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So you want to make an MMORPG...Start Here

Started by JWalsh Feb 25, 2009 at 4:28 PM 20 replies 11.8k views

Original Post

Feb 25, 2009 at 4:28 PM

So you want to make an MMO, huh? Well, why wouldn't you? The idea of thousands of people playing your game simultaneously, in a complex system of economics, crafting, combat, exploration, magic, etc...And what's more, you get to play God! You get to be the creator of an entire universe. You define the races, the geography, the history, the culture, the religions, the factions, the cities, the currencies, the available material goods, the professions, the combat rules, spell systems, object and item statistics, player abilities ...and the list goes on and on. But what most people don't realize is that while you do GET to define all of those things, you also HAVE TO define all of those things. And that's a lot of work even for just the design department. That's not counting engineering, art, sound, business, and production, which all have equally difficult and time-consuming tasks. This is often a case of "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it." There are thousands of developers out there from all disciplines who are in love with the idea of RUNNING an MMORPG, but in truth have no skills, motivation, or experience to actually BUILD an MMORPG. That's not to say it cannot be done. Indeed, MMORPG's are just RPG's...but...well, massive versions of them. Any team that has the correct combination of skill/talent, motivation/will, and experience can build an MMORPG. It is not uncommon when posting your Help Wanted Ads here on GameDev.net for the vast majority of people to read over your project outline and immediately dismiss it. Why shouldn't they? Chances are good they've got a better idea of how much work is involved than you do (or just as little as you, but think they know more), so at the same time they're reading your proposal they're picking out the details in your post which indicate your impending failure. The best way to counter this mindset is to come into your proposal prepared. Don't just answer the minimum questions required for a Help Wanted ad; be as specific and as thorough as you can. You need to let them know you've thought through your plan to build an MMO, and that you're prepared to push forward with it. Now, while the following information is a good list of things to think about and questions you need to answer when making your post, nothing speaks more clearly to people than past experience and success. So I encourage everyone, before posting an ad to create the "next best MMORPG", post an ad to create "the next best RPG". Nothing prevents you from scaling up from a single player RPG to a multiplayer RPG, and from a multiplayer RPG to a Massively Multiplayer RPG. And starting small shows you understand your limitations and care to test the waters a bit before diving head first into the deep end. Starting with a smaller RPG does a couple things for you...

It gives your team experiencing working together. This is important as conflicts will arise, and it's good to figure out ahead of time how disputes will be resolved.
It allows you to build up an IP (intellectual property). WoW, LoTRO, WAR, etc...can all place a large percentage of their success on their use of a well known license. If you release the damn best MMO the world has ever seen there's still a good chance no one will play it, because no one has ever heard of you or it. But, releasing an RPG or two before hand gives your world time to percolate in the psyche of your players.
It allows you to build up a workflow. Running a project, whether in an office or over the internet requires communication and processes put in place to help make sure everything runs smoothly.
It allows you to build up an existing code-base an asset collection. They don't call them massive for nothing. MMO's can have millions of lines of code and thousands of models, textures, etc... By releasing an RPG or two in preparation for your MMO it gives you a chance to build up some art assets while potentially generating some revenue. Consider this, you can always sell these RPG's you made while building up your MMO, helping you fund the "bigger picture", while still moving towards your ultimate goal.

