Building MMORPGs
From DmWiki
Hi, if you're thinking about creating a MMORPG, please read this article, it may save you time and sanity.
Please don't look at this as a big waste of time; its purpose is not to dissuade you from making your RPG, to pull you away from your dream. It is to enable you to create a great project.
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Are MMORPGs for you?
These games are very cool, and have an attraction to us all. So of course, when people decide that they'd like to have a go at making a game, it's a natural choice. However, without having prior experience in making these games it's easy to not realise the entire reality of producing one.
- Building a MMORPG requires good knowledge in all areas of computer science, from graphics engine architecture to distributed server technologies. And other disciplines such as economics and politics. You cannot just pick up a book and learn how to make one of these games.
- Building a MMORPG will require years of your life to get off the ground
- Building a MMORPG will be a lonely adventure for a good while. No team. No artists or other programmers (unless you're lucky)
But that should not demoralize you! If you are though; well experienced in programming and not a slob in art; you can try it. Of course it costs a lot of time, but without reliable friends who help you, it will be very hard to create a MMORPG all by yourself. Find out, how many members a well known company has to create such a game in an even long time.
The market & expectations
The MMORPG market is filled with companies that can throw hundreds of people at the product, have an army of servers and a batallion of customer service dudes and dudettes. You cannot compete at this level. Your MMORPG must aim smaller when beginning (!), and it should bring something different to the table to gain some interest and stand out.
The market itself is still a growing segment with massive profits to those who succeed in it. However the project requires a lot of love before people will pay for it - and many won't, rather just jump from beta to beta.
Costs of success
An MMORPG can initially start with a small userbase but as soon as this grows many unforseen problems can arise. A big one is bandwidth and hosting. A game with a world as large as an MMORPG requires a lot of network traffic, and a dedicated server. Once the project grows out of your basement, it's going to get expensive. The more players, the more servers are needed for the simulation, and if there are any flaws in the scalabilty they will show. Caring for these users is another understated burden. Lost passwords, land disputes, lost property due to bugs, ect all require valuable time to deal with and are very dull jobs. Real online games have entire teams on the telephones alone to keep the players happy.
Money is needed before the players have accounts and are paying for testing and so that when players sign up there is a working system in place. Without serious thought and commitment, this is yet another pitfall.
Bigger is better
At least consider a less intensive project, even as a starter. Even making a well rounded puzzler is many weeks/months of work (depending on complexity, artistic help etc.). Don't be fooled into thinking that a simple game is not cool, or nobody will care - on the contrary. Well done smaller projects have a lot bigger budget for innovation and creativity, and something quick and replayable is a lot more accessible to a wider audience. They are also a great portfolio builder.
The hard fact is that 90% of projects on the internet that start based on ambitious goals rather than objective anaylsis of the magnitude of the project eventually fail. Why not make a project that you will have finished and be proud of, rather than one that has such a high probability of failing?
Other Roads
Another, less intensive way of producing online games is emerging. Companies, seeing the gap are beginning to provide all-inclusive software packages that allow you to make your game, without any programming skill. You will still need to create a colossal ammount of resources to make the game competitive. Such products are listed here. This simplicity comes at a price however, as many games from the same software end up looking the same because so much is left at the defaults. This is what people refer to as 'Cookie Cutter games'. Some experienced programmers look down on the usage of such tools, but it's nothing you can't handle.
Ok, I shall make one. Where to now?
Be sure you are certain and have the drive to build it - without that foundation the project won't be stable.
Make sure you know a good heavy duty language, such as C, C++, C# or Object Pascal - get a good book (see How to get started). Knowing a scripting language is useful, but not as important. Also learn about website building, as it's required in the trade.
You must be confident with a graphics library, such as OpenGL or DirectX, and network programming. Building on top of pre-written code is essential to get to places - look at the engines out there that cater to you.
The first step is not to recruit a team, it is to build enough data to convey your vision and dream. Have an open source client people can play around with. If you show enough will and determination, people may eventually come to work with you because they like the project. Don't rely on other people at the start however. And first things first it can't be stressed enough how important a design doc will be to an effort like this, get your hands on a great design doc creation tool like VGDP 2006 (http://www.thecorpament.com).
Read loads. Many people know much more than I do, and you should definitely hear what they have to say.
Building a MMORPG (http://www.devmaster.net/articles/building-mmorpg/)
Multiplayer Mobile Game Development (http://www.devmaster.net/wiki/Multiplayer_Mobile_Games)
A postmortem of Eternal Lands (multi-part) (http://www.devmaster.net/articles/mmorpg-postmortem/part1.php)
How to build a MMOG, from Adam Martin (http://www.stratics.com/content/articles/mmoguide.php)
(Rant) So you want to make your own MMORPG.. (http://www.iki.fi/sol/mmorpg.html)
And have fun. Because if your heart is not in the project, it may not be the one for you - and your drive for it may wane.
