I'm a graphic design student hoping to pursue a career as a video game artist. However, I want to do some game development as a hobby.

I'd like to develop games for the desktop or mobile phones.

The only programming experience I have is that I took an intro to programming with java class in which I learned how to make web applets using java's swing library. It was awful. I think the only things I took from the class was what OOP is and how to work with variables and data types and some methods. I also learned some actionscript myself which was fun unfortunately my flash tutorial expired and it's too expensive to buy;(

What I was looking to do is learn one programming language and build a game with it without having to go through so many hoops and with minimum cost. If it's possible.

I would love to learn C++, but I read it's not best for a beginning programmer.

What programming languages or maybe software kits/platforms would you recommend?