Ok, with all of the preaching out of the way, I've broken up MMO development (really game development in general) into a few categories based on departments. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and people can feel free to post other things I've not thought of while writing up this little (really??) post. In general, before you post an ad for a new MMO team you should have the following things defined. If you don't, because you can't, you need to consider that probably means you're not qualified to run the team or at least that you need to find team members with more experience than you. This doesn’t bode well for you as the team leader. In any event, it's ok if you don't know the answers to all of the following, but remember, the less you know, the less likely people are to take your Help Wanted Ad seriously. Engineering Department MMO's require a significant amount of code, and frequently a large number of programmers. But before a single line of code is written, the project leads need to make the following decisions. If you don't have leads qualified to make these decisions, that's your next task before moving forward: Client Platforms - What platforms will the MMO run on? (PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Web) Why did you choose those platforms? And if you chose a console, do you have the funds and street credibility to purchase a dev kit from the publishers? Operating Systems (Windows, MacOS X, Linux) - If you're putting out on PC, which OS's will you support? Programming Languages (C++, C#, Java, *BASIC) - Which programming language(s) will your team use. Why? What's the benefit of using one programming language over another for your game? Programming Tools/IDE's (Compilers, Editors, Debuggers) - Based on the chosen programmer language, which compilers, editors, debuggers or IDE's do you plan to use. Will everyone have to provide their own, or will you/the company be purchasing development tools for people? API's (Graphics, User Input, GUI, Physics, Audio) - Once you've defined your programming language, which API's will you use? DirectX or OpenGL? Win32 API, WinForms/Qt, PhysX, ODE, Havok, XACT, Fmod, etc... How many people do you plan to throw at each of the following areas?

Graphics
Audio
User Input
User Interface
Physics/Animation
Artificial Intelligence
Game play Mechanics
Database/File IO
Networking

Art Department Like programming, MMO's require a significant number of assets and have their own tools. So before a single piece of art can be created, the project leads need to make the following decisions. If you don't have leads qualified to make these decisions, that's your next task before moving forward: Art Tools (2D Concept Art, 2D Textures, 3D Models, Animation) - Which tools will artists use to make concept art, texture, models, and animations? File Formats - Once you know what tools you'll use, which of the available exported file formats will you use? What's the benefit of each as it pertains to your game? File size, compression, text vs. binary, etc... Asset Specifications (Texture Sizes, Polycounts, # Bones, Animation Sets) - Even knowing the file format doesn't define everything the engineers need to know to define the game engine. There is other criteria such as the texture sizes to you, power of 2 only or support nonP2? How many primitives are modelers limited to for low/high res models, how many bone transforms can you have in your skeletons, and how many (what are the) animation sets for your animators to work towards? How many people do you plan to throw at the following areas?

2D Concept Art
3D Environment Art/2D Textures
3D Character Art/2D Textures
Animation

Design Department I've already spelled out many of the game-specific decision that need to be made in the paragraph above. But here's some more managerial decisions that your leads to be make. If you don't have leads qualified to make these decisions, that's your next task before moving forward: Design Tools (World Building Tools, Scripting Languages) - What tools will your designers use to define your game? What level editors or scripting languages will be used? What word format? Do designers need Office 2007 or will OpenOffice suffice? Do they need excel, or do you have an online database? Game data (Spreadsheets/Database) - There's LOTS of game data. Everything from character stats, spell definitions/descriptions, item stats, ability modifiers, etc...are these stored in a spreadsheet which is exported to some kind of custom format, or is it all stored in a database to be used by the client/server? Documents/Wiki - How will design documents be circulated? Will they be distributed over email or will they all be on a wiki or forums? How are decisions made? (Vote, Design Lead) - With every creative endeavor there's bound to be difference due to personal opinion. How are final decisions made? How many people do you plan to throw at the following areas?

Game play Mechanics/Game Balancing
Writing
World Building

Audio Department If you don't have leads qualified to make these decisions, that's your next task before moving forward: Audio Tools (Composition & Mixing Tools) - Yup. More tools. What tools will sound engineers use for creating audio files, what will they use for mixing or tying to game events? File Formats & Compression - What file formats and compression standards will you use for your game? Durations - How long are background themes, etc... How many people do you plan to throw at the following areas?

