Game writing tool and community

I will just agree with what @ryanpq already said.

Unity is probably a best engine to start with. IIRC, you can create games not depending platform - going from PC, Web, Smartphone. It’s free for personal usage and there’s also pretty big database with free assets and scripts. Also, I think Unity is easiest to start with, on their website, you can find great tutorials that will teach you how to use it by creating games.

There is also Unreal Engine, which is very popular. I’m not sure do they have tutorial available, probably they have somewhere. You should be able to use it for free, but there is also something for it in GitHub Student Pack. I’m not sure is this relevant, but if you’re a student, check it out.

For communities, stick with community around engine. They all have their dedicated forums and communities where you can ask you questions. Also, I found GameDev subreddit (on Reddit) to pretty useful. They have a great FAQ base, covering every aspect of the game development. /r/gamedev and their Wiki where you can find many great resources, as well as list of engines, assets sites, communities and so on.

Personally I would recommend Unity. It seems to have the largest community around it and a ton of free assets and scripts are available in their store.

There are quite a few other game engines out there with a free hobbyist license available.

Unreal Engine

Cry Engine

Hero Engine

just to name a few. For a beginner I would recommend checking out the communities around the various engines and how active and helpful they are to beginners when making your choice. A lot of the concepts you will learn while building a game will carry over between engines though the methods, languages and UI may differ. Choosing a community that will help you when you get stuck is the best way to make sure you can accomplish what you set out to do.