So currently I am working on a 2d tiled game for personal experience which I have coded entirely by myself (and looking for someone to help with art). When I think of a 2d mmo that is tile based, I lump them together in a group I call "player world" games. Games made by programs developed to allow non-programmers to create crappy mmos with little effort and creativity. I refuse to play such games as they feel fabricated to me. Now when I work on my game, I put a lot of work and creativity in the back end of it. I care a lot about how the game will end up and how the player will interact with the game. My long term goals are to have many instance dungeons with scripted boss fights, which will take teamwork between 2-3 players (maybe more?) to accomplish. Bosses that would (ideally) seem as intelligent as a good player, but not impossible to beat. I want to eliminate the 'grinding' aspect and make each encounter fun and unique. Bosses would drop random loot, and encourage players to replay encounters maybe 2 or 3 times, but not to a point that it gets annoying. I know there isn't a lot of detail in the specifics, but what do you think of the idea? Any feedback is helpful, even if you don't like it.

Good games will always attract a crowd, I'd have no problems playing a 2d tiled game (still playing some old ones at times ;) ). If the product's polished enough and provide enough to do (probably through re-playability, as in most mmo's) then there's a good chance peeps will play it. Maybe not as many as WoW though ;)

By 2D, do you mean games like the old Zelda games, the first Alundra, Final Fantasies 1-6, etc. etc.? Because creating an MMO in that style would be pretty cool in my opinion. It somehow diminishes that whole "large and bland" feeling I get when playing MMO's like FFXI and WOW. At least, I think it would diminish that feeling.

I think the most important thing is that there's a reason you want to defeat the boss other than just getting the loot. Perhaps defeating that boss under certain conditions will unlock something you couldn't access previously? Such as a secret item, or a hidden scene; you get the idea.

Thank you for your comments.

The game obviously needs more detail. I do plan to have the game more polished (I think that involves a good interface, and good artists).

Also, I wish (which may be asking a lot) to have the game feel very large. In that, the world is absolutely huge. Having instances all over. Obviously, if you run off to a random place, you wont have the equipment or skills, and will die.

I want the instances to follow story lines, with no main plot line. (I think plots kill games, once you finish the story, whats left?). But with many many smaller story lines. This means that to get into the harder areas, maybe you need a key from a boss in an earlier dungeon. With some abstract and maybe slightly random chaining of instances. This way you always have at least a few different places to go to (the more the better) with different styles and settings.

Also, I want players to be able to go back and replay earlier dungeons at harder difficulties.

One thing I am worried about is that I do not want items to be bound (if possible), yet I do not want people to be able to 'power level' their other chars by giving them nice equips or money. This will take me some thought in balancing.

Also, if anyone knows any good tile/sprite artists, I could use one. =D

*edit*
By 2d I mean similar to old school Zelda games, with better graphics and gameplay.

I finished my card game two days ago, a game I've been working on for roughly a month. I have it ready to be beta-tested except no software to test it on and I can't be bothered to print the cards. But anyway, my card game has a certain card type called "Instance", and Instance is really a synonym for "Event". It's like an "Event Card".

Your game, could very well have both normal dungeons, but the majority of those dungeons will be Event Dungeons, and each dungeon tells its own story. Some dungeons may have a connection to each other, but ultimately, they're stand-alones.

You could have it like the .hack games, where you randomize a field with a dungeon.

Random ideas. I think you're on to something here, I really do. Good luck!

*edit*
By 2d I mean similar to old school Zelda games, with better graphics and gameplay.


In that case, this doesn't really apply to you, but there are heaps of games out there that follow a 2d side on view (like Mario), and are still MMO's (check out MapleStory).

Also, if anyone knows any good tile/sprite artists, I could use one. =D

There's a free resource thread somewhere on these forums (as a sticky), have a look around.



I like the sound of the game, and look forward to playing it.

Well I must say, at this point I am still programming the tile editor (it works, but needs more features and optimization) and the basic game engine. Its going to be a large step to make the server/client work with the game, but it shouldn't be impossible. When I first get the game up, its going to be old boring grinding with no point (because its much easier to start there). Once I get a good server/client going with multiple maps/items/skills all working, I will focus on adding instances, and a scripting ability for the bosses (which I haven't even started to design, but have a few brief ideas).

So what I am saying is... don't expect anything today. =D
I started this with the means to learn, and maybe add something to a resume. But the more I get into it, the more excited I get, so this project will definitely push forward. Just give me time.

As soon as we get a chance there will be a website up. =D

I have sprites to get my engine running... but I do not think they are legal to use as they were ripped from another game.

You can try to game engine demo:
http://staff.washington.edu/anth420

Its in java, so you need java installed.

[Edited by - Anth420 on December 2, 2007 10:15:39 PM]