This topic deals with the question everyone (including myself) has on their mind, or has had on their mind.
“Can I upload my project to (major gaming site here)?”
The answer is no, and I will explain why. But, if you're interested in entering the world of standalone games, and uploading them to Kongregate, Newgrounds, Steam, or the likes of which, I can help you with that too.

Contents:

I. How can I make my project a standalone .exe, .jar or .app?
II. How can I upload my project to Steam?
III. How can I upload my project to Kongregate and Newgrounds?
IV. Stencyl and Unity

I. How can I make my project a standalone?
Currently… you kinda can't. There are a few processes, but they're limited, and most only work with .sb (Scratch 1.4 projects) and not .sb2 (Scratch 2.0 projects) files. You can see more information here, although I haven't tested any of the methods. Any volunteers?

Now for the real focus of this thread…
II. How can I upload my project to Steam?
Hold on! What's Steam?
Steam is the largest distributor of PC and Mac games. Brought to you by the good people at Valve.
Ok, so can I upload my .sb2 to Steam?
No. Steam accepts almost all major programming languages, but .sb2 files cannot be uploaded.
I made my project a standalone using one of the methods from the wiki. Since it's standalone, can it be uploaded?
Theoretically, it's possible. But there's not exactly a way to test it. It's important to note:
It costs $20.00 to upload your first game to Steam. This money is not refunded if your project is a flop on Greenlight.
Uh… what's Greenlight?
Valve would lose a lot of money if they just let through random games that were uploaded. All games that want to get onto Steam must go through a voting process. The community must vote on your project… but even if all Steam users voted up your project, it has to be reviewed by Valve. Sadly, anything you make on Scratch won't be accepted into Steam.
This is because Scratch is a limited starter language. Anything you make on Scratch is super small compared to a professional game. Your game would not have good graphics because of the limited editor, and the project would be way too short because of Scratch file limitations.
You can learn real programing languages if you google hard enough at Code.org, Code(a)cademy, Udacity.com, and a lot of other sites (feel free to suggest some in the replies).
It's important to note, if you're programming, you'll want to use an IDE to compile into a standalone. I recommend XCode for Macs (available from the Mac App Store), or Eclipse (Open to suggestions for new ones).


III. Can my project be uploaded to Kongregate and Newgrounds?
What's Kongregate?
Kongregate is one of the most popular spots to play free Flash games. This means if you want to upload a game there, it has to be a .swf. .swfs are programmed in Actionscript, most Flash Builders cost upwards of hundreds of dollars (verification please?). But it's ok, Kong has a tough crowd anyway. (edit: Kong does accept HTML files, so you can add an .html with your embed code in it, but nobody will really like it. I uploaded an HTML game once and it got down to 2 stars on the first day! Kong is for full games, not very small Scratch games.)
What's Newgrounds?
Newgrounds is the renaissance man of the internet. It's indie games, animations, music, and art. So it's basically Kongregate, Youtube, Soundcloud and Deviantart in one, convenient, NFE package. I cannot stress this enough: Newgrounds usually contains 13+ content. Please do not use unless you're over 13, or have played at least one M game in your life (If you're one of the 8 year olds allowed to play Call of Duty, you're already past the point of no return on content advisory). I am only recommending this for those who really want to get their work out there. Newgrounds accepts .swf files, like Kongregate, but also HTML5 games. Udacity offers HTML5 tutorials, look for the link pool below. Luckily for you, Stencyl has FULL integration for making games for Kong and Newgrounds. “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?” You ask. “What is Stencyl?”


IV. Stencyl and Unity
This section is about extending your programming knowledge and moving past Scratch, if you really want to get into the Standalone and Game Distribution world. Most easy-game-making programs cost big bucks. This is for the older kids, folks (With the exception of the free zone!).
Free stuff (these programs won't cost you a dime):
Stencyl
Stencyl, like most sites, offers a free plan and a premium plan. Let's talk about the free plan. Stencyl is a lot like Scratch, but doesn't feature all of the same blocks, and has a bigger, more complicated system. Stencyl has blocks for KONG FUNCTIONS (API) AND NEWGROUNDS FUNCTIONS (API). With the Stencyl Free Plan, you can publish your game to the web at no cost to you, with a watermark or splash image at the beginning that advertises Stencyl. We'll talk more about the paid plan later.
Unity3d
Unity3d is used in tons of games. It helps you to piece together your scripts (javascripts and all that jazz, although I've been informed it uses a MODIFIED JavaScript, but it accepts more than just Javascript. Unity3D also had support for C derivatives, specifically C#, which can take Unity to its full potential.), and give you an easy way to create a standalone. You can learn javascript at codecademy. Like Udacity, the link was given previously in the post, but I'll provide all of my links at the bottom of this post. Unity can be used to make 3D games OR 2D! And here's the best part: It's absolutely free! Posting to Kong or Newgrounds will be FREE and have NO watermarks (unless you count the loading screen w/ the Unity logo as a watermark). You can even submit your game to Steam (if you pay the aforementioned $20 first)! Unity has a built in option to create a standalone package of your game.
There are TONS of great, free Unity2D platformer tutorials on youtube, so anyone can get started!

