I'm planning on attempting to create a small 2d online game at some point in the future. (The closest game out there currently to my vision is Puzzle Pirates) I've got an idea in my head, and was wondering what the best way to go about creating it is.

Here's what I need to be able to do:
The game must be playable on PC and mobile devices. (Android, iPhone/Pad) Preferably, it would be both downloadable and playable in browser.
The game will have many areas where player avatars can walk around together.
Players will have houses of their own to decorate with items.

What method do you think would be the most conducive to what I'm trying to make?

EDIT: To clear things up a bit, here's the backbone of what I'm trying to do.

1. Have a few minigames that players can play and get points for.

2. Have player avatars that can be customized with custom items bought with said points.

At its base, think of a much smaller, simplified Neopets.

That is what I want to start out with. However, I want to know what languages I would want to use to build the full game above, because that is what I would like to scale this up to eventually. It may never happen. But that is my goal. I'm not asking for anyone to join me, or any other contributions short of information.

I'm not going to dive straight into this project either, but it's my current dream to make it someday. So I would like to know what I'd need to learn in order to make it so I can set myself on the right path.

I think MMO was a poor choice of words for me. What I plan on making isn't particularly massive at all. Think visual chat rooms with customizable avatars, mixed with some non-multiplayer flash-game-style mini-games, which get the player currency to then use on their avatar or house. I'm not looking to make the next smash-hit mmo, just a large-scale personal project that, if it works, can then be upscaled.

I do not plan on making this alone, either. I have friends who are going into this with me.

While I thank you for your concern, I will not be deterred by responses to this thread. Though I do expect to be thrown off, perhaps entirely, more than once. I also understand that I will not likely see this project come to fruition for potentially years.

I'm planning on attempting to create a small 2d mmo at some point in the future.

There is no such thing as 'small mmo'. The term MMO was created to differentiate incredibly huge online games from traditional online games. Either that, or you are a billionaire who thinks the $50M investment is 'small'.

What you want is an online game. Not an MMO.

(The closest game out there currently to my vision is Puzzle Pirates) I've got an idea in my head, and was wondering what the best way to go about creating it is.
Here's what I need to be able to do:
The game must be playable on PC and mobile devices. (Android, iPhone/Pad) Preferably, it would be both downloadable and playable in browser.
The game will have many areas where player avatars can walk around together.
Players will have houses of their own to decorate with items.
What method do you think would be the most conducive to what I'm trying to make?

There is no one language.

For your client, you probably want to go with LibGDX which supports the platforms you mention (browser, android, iOS). That means Java for the client. Since you want the browser you will also need HTML and probably also JavaScript.

For the server, you might want to go with Java for your main library, or you may choose a different library. Depending on what you are doing, your game server may be something as simple as a bunch of Python or PHP scripts that redirect to a database (using SQL)

You will eventually need build tools and build scripts. Tools can be written in whatever languages make sense, game build scripts for big games are generally a combination of python, perl, and shell script.

And you'll probably want a fancy web page to go with your web game. So count on more HTML, more JavaScript, and possibly RoR or PHP to help you get data from your database to your web page.

So you're looking for at least 5 languages.



What you described is not a beginner's project. It is a moderate commercial venture. What you described would take perhaps two development years at the low end, and will span many disciplines. If you have a few artists and access to several programmers already experienced in game development it could take several months, but that multiplies out to years of development time. (Then there is QA time and bug-fixing time, launching the title, and so on.) It is a rather aggressive --- but still potentially feasible --- goal for a small group of beginners.

To clear things up a bit, here's the backbone of what I'm trying to do.

1. Have a few minigames that players can play and get points for.

2. Have player avatars that can be customized with custom items bought with said points.

At its base, think of a much smaller, simplified Neopets.

That is what I want to start out with. However, I want to know what languages I would want to use to build the full game above, because that is what I would like to scale this up to eventually. It may never happen. But that is my goal. I'm not asking for anyone to join me, or any other contributions short of information.