I always found Flash easier to learn than gamemaker. There's so few
good tutorials for Gamemaker, whereas Flash on the other hand has countless sites full of them!
Flash unfortunately is quite costly. I got Flash Professional 8 free from a cousin whom had it, though you could also get the full version free from a torrent. If you're unfamiliar with how torrents work, feel free to ask.
Once you've got Flash, Just google
Flash Professional 8 tutorials, and you're already on your way! My very first game was a falling circle dodging game thing (
). It was very basic, but fun nonetheless, and I learnt everything to make it from one simple tutorial (Not to mention the fact that I'd never once programmed with Flash before that day).