bundles I buy.

I actually solved the problem that made me want to go back to GM just today. In order for a trigger to function in TGB, you have to have an object actually collide with it. If you have any code in said object that is tripped when you collide with things (like if it's a player character that collides with walls, for example) it will react weirdly with the trigger. I solved this by mounting an invisible collision volume to my character that activates the trigger. Worked out perfectly. Now if only I could have all those hours of trial and error back...

Yeah! Learning!