EDIT: apologies for this post as it's obviously in the wrong place. Brain-fart moment.

First of all, I don't know if there's a better forum for this in the "technical" area or somewhere. So I apologize if this post is misplaced.

Question in short form: I want to make a simple 2d game that has no sprites but only buttons you click to achieve goals, what are the best game creation programs for that in your opinion?

My Game Idea:

You are a blacksmith tasked with running a shop and earning a living wage. You develop your skills to improve your designs and learn how to create more and more difficult items as you learn how from your master initially and then as rewards for finishing certain requests.

Of course finishing tasks takes time. The game will be centered around prioritizing what you need and gaining skill.

The game creation program will need a way to create:

a 24 hour clock

buttons with in-game adjustable menus

a way to keep track of stats, an inventory system, what items the PC knows how to create, and what raw materials those items require.

Multiple "areas" for the PC to access on an overworld map. (I envision a map where you simply click a button to go somewhere like say, bank, store, etc.)

What simple to learn and preferably free options are out there?

I'm not sure of any software specifically for this sort of thing, but I think this would be really easy to do with C# using Forms. Something like this book would give you most (if not all) of the groundwork for this sort of game.

You could use any GUI toolkit for this, it doesn't have to be games specific. Even HTML would do the job.

First of all, I don't know if there's a better forum for this in the "technical" area or somewhere. So I apologize if this post is misplaced.

Moved to For Beginners and changed your title from design->development.

Game Design is the specific field of designing, but not implementing the ideas, plans, and mechanics of a game. You're asking about implementing (or developing) an idea that you've already formed.

Why not Java? Fairly simple, definitely free. Just use Java2D (Graphics) and Swing (GUI) for your project. Look into JFrame (Window) and Canvas (Graphics) for this. You'll also need some form of a game loop. Here are some that I find good to use. Game Loops!

Then the rest will be just getting buttons on the screen with Swing.

Now I can say if you want this to be browser based, there are better languages. However it is still achievable in Java, whether it be with an applet or some other framework.

I think java may be overkill.

You can do this very simply as a set of HTML pages backed by some simple javascript. There's no need to learn a heavyweight programming language and all the cruft and build systems that go alongside it, and having to learn an IDE etc.

If you do it in notepad you can test it in your favourite browser, which you already have to hand, and wouldn't need anything more than a good editor such as notepad++, and an addon such as firebug for debugging it.

You could learn this in a couple of days if you have the aptitude for programming.

Good luck!

I am wondering why a game engine wasn't recommended, unless I missed something.

I would recommend Godot:

http://www.godotengine.org/projects/godot-engine

I would think Game Maker would be good for this.