Music Composition
Sound FX

Production Department If you don't have leads qualified to make these decisions, that's your next task before moving forward: Team Communication & Collaboration (Online vs. In Person, Forums vs. Wiki) - How is team communication handled. Is it all done in person, all online? How do people participate in project discussions and make decisions? Is it all done by forums, mailing list, or via a discussion page on a Wiki? How will conflicts be resolved? Conflicts always arise. How will they be resolved? What's the criteria for removal from the project? What line should people not cross? What are you going to do to ensure you stay on schedule? How are you going to handle it when you slip? How many people do you plan to throw at the following areas?

Project Management/Scheduling
Milestone Acceptance/Submission Guidelines
QA/Testing

Business Department Server Costs & Bandwidth - Who's going to cover the $100's of dollars in server costs each month? If you want to charge for your game who's forming a legal business? How many owners will the business have? How will profits/losses be shared? How will contributors be reimbursed? Will they be employees or Independent Contractors? How many people do you plan to throw at the following areas?

Legal Advice
Tax/Financial Accounting
Community Support/GM's
Moderators

These are many (but not all) of the decisions you'll need to make, even before you should begin development. Once you, or the leads you've appointed to your project can effectively and satisfactorily answer the above topics, you'll know you've at least got the skill (to move forward with development, even if not necessarily the motivation or experience. Feel free to express your comments on the above, add to the list, etc... Cheers! [Edited by - JWalsh on February 25, 2009 9:49:46 PM]

Codeka

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:06 PM

This needs to be made sticky!

Drew_Benton

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:12 PM

Maintenance Department

Congratulations! You have finally completed your game and deployed it. Unfortunately you are far from being able to sit back and reap the fruits of your labor. Games are like children and your game is at a stage where it is about to enter the teenager years. These are the years that will either make it or break it.

Who is going to maintain the game once it is up and running? Most important of all, can you afford to maintain your own game? What plans do you have for keeping the original programmers around? If any core development team members leave, then your project just has lost a significant body of knowledge that takes a lot of time and resources to replace. The core developers know the system the best, so think of them as the parents of the game. If they leave, no one else that comes in will be able to understand the game architecture and code quite like they did.

Who is going to manage the game's security? How are you going to defend your game against hackers, cheaters, and other maliciously intent people? Being on the defensive side of security is hard. Hackers can find all sorts of ways to ruin your game and you might not even know about it! If your game starts to become big, you will definitely want to have a few people do constant "hack reconnaissance". Their job is to keep up to date on the latest and greatest hacks for your game and provide this information to the development team to stop them.

Finally, what are your contingency plans for the project? How are you making sure no one can breach your systems and steal your work? Are you keeping tabs on who has access to what? Do you have backups of all your data in a secure location? If someone managed to delete your entire server, would you be able to recover? What if you update the game and it turns out it now breaks on 1/2 your customers PCs, can you roll back?

How many people do you plan to throw at the following areas?

Maintenance Management/Scheduling
In-game Security (anticheat/hack/etc...)
Company IP Security
Company IP Backup Management
Update Revision Management

(Feel free to modify, selectively use, reword, etc... anything that you want)

[Edited by - Drew_Benton on February 25, 2009 5:12:27 PM]

Captain_Thunder

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:13 PM

Good guide, with realistic suggestions. Far too often would-be MMO developers in the Help Wanted forum get snarky replies about their impending failure; it's much more constructive to give them an accurate assessment of the magnitude of their chosen task and how they should go about accomplishing it, rather than simply flame them for no reason other than bitterness.

Drew_Benton

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:34 PM

Marketing Department

You have a killer game, how are you going to let the world know? Marketing is one of the most important aspects to business. A great product with poor marketing will usually fail in comparisons to a poor product with great marketing. Just think, people make a living off of selling manure (as fertilizers) simply because someone was able to market them to be used that way. That is not to take anything away from the scientific reasoning behind it, but you must say, someone clearly had good marketing skills.

