Game programming baby steps

Heja together. I want to start my first game. Since I've never done it before it would be great to get some hints for my baby steps.

The game is supposed to be a 2D jump'n Run Platformer with rpg elemts (well, I got inspired by great dungeon in the sky and Knytt). Any hints? I want to use pixel grafics of course, as well as some kind of an armory to find and equip loot. Yeah...

oookayy, a topic im good at

This is, of course, a personal reccomendation. Feel free to take this with a grain of salt.

Basically, seeing as you have never made a game before, you probably wont want to step into coding just yet. My personal reccomendation for a first platform would be Game Maker. Although the free version does have lmitations, its a gret way to introduce yourself to the mecahnics befind game making
Game Maker

Another reccomendation i have recieved myself (admittedly never really tried it) but i have heard it is god for beginners is
Construct

Both of those provide means of making games without the use of code (which is a good way to start, as it allows you to get to grips with mecanics, as i said earlier). Again, purely out of personal experience, i found Game Maker to have a really good transition into using the in-build scripting language.

If you move on, or are confident enough to dive straight into pure coding, a greatly reccomend taking a look at flash development. Although not the most powerful platform, it is cross-platform, and can run in web browsers, or as a standalone application (with the use of Adobe AIR). Do yorself a favour, dont buy the Flash IDE. it is almost impossible to make a game such as that in the Flash IDE.
some recommendations for the flash development world:
FlashDevelop my IDE of choice, it seems very powerful, and (IMO is more flexible than the official Flash Builder by Adobe

FlashPunk A Library for making games, similar to flixel, but (again, IMO) easier to learn. The community at the Forums  amazing.

BUT
This all said, please do yourself a favour and start small. I know many friends who have wanted to make games, thought up this grand rpg or somewhat, been unable to do it with their current knowledge, and given up in disgust. I SERIOUSLY suggest slowly working your way up from the very basic things. for god's sake, my first game was a truly awful attempt at a space invaders game.
Dont be afraid to fail. we all do. often. like, really often. trick is to learn what you did wrong and either a) fix it, or b) start again, or something different. Treat it as a learning process, as you would with maths, or whathaveyou.  

whoo, that was a long one


TL;DR
STOP BEING LAZY AND READ ALL OF EET!  

Another option is to start by modding a game. For example, you can make a Knytt Stories level with RPG elements in it using my KS Ex mod