The Money Zone: (The following programs cost big bucks. You should either be a fullgrown adult who can do whatever he or she wants with his or her money, or a kid who can save up.)
Stencyl. Stencyl can even export your game as a PC/Mac standalone, with the Indie Plan. For $99 a year, you make standalones (your games will not be taken down if you choose not to continue the plan). In fact, with the $99 version, you can share to Kongregate/Newgrounds WITHOUT the watermark. If you want to make an APP, you can too with Stencyl's most expensive plan. For $199 a year, you can make web games, pc/mac standalones, and iOS/Android apps (posting a game to iOS requires an Apple Developer license, an additional $99 a year)!


I hope I've cleared up a lot of stuff, feel free to ask me a question regarding Steam and Standalones. (DO NOT ask me random questions here. PLEASE MAKE A NEW THREAD WITH YOUR QUESTION, BUT READ THIS FIRST!


Update 11/8/15: noted that Kong does accept HTML games
Update 7/29/15: noted that javascript in unity is modified, and C# is recommended for most potential.
Update 2/28/15: Removed ClickTeam, I know nothing about it.
Update 1/4/15: Added Section 4, if it sounds too much like a commercial for Stencyl and ClickTeam I'll take it out.
Update 1/3/15: Added Stencyl. Thanks, Chibi!

Useful links to kickstart your programming career:
scratch.mit.edu - You're here, pal.
stencyl.com - Twin brother of Scratch
codecademy.com - Do all programmers forget the a?
code.org - I wonder if I can learn code here.
unity3d.com - No joke here.
www.udacity.com/course/cs255 - A guide to making an HTML5 game.
Am I forgetting anything?

Nice ITopic!

You should also mention Stencyl. It`s a Scratch mod, and can make Flash games which can be uploaded to Kongregate for free, and desktop or mobile games for annual subscriptions. I think “desktop” means it can be sold on Steam. I plan to try it someday.

Just iTopiced!

PrincessPanda_test_ wrote:

Just iTopiced!

oooh… I put iTopic in there myself. I thought it meant informative topic. I'll take it out if it's something official or whatever.

VoltageGames wrote:

PrincessPanda_test_ wrote:

Just iTopiced!

oooh… I put iTopic in there myself. I thought it meant informative topic. I'll take it out if it's something official or whatever.

YOU JUST FOOLED US. D:

PrincessPanda_test_ wrote:

VoltageGames wrote:

PrincessPanda_test_ wrote:

Just iTopiced!

oooh… I put iTopic in there myself. I thought it meant informative topic. I'll take it out if it's something official or whatever.

YOU JUST FOOLED US. D:

sorrrrrrrrryyyyyy.

VoltageGames wrote:

PrincessPanda_test_ wrote:

VoltageGames wrote:

PrincessPanda_test_ wrote:

Just iTopiced!

oooh… I put iTopic in there myself. I thought it meant informative topic. I'll take it out if it's something official or whatever.

YOU JUST FOOLED US. D:

sorrrrrrrrryyyyyy.

Only the ST can iTopic topics. ITopics are like stickies, but are used instead when the amount of guides get cluttered up.

Yeah, no, iTopic means “Indexed Topic” or something like that - basically one of a bunch of topics linked in a sticky so there won't be so many stickies.

AonymousGuy wrote:

Yeah, no, iTopic means “Indexed Topic” or something like that - basically one of a bunch of topics linked in a sticky so there won't be so many stickies.

Aaaah, ok. Thanks for clearing that up.

You can report topics to propose them to get iTopiced.

I think you may be inclined to know that someone is compiling Scratch projects to .exe

Zro716 wrote:

I think you may be inclined to know that someone is compiling Scratch projects to .exe

Thanks! I'll look into that.

Ah… I use a Mac, and it's an .exe. Do you think you could write up a mini-tutorial that I could add to the main post?

VoltageGames wrote:

Zro716 wrote:

I think you may be inclined to know that someone is compiling Scratch projects to .exe

Thanks! I'll look into that.

Ah… I use a Mac, and it's an .exe. Do you think you could write up a mini-tutorial that I could add to the main post?

uh… use wine?

Nice, thanks for making this. Now official.

Zro716 wrote:

VoltageGames wrote:

Zro716 wrote:

I think you may be inclined to know that someone is compiling Scratch projects to .exe

Thanks! I'll look into that.

Ah… I use a Mac, and it's an .exe. Do you think you could write up a mini-tutorial that I could add to the main post?

uh… use wine?

I've looked into Wine before, it's super laggy on my computer.
Oh well.

Harakou wrote:

Nice, thanks for making this. Now official.

Yaaay!

Just wanted to point out, that although Steam is the largest distributor of PC/Mac/Linux games, it's not the only one. There's Origin and Desura, which happen to be the only ones I can remember off the top of my head.

cobraguy wrote:

Just wanted to point out, that although Steam is the largest distributor of PC/Mac/Linux games, it's not the only one. There's Origin and Desura, which happen to be the only ones I can remember off the top of my head.

Ah, ok. OP changed.

Construct 2 has a free version too. A step up can be Unity.

Zeusking19 wrote:

Construct 2 has a free version too. A step up can be Unity.

Oh, do you use it?
Could you maybe write something about it I can quote in the OP?