About a "simple 2D overhead RPG" I believe it was. Mine''s going on somewhare around 15-18 months right now, I''ve done all the development myself to this point, code, design, art, etc. and just recently brought in another guy, although he hasn''t contributed any code yet. Main slowing factor here is that its a DOS game that doesn''t even use a DOS extender. It''s very dificult to keep the game in the 640 KB DOS can access directly. Then again FF3 got squeezed onto the SNES, so I can deal. FF3 is a good example of the quality of the finished engine. and BTW the engine is about 75 or 80 percent. Hope that''s what you meant, although I went on a bit of a tangent

Ravyne
Owner/Lead Programmer & Designer
NYN Interactive Entertainment
HTTP://www.NYNInteractive.cjb.net

About a "simple 2D overhead RPG" I believe it was. Mine''s going on somewhare around 15-18 months right now, I''ve done all the development myself to this point, code, design, art, etc. and just recently brought in another guy, although he hasn''t contributed any code yet. Main slowing factor here is that its a DOS game that doesn''t even use a DOS extender. It''s very dificult to keep the game in the 640 KB DOS can access directly. Then again FF3 got squeezed onto the SNES, so I can deal. FF3 is a good example of the quality of the finished engine. and BTW the engine is about 75 or 80 percent. Hope that''s what you meant, although I went on a bit of a tangent

Ravyne
Owner/Lead Programmer & Designer
NYN Interactive Entertainment
HTTP://www.NYNInteractive.cjb.net

The MMOminiRPG Gang Wars took 10 days for me to code. That includes the account creation program, really crappy graphics, ect. The server took about a day or two to code though it was tweaked throughout the process as messages were added. The more time you spend designing your game and planning what messages will need to be passed, the less time you''ll spend on the server. Most of the time spent on the client was getting the graphics displaying correctly.

Tombstone is taking much much longer. Although the engine itself and all the tools are pretty much done, there''s no real content.

I''m also working on another on-line game based on a CCG game which will probably take around 6 months to complete. The engine is generic enough to handle about any CCG game.

It''s really just a matter of what you''re doing and how experienced you are. Working on Tombstone gave me the background to design and code a small MMORPG in 10 days from scratch.

If you want to learn how to make an online game, I suggest picking something simple like Monopoly. If you''ve never done an RPG before, making one on-line isn''t really the place to start. Most of the time you spend on the project will be learning how to balance the stats. The more stats you have, the harder it will be. I think GangWars has around 10. Putting any game on-line is just a matter of changing the client from passing variables from functions to passing variables from the same function but now located in the server.

Ben

[The Rabbit Hole | The Labyrinth | Programming | Gang Wars | The Wall]

RPG''s are one of the most difficult genres to make a good game in. Making it Multi-Player is just more difficulty on top of it. Yes, it would be possible to hack together something in a few days or months - but most likely, it would not be worth playing.

The engines in these games are not that hard to build. The hard part is content. Just think about how much work goes into creating all the dialog for the NPC''s. Building quests and special items. Balancing items and magic and combt. There is just so MUCH to do, that it becomes a daunting task.

Oh well,
Landsknecht

Multiplayer network programming fascinates me. Since the beginning of last summer I have been researching the topic at great length. When I started I was familiar with the various network protocols but did not know how to implement anything with either direct play or winsock. I read every article on gamasutra.com about networking and most of the articles here and at flipcode. I joined various networked game related mailing lists and bought a number of books on the subject.

I implemented various versions and various architectures using VB, C, DPlay and winsock. About a month ago I had a four player net pong game running as a proto type. Using Winsock (UDP) and C++ in a client server model. The final version implements a very similar system to the one described in last months Game Developer Magazine ("Distributed object state in networked games") I had actually come up with something very similar on my own, but ended up pirating some of their ideas because it was such a clean implementation .

So after 1 year of research and development I finally have a networking layer for a UDP based client server architecture. I have no idea how well it scales at this point. I''d be happy if it supported around 64 players. Now, admittedly I was just working on the project, by myself in my spare time. Sometimes a week or two would go by without me writing anything down, but I was always thinking about it.

I think my experience is fairly representative, because I think most people here, starting out with Multiplayer game development are in the same boat. ( little to no experience )

It took you a YEAR to learn tcp/ip? It took me only a days (spread out.. but still just days) I first just downloaded some source, and started using it. Then started another project, and actually took it into my own hands. And my last project, which I abandoned about a month ago, taught me that I needed to separate the packets.

Anyways, right now I think creating the 3D framework is pretty difficult. But I have just about no doubt in my mind that graphics, and gameplay are gonna end up taking the most time.

Also, if anyone is interested in working on a game with me, please email me at robertgrzesik@hotmail.com I''m still learning DirectX 8, but I''m sure I''ll know my share within about a month. (less if I can get my hands on an actual DX8 book, rather than relying on the net, and the SDK docs)