I wouldn't really bother with basic or pascal in 2008. I started with those languages, but that was about ten years ago. Visual Basic will let you actually make something you can actually use. I suggest Java as the second language, but you could start with it (that's what's done at quite a few universities). VB will let you at least make some simple algorithms, and java will let you make proper data structures and mess with 3d if you get Java 3D. After that you should get started with Visual C++ and OpenGL (or DirectX if you want to invest more time)... Getting basic stuff going in OpenGL isn't really that much work at all, but once you're going past the basics it gets hairier

I've never used a game maker, and I assume it reduces some of the linear algebra needed, but if you're going to make anything half-decent you need to learn the following: syntax, algorithms, data structures, math (mostly linear algebra and discrete math), and advanced algorithms...

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