I don't think you have to work through that entire list, in fact, I think you can get started working on your big-project now. Just realize that what you're going to code at this point probably isn't going to make it into your finished product. I think it's easier to get burnt out on programming when you're making all these games you don't want to make (you have your own idea, right?), so I'd suggest jumping right in to the most simple aspects of your game.

Start with something like tile-based maps and player movement (you can start with text-based maps and such). Integrate a way to easily design cool maps (maybe something that loads from a text-file). Add the ability to move between maps. Convert it from using text graphics to sprites. You get the idea? Whenever you get stuck on an idea, go work on something quick that will help you figure it out.

In line with what others have said, try to avoid copying code from the internet or books unless you know what it's doing and why, and don't be afraid to brute-force something (your code doesn't need to be pretty yet), you can come back and re-factor it when you have a little more experience.

I think NoAdmiral was suggesting not using graphics but text like on the command line. "ASCII graphics" would be a common search term. That way you don't need to learn graphics programming on top of everything else. It was just an alternative suggestion to get closer to your end goal of MMORPG by skipping some steps that you might find more boring.

hi again guys, one last question! i noticed these games i want to try remake eventually give you the option to switch graphics engine.. between directX5, directX9 and OpenGL (i have better FPS in directX9 of course). now if i make my game using java will i be able to give my players the option to switch between these graphics engines? as far as i know you can only use openGL commands through LWJGL with java and not directX..

Unless you're running on Intels integrated hardware(Which has fairly crappy drivers for OpenGL on Windows) you will get better performance with properly written modern OpenGL than with Direct3D9 (D3D9 and below has a fairly high per batch overhead (a problem that was fixed with D3D10)). For the later versions of both APIs on nvidia hardware the differences are negligable, on AMD hardware the difference tends to be bigger but unless you are making Crysis 5 it will not matter.

If you get significantly better performance with a D3D9 render than an OpenGL renderer it is either an old OpenGL version (OpenGL 1.0 is very slow compared to D3D9) or the API is not used properly.

LWJGL does not support DX and while you can call DX functions through the native interface with Java i wouldn't recommend it. (it is a pain to use and one of Javas main strengths is that it runs on all major desktop platforms, a Java game using DX will only run on Windows)

i would like to bump this and ask another question well now i am back in college and have gone over all of javas advanced language features including JDBC. now the only thing i am lacking in is the networking side of things.. sockets etc.. could anyone tell me how i would go about getting to know the networking side of java rpg game making? tutorials etc

also i am getting confused when it comes down to how i should lay my classes out.. would anyone have a link to any class diagrams that the above games would use(java orthogonal tilebased rpg game)?

cheers

Google "java socket tutorial" and you should find lots of stuff. Also, write some simple, standalone network programs, like a basic echo server (which simply echoes back whatever is sent to it) and make it handle multiple connections properly, that kind of thing.

As for how to design games, different people have different approaches which work equally well for them. Some like to just go in there and code the whole thing up directly, others enjoy prototyping different designs, while some others use UML diagrams to lay out their game architecture. Yet others use pencil and paper to work out their design. The only way you're going to find out which approach you prefer is to try them out. Your first game will suck. Your second one will suck too, but a bit less. And so on... And as you make more and more games, you'll naturally pick the design method that you find most productive for you. It's all about experience.