Who is going to manage your marketing? How are you going to make sure marketing costs don't eat up too much profit? Will you market to the Internet, gaming magazines, or rely on word of mouth? Will you be running your game through a content distributor like Steam or will you be doing it all yourself? Who is going to handle the political issues involved with marketing? How are you going to make sure your marketing approaches don't taint your company's reputation?

How are you going to advertise? Today, there are many more opportunities to advertise than ever before in the history of marketing. Thanks to the internet, you are now only clicks away form being able to target audiences whom you'd never even imagine to be able to target. It can be quite overwhelming at first, so it is good to understand what you want to advertise and why. Popular sites nowadays include Youtube, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many many more. Are you going to have one person manage that all or many?

Who is going to handle cultural sensitivity when it comes to marketing? If you are doing international advertising, you must make sure your advertisement do not offend the local cultural or break any foreign laws. For example, if you have an advertisement showing a character performing a thumbs up emote, you most certainly will not want to air that everywhere simply because "In Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq and Thailand it is traditionally an obscene gesture, equivalent to the use of the middle finger in the Western world."

How are you going to handle fallout if your game does offend a particular group? Consider LittleBigPlanet. Do you have people who know how to make such apologies on behalf of your company in assuring the offended consumers you really are sorry? Have you carefully screened your marketing material beforehand to make sure nothing like this even happens in the first place?

Finally, is your marketing really working? How are you going to process the public opinion? Are you going to follow how consumers react to your marketing? Who is going to work on making the marketing more efficient and less costly? Are you making more friends with your efforts or enemies?

How many people do you plan to throw at the following areas?

Marketing Reputation
International Advertising
Cultural Sensitivity
General Advertising
Marketing Efficiency

(Feel free to modify, selectively use, reword, etc... anything that you want)

JWalsh

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:39 PM

Drew: Overachiever. :)

knowledgegranted

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:42 PM

Great thread! I would love to read it but due to my ignorance and personality I cannot, instead I read just the meat. I'll help ya out a little bit by providing links and things..

_________________________Engineering Department________________________________

Link to programming website/forum:
http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/

A common and usually free IDE is Microsoft Visual Studio, available in many languages (programming and UI). It can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx

Common APIs:

Physics:

Open source

* Chipmunk
* Box2D
* Blaze
* Bullet
* motor2
* Open Dynamics Engine
* OPAL
* PAL
* SOFA (Simulation Open Framework Architecture)
* Tokamak physics engine
* Farseer Physics Engine - 2D physics engine for Microsoft XNA and Silverlight
* Physics2D.Net - 2D physics engine for the .NET Framework 2.0 or greater.

Public domain

* Phyz (Dax Phyz) - 2.5D physics simulator/editor.

Closed source/limited free distribution

* Newton Game Dynamics
* PhysX (formerly NovodeX and incorporating Meqon)

Commercial

* Havok
* Simul-X . A Havok add-on to enable advanced vehicle physics .

High precision physics engines

* Working Model by Design Simulation Technologies

Game engines:

* RealmCrafter[13]
* Multiverse Network
* Gamebryo
* Bigworld Technology[14]
* HeroEngine[15]
* Monumental Games
* Exit Games Neutron[16]
* NetDog Networking
* Project Darkstar (Open Source)

_____________________________Art_________________________________

Link to programming website/forum:
http://game-artist.net/

Modeling programs:

* 3ds Max --(Autodesk), originally called 3D Studio MAX. 3ds Max is used in many industries that utilize 3D graphics. It is used in the video game industry for developing models and creating cinema cut-scenes. It is used in architectural visualizations because it is highly compatible with AutoCAD--also developed by Autodesk. Additionally 3ds Max is used in film production, one contemporary film being Kaena: The Prophecy[1]. With its price of around $3500 USD, it is one of the more expensive products in the market for this type of work. 3ds Max is available for Windows.

