the best tool for beginners to apps/games

Im using App inventor to make apps. Its good to a certain point and quite straight forward, however it has severe limitations. It lacks certain basic features and still has several bugs.

whats the best platform to use to make games and basic apps for android, i think eclipse would take too much time to learn. I prefer drag and drop that allows you to add your own code where possible.

gamemaker
gamesalad

does appinventor let you make an apk file and upload it on google play? last time i checked (back in '11 suppose) it wasnt possible . There’s something called scratch, whether its a language or platform im not sure, but they claim “make games with coding” and things like that ,check that out.