I've been searching online for somewhere to ask this, I'm not sure this is the right place so I'm sorry if I'm in the wrong section.

The thing is, I'm a passionate gamer and have been gaming since the late 1970's (yes I'm that old) and I would love to create some simple games to have fun with, now I'm not stupid enough to think I'm going to code another Ultima V, Morrowind or Elite, but I'd love to be able to make simple games, like the old arcade games.  dig dug, space invaders, galaxians etc.

Now I have tried game maker and I've been toying with it close to a year but it's just over my head and even following tutorials, videos and books I'm still pretty clueless, so thats out.

I am looking for something I can buy to create simple games with, now I don't wish to pay a subscription so something like Construct 3 is out, I just want one price.

Could you recommend something really easy to use for an old guy who utterly failed maths.

Thank you!

I don't think you can get much simpler than Game Maker if you want visual scripting. But you can take a look at Godot, which also has visual scripting, and see if you like it more. Or even GameSalad. Unreal also has a visual scripting tool, but it's overkill for almost any beginner.

If you go for a traditional programming approach, you can try Love2D, a simple 2D framework. It uses Lua, which is a simple language.

And take some time to learn maths. For simple 2D games, vectors would be a good start, as they allow you to make fluid movement for your games (characters, enemies and so on) and helps when programming simple steering behaviors (like follow or pursuit). It's something you can learn the basics in a day, and you will get better as you use it.

You might consider, making a game as simple as dragging stuff together produces games that are as simple as that and for more complex things you will need more complex systems as of to one point where the complexity of a system isnt worth the work behind so you would go better code anything yourself.

Game Development is as same as any other scientific career, something you cant master "as easy as possible". Modern tools and engines like Unreal or Unity (or just Cocos2D or Urho3D) are just a helpfull tool but nothing more. You still need to develop your gameplay and even using Unity, a team will take a year or two to create a game depending on its quantity. Using game maker is like using a Maggi seasoning mix, it will guarantee that whatever you are cooking tastes "good" (by some definition) but you still have to cook it yourself, Maggi wont do that for you

So an advice could be, depending on the kind of game you want to make, take a already written game that offers a level editor and start making your own "games" using that. Warcraft 3 is a good starting point or Startcraft as those have WorldEdit, which is capable of doing most kind of "games" using just in in-game drag n drop trigger system. Alternatively you could take an Elder Scrolls game and use there engine to setup a mod ontop. I have seen mods for Oblivion for example, that fully rewrote the entire game with a new world, voices, character models and tons of scripting and own rules.

The Internet has plenty of sources to get your ideas to live, just go and grab some

If you are just getting into games development I recommend starting with a simple 2D side-scroller first to at least ignore the difficulties of developing 3D games. Unity and Unreal are very capable game engines with a comprehensive feature set, but this means the learning curve might be a bit intimidating in the beginning. Start with a simple engine for 2D games and build a small, one-level game where you can just move around and go from there, step by step

Your trouble with Game Maker could simply be the result of it not being a good fit for you, which is neither a commentary on you or the software. Also, don't discount Unreal or Unity as viable possibilities; they may seem daunting but they have large communities who likely have already asked a lot of the questions you will have along the way. Again, I am not saying either is "better" than Game Maker, but it may be better fit for your approach to both game development and learning. 

While older games like Dig Dug can seem like simple starting points because they are dated and have pixelated graphics, the programmimg behind them could be more of a challenge than you'd think. Tic-Tac-Toe, for example, is a great starting point because the logic is simple and it's also fairly easy to add your own twist to it. Games like this and Rock, Paper, Scissors are familiar to just about anyone; their simpler logic allows you to focus on getting familiar with the language and software while also providing faster rewards, which is going to be key in maintaining motivation on those days where things get frustrating.

If you prefer to work on something similar to Dig-Dug, compartmentalize. Break it down into smaller pieces and focus on one at a time. Learn how to make a sprite move with keyboard input, then maybe collisions, then animations, etc. 

I would be more than happy to help you on occasion if you opt for Unity; unfortunately I don't have much experience with Unreal or Game Maker so I would be less than useless in that regard. If you try out Unity and it feels like a good fit and you'd like to take me up on that then just shoot me an email from my site at eatsleepindie.com.