* AC3D --(Inivis) is another 3D modeling application that began in the 90's on the Amiga platform. While it is used in a number of industries, MathWorks actively recommends it in many of their aerospace related articles[2] due to price and compatibility. Additionally it is the first commercial 3D modeler to integrate full support for exporting models to the metaverse platform Second Life. AC3D is priced in the range of $79 USD and is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. While AC3D does not feature its own renderer, it can generate output files for both RenderMan and POV-Ray among others.

* Aladdin4D --(DiscreetFX), first developed for the Amiga, was originally developed by Adspec Programming in Ohio. It developed an enthusiastic following and sold over 18,000 copies on the Amiga platform alone. After being acquired by visual effects company DiscreetFX, the package has finally been repositioned as a multi-platform product for Mac OS X, Amiga OS 4.1, MorphOS, Linux, AROS and Windows. It is priced at $99.95 USD and is available for Windows, Linux, MorphOS, Amiga OS 4 and AROS.

* Blender --(Blender Foundation) is a free, open-source, 3D studio for animation, modeling, rendering, and texturing offering a feature set comparable to high end and mid range 3D animation suites such as Maya, 3ds Max, or Cinema 4D. It includes features such as multi-resolution sculpting; retopology painting. Additionally it supports 3D view texture painting; stack based modifier system; flexible particle system with particle based hair; cloth/soft body dynamics, rigid body dynamics and fluid simulation; node based texturing and node based compositing; an integrated non linear video editor; and integrated game engine. Blender is developed under the GPL and is available on all major platforms including Windows, OS X, Linux, BSD, Sun and Irix. It is currently the only 3D animation suite that is supported both on super computers as well as handheld computers such as the Pocket PC (Pocket Blender).

* Cinema 4D --(MAXON) is a slightly lighter package than the others in its basic configuration. The software is claimed to be artist-friendly, and is designed with the less-technical user in mind. It has a lower initial entry cost due to a modular a-la-carte design for purchasing additional functions as users need them. For example, a module called BodyPaint allows artists to draw textures directly onto the surface of models. Originally developed for the Commodore Amiga, it is also available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

* Electric Image Animation System --(EI Technology Group) is a 3D animation and rendering package available on both Mac OS X and Windows. Mostly known for its rendering quality and rendering speed it does not include a built-in modeler. EIAS features the ability to handle very large polygon counts. Recently, the blockbuster film "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl"[3] and the Television hit "Lost"[4] utilized the software.

* form•Z --(AutoDesSys, Inc.) is a general purpose solid/surface 3D modeler. Its primary usage is modeling, and it also features photorealistic rendering and object-centric animation support. form•Z claims users involved in architecture, interior design, illustration, product design, and set design. Its default renderer uses the LightWorks rendering engine for raytracing and radiosity. form•Z also supports Plugins and Scripts and has rendering support via Next Limit's Maxwell Renderer. It has Import/Export capabilities and was first released in 1991. It is currently available for both Mac OS X and Windows. The price for this software ranges from $1495-$1995 USD based on output quality.

* Houdini --(Side Effects Software) is used for visual effects, and character animation as well as used in Disney's The Wild[5]. Houdini uses a nonstandard interface that it refers to as a "NODE system". Commercial licenses of Houdini include unlimited copies of Side Effects Software's hybrid micropolygon-raytracer renderer, Mantra, but Houdini also has built-in support for commercial renderers like Pixar's RenderMan and mental ray. There are two versions of Houdini, Houdini Escape ($1,995 USD) and Houdini Master ($7,995 USD). For non-commercial users, Side Effects Software offers the free Houdini Apprentice personal learning edition, which places a small watermark on images, and Houdini Apprentice HD, a $99 USD package that does not watermark renders.

* Hypershot --is used for photorealistic rendereing of 3D models with a high resolution background and environment allowing realtime adjustments and visual feedback. The possibility to include high resolution backdrops has had extensive take-up by the automotive photography industry and with the animation of the model has moved into engineering and product design areas replacing or delaying the need for prototyping.

