Animation is something that takes study. You have a simple character and it shouldn't be too difficult. I can't see anything from looking at it, but the motion from one frame to the next is what matters. It has to be very consistent, otherwise the character will appear jerky. You want a very slight up and down motion with the foot motion. The timing between frames is also important. It may help to examine other games. 2d games commonly use very few frame animation and it generally works all right. I've seen 4 frame walks that look decent. 8 should give a pretty smooth looking animation. The larger the character the more noticeable the low frame count will matter. An art program that has layers may help. You can set the transparency of the underneath frame so it looks ghosted and you can see if the motion is even. A program that's pretty cheap that may help is Anime Studio Debut which has bone rigging:
http://www.amazon.co...me+studio+debut

Another method is to use rotation with a vector program such as Inkscape. If nothing else, skip the up and down motion and just rotate the feet the same amount each frame. Also, make sure the character is centered on each frame when you grab it off a sprite sheet. A small variation will look choppy.

Yes, there are some frameworks/engines like Inform, but I agree with TheNut, it's a matter of organizing how puzzles are developed and executed. Your first try will be messy, but write a small game, and you'll be surprised at how it all comes together after some experience and you are able to organize it in an object oriented way. Text, really, is the ideal way to get a handle on programming because the output is so simple. Of course, writing a good game is probably even harder for the same reason. The best game writers will be using Inform or something because they are masters at crafting words more than programmers.

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That's why I prefer forums, but they seem to be going out now. I don't get this social stuff.

Image 1 and 4 look the best to me. I prefer subtle.

Shooter isn't necessarily bad, it just doesn't stand on it's own very well except for a smaller audience. When you add strategy, puzzles, story/missions etc, it gives the game more depth and applies to a larger audience that may get bored with just a twitch type game. Many people get bored with them just like they get bored with an action movie that doesn't have much of a plot. It's kind of a poor choice for an indie because it's harder to add all those things.