* LightWave 3D --(NewTek), first developed for the Amiga, was originally bundled as part of the Video Toaster package and entered the market as a low cost way for TV production companies to create quality CG for their programming. It first gained public attention with its use in the TV series "Babylon 5"[6]. Contemporary use in TV and movie production can be seen with the 2004 recreated Battlestar Galactica series[7], CSI: Crime Scene Investigation[8] and the film 300 (film)[9]. It is priced at $795 USD and is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

* Massive --is a 3D animation system for generating crowd-related visual effects, targeted for use in film and television. Originally developed for controlling the large-scale CGI battles in the Lord of the Rings[10], Massive Software has become an industry standard for digital crowd control in high end animation. Recently, the software has been utilized for blockbuster feature films including Happy Feet, King Kong, and I, Robot. It is available for various Unix and Linux platforms as well as Windows.

* Maya --(Autodesk) is currently used in the film and television industry. Maya has a high learning curve but has developed over the years into an application platform in and of itself through extendability via its MEL programming language. A common alternative to using the default built in rendering system named mental ray is Pixar's Renderman. In 2005, Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD), acquired Alias--the original creator of Maya[11]. Maya comes in two versions: Maya Complete ($1999 USD) and Maya Unlimited ($4995 USD). There is also Maya Personal Learning Edition, which is for non-commercial use and puts watermarks on any rendered images.

* Modo --(Luxology) is a subdivision modeling, texturing and rendering tool with support for camera motion and morphs / blendshapes. It is priced in the area of 895$ USD and is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

* Silo --(Nevercenter) is a subdivision-surface modeler available for Mac OS X and Windows. Silo does not include a renderer and is priced at $159 USD for the professional version and $99 USD for the core version. Silo is the bundled in modeler for the Electric Image Animation System suite.

* SketchUp Pro --(Google) is a 3D modeling package that features a sketch-based modeling approach. It has a pro version which supports 2-D and 3-D model export functions among other features, which is currently priced at $495 USD. It also has a free version that is integrated with Google Earth and limits export to Google's "3D Warehouse", where users can share their content.

* Softimage|XSI --(Autodesk) is feature-similar to Maya and is sold as a competitive alternative. Prior to its acquisition by Avid, Softimage originally promoted the program (under the name Softimage 3D) for use in the video game industry and secured its promotion as part of the Nintendo N64 SDK[12]. The newer Softimage XSI has additional features and integrates with mental ray rendering.

* solidThinking --(solidThinking Ltd) is a 3D solid/surface modeling and rendering software which features a Construction Tree method of development. This is explained as the history of the model construction process allowes real-time updates when modifications are made to points, curves, parameters or entire objects. solidThinking is available in four versions: MODELER, MODELER XL, DESIGN, and VANTAGE.

* SolidWorks --(SolidWorks Corporation) is a series of packages used mainly for virtual testing of a product. It includes modeling, assembly, drawing, sheetmetal, weldments, and freeform surfacing. It also has support for custom programming/scripting in Visual Basic and C. The licenses/packages are SolidWorks, SolidWorks Office, SolidWorks Office Professional, SolidWorks Office Premium, SolidWorks Student Design Kit, SolidWorks Education Edition, and SolidWorks Student Edition.

* trueSpace --(Caligari Corporation) is another 3D program available for Windows, although the company Caligari first found its start on the Amiga platform. trueSpace features modeling, animation, 3D-painting, and rendering capabilities. TrueSpace is now available for free download.

* Vue 7 --(E-on Software) Vue 7 is a tool for creating, animating and rendering natural 3D environments. It was most recently used to create the background jungle environments in the 2nd and 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean films[13].

* ZBrush (Pixologic) is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5D modeling, texturing and painting tool available for Mac OS X and Windows. It is priced at $595 USD.

_________________________SERVER Info__________________

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dedicated_hosting_service

Well thats about it for now...I'll add more later

JWalsh

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:51 PM

Quote:
Original post by Codeka
This needs to be made sticky!

I try not to stick my own discussion threads. It leads to an inflated sense of self. :)

If another mod feels it's worthy of stickying I'm sure it will be.

Cheers!

Servant of the Lord

Feb 25, 2009 at 5:59 PM

I think this should be put in the wiki, not stickied. This is ideally suited for it.

JWalsh

Feb 25, 2009 at 6:17 PM

Quote:
Original post by Servant of the Lord
I think this should be put in the wiki, not stickied. This is ideally suited for it.

It's wiki-capable, but I put it here as "required reading" for people posting an MMO Help Wanted Ad. I'm afraid it would just collect dust in the Wiki.

Cheers!

rip-off

Feb 25, 2009 at 6:24 PM

IIRC, one of the things Oluseyi was suggesting for the next iteration of the site was wiki integration. I don't know whether that is still happening or what exactly he intended, but the idea of having a sticky link directly to a wiki page has its upsides (although such privileged wiki pages might require heavy moderation).

Megahertz

Feb 25, 2009 at 6:28 PM

I dont really want to make a MMO per se. I know thats too much of an undertaking when you take into consideration all the assets needed to actually make the game.

I however would like to build a framework that would run a persistent ORPG and I've done some work towards that goal.

Hartley

Feb 25, 2009 at 10:23 PM

xD I remember the old MMO days... where I was obsessed with creating an MMO, I didnt even want it to be better than the ones out there, I just wanted to have like 12 people play it with me XD

But yeah, im far passed that, hell I dont even want to start projects anymore, I join other peoples =P

jbadams

Feb 25, 2009 at 11:08 PM

I'm not going to sticky this yet, but will be doing something with it within a few days. Nice work on a detailed post though! [smile]

JWalsh

Feb 26, 2009 at 10:21 AM

Quote:
Original post by jbadams
I'm not going to sticky this yet, but will be doing something with it within a few days. Nice work on a detailed post though! [smile]

No worries. :) It's here for the community's use. I am curious what you'll be doing with it, however.

Cheers!
Jeromy

rip-off

Feb 26, 2009 at 10:28 AM

Quote:
Original post by JWalsh
I am curious what you'll be doing with it, however.

Why, deleting it for not following the mandatory posting template, of course [grin]

HolyGrail

Feb 26, 2009 at 10:51 AM

Gamebryo is mentionned, I have checked on their website but this tool is not particularly targeted for an indie game development use !
It seems that you must have a deal and pay royalties to this company if you want to use their engine.
I would say the same for 3ds Max.

JWalsh

Feb 26, 2009 at 11:52 AM

In an attempt to further educate people wanting to post a MMORPG Help Wanted Ad here on GameDev.net, I've created the following as a sample.

Team Name: Team LGO

Project Name: Level-Grind Online

Brief Description: Level-Grind online is a 3D open-source, "Sword & Sorcery" style MMORPG being developed in combination with the book "Programming an MMORPG in C# with XNA." It has been in development for approximately 6 months, and aims to accommodate many of the same features present in modern MMORPG's. This is being done in an attempt to demonstrate to budding MMO programmers how much of an MMO can be created by implementing a few simple systems, and then finding creative ways of combining them. Among the planned and available features are:

Classes, Special Abilities, Tech Tree, Skills, Races, Combat System, Professions & Crafting, Equipable Items, Inventory, Chat Channels, Trade, Banks, Auction House, Instanced Dungeons, arenas, dueling.

Target Aim: Freeware. Updated client/server binaries will be available for download from the website, along with the C#/XNA source code for both.

Compensation: None. The engine and technology is being released under the Microsoft Permissive License, and while I will get paid for writing the book, the burden of developing the MMORPG is entirely on me. And...I'm broke.

Technology:
Client Platform(s): Windows XP/Vista
Server Platform(s): Windows XP/Vista/Server

Engineering - Client/Server development will be done using Visual C# 2008 Express Edition, in combination with XNA Game Studio 3.0 and the .NET Framework 3.5.

Client Input, Audio, and Graphics: XNA Input, Audio, and Graphics namespaces
Networking: Custom message protocol delivered over UDP via the Lidgren Networking Library.
Database/FileIO: SQL Server 2008 Express Edition
Scripting: Run-Time bound C# using .NET 3.5 CodeDOM & Reflection

Art - All 2D texture and concept art must be created in a combination of Adobe Photoshop CS3/4 and Paint.NET and will be saved as 24bit or 32bit PNG's and then DXT compressed. All 3D Art/Animation will be implemented using Softimage|XSI Mod Tool and exported as .X files. Limits on bone and primitive counts will be applied when performance begins to degrade and it becomes obvious we must scale back. However, as this is an online game with many moving and on-screen objects, we will be staying on the low-end. Most environment art should have no more than 500 polys.

Design - All design documents will be stored online, in an internal Wiki. Changes to the design document will be flagged as minor, moderate, and major (M1, M2, M3). All M2 changes require approval of either the Producer or the Lead Designer, and any M3 changes require approval by all Project Leads. Game data such as item properties, spell descriptions & stats, tech trees, etc... will be stored in an online SQL database, exposed to designers using a custom web application. Before any builds the database will be locked and exported, and the values pulled into XML data to be used by the client & server.

Audio - Sound Engineers are welcome to use any composition tools they like, however all files must be saved as wav files, and then bound to events using XACT.

Talent Needed:
2D Concept Artists (1-2)
3D Environment/2D Texture Artists (2-3)
3D Character Artist/2D Texture Artists (1-2)
Animators (2-)
Music Composer
Sound FX Engineer
Writers (2-3)
World Builders (2-3)

Team Structure:
The Project will be broken up into 3 departments: Engineering, Design, and Media, with each department except for Engineering having approx. 6-8 contributors. Each department will have a Lead, appointed based on experience in project management, and these three Leads will collectively be in charge of the team. Milestone submissions & completion of tasks will be approved by the Department Leads and the Producer (me).

All communication (design discussion, announcements, scheduling, etc..) will happen via our internal forums, and relevant, non-transient information/decisions will be transferred to the internal Wiki.

In the case of personal disputes, mediation will be attempted first by the Project Leads, and then by the Producer. In the event that no resolution can be resolved, one or both of the offending party members will be removed from the team upon finding a replacement.

Current Team Members & Responsibilities:
Jeromy Walsh - Lead Programmer & Producer. Jeromy has been a hobby game programmer for almost 15 years now and an industry professional for almost 8. He's got credits on 4 published titles including games from Vivendi, Atari, and Lucas Arts. In addition to his game programming experience he is currently acting as the President of a software company.

Website: Level-Grind Online

Contacts:
All requests to join the team should be made here on the forums, or by contacting me directly via PM at JWalsh. All applications to participate should include a resume, portfolio/demos, and a statement of your willingness to work for free, and under the Microsoft Permissive License, transferring all assets you provide into the public domain.

Previous Work by Team:

Jeromy Walsh
Lord of The Rings: War of the Ring
Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonshard
Mercenaries
Star Wars Battlefront

Feedback:
ENCOURAGING ONLY

knowledgegranted

Feb 26, 2009 at 6:03 PM

Haha, if they need that much help (refering to the post just above this) They shouldn't be able to develop a game...

jtagge75

Feb 26, 2009 at 6:24 PM

Quote:
Original post by HolyGrail
Gamebryo is mentionned, I have checked on their website but this tool is not particularly targeted for an indie game development use !
It seems that you must have a deal and pay royalties to this company if you want to use their engine.
I would say the same for 3ds Max.

Not all indie teams that post on here are broke. Some teams have money or can get investors so its quite resonable that Gamebryo could be an option for some.

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