MMORPG Creation Packages

From DmWiki

MMORPGs have gained considerable popularity, and because of this many companies have brought out products to simplify their creation - especially for non-programmers. MMORPG engines come in a variety of flavors, from quick throw-together engines to powerful engines made over years of extensive work, from free to costing over $500,000 USD, and from closed source with strict limitations to open-source with minimal licenses.

vbGORE (http://www.vbgore.com) vbGORE is a free, "2d via 3d" open source MMORPG engine designed in Visual Basic 6. It takes advantage of 3d textures drawn in the manner of a 2d game to allow that comfortable 2d feel with all the advantages of 3d effects from particle engines and lighting to alpha blending and scaling/rotating. The engine is aimed towards the dedicated indy developers. It offers a fast, secure server aimed mostly towards lowest RAM and bandwidth usage possible without affecting performance so you don't need a high-end server to run it. It requires that you are willing to spend a lot of time learning the engine and have at least half a years worth of programming experience.

XtremeWorlds (http://www.xtremeworlds.com) XtremeWorlds (XW) is a free, simple to use, powerful 2D MMORPG Engine/Maker. It combines an SNES like graphic system with the creativity of many to create unique worlds in which a player may interact with many others. With XW you can create an unparalleled MMORPG with no coding in just minutes. If you find that the engine does not seem to have everything you need, you can code it in with our versatile scripting system. Unlike other engines, XW is updated regularly, so any bugs that are found are fixed immediately.

RealFeel (http://www.dualsolace.com/) The RealFeel engine is a powerful, 2D MMORPG engine. No programming skills are required, however it boasts a robust scripting engine for those that can utilize it. Outfitted with a mini-binary packet system, RF Does not require a high-end PC and Is compatible with Windows XP/Vista. The Engine is updated regularly from a list of community-driven suggestions. RF is a great place to start for the single game developer to get his feet wet into the gaming industry.

Visual3D Architect .NET (http://visual3d.net) Complete solution for game development with .NET 2.0 and Managed DirectX 9. It provides a runtime framework for out-of-box game structure and systems and a integrated visual design environment for distributed runtime (in-game) world design, visual scripting, and visual behavior design. It enables development and scripting using any mainstream programming language such as C#, C++.NET, Visual Basic .NET, JScript.NET (JavaScript), J# (Java), and IronPython and supports Axiom, the C# rewrite of OGRE. This solution is still in early stages of development and is not yet publicly available.

Video Game Design Pro 2006 (http://www.thecorpament.com) Probably one of the best products for this type of thing, especially if your not used to intense programming or artwork. This software helps you focus on what your gameplay and story will be like. It covers pretty much everything from controllers to npc's and for novices especially it has alot of tools that will make the design process easier. It even has a scripting toolbar for your in-game dialogue and cut scenes, also a bunch of wizards to help you get the repetitive stuff out of the way. Hands down its the best project management and design solution for game development on the market today. *Note* this is nothing more then a program to manage your ideas. Not a MMORPG Creation Package as this article suggests.

BigWorldTech (http://www.bigworldtech.com/) BigWorldTech is not really for newbie, although a rich newbie could probably use it. Its main asset is its server system, which allows for seamless world, realtime world editing and 100% server uptime. It has a DirectX 9.0 engine that is kinda nice, though it is said that one can combine the server technology and editors with any other engine. BigWorldTech is best for people who have money and a development team and want to make a stable and powerful MMORPG.

Kaneva (http://www.kaneva.com/) This is the newest player on the proverbial block. The Kaneva Game Platform (KGP) is a full game engine with editor and basic framework. KGP is free to use for local development and hosting. In addition, production hosting and billing issues can be handled by Kaneva, charging up to 50% of the total earnings. Kaneva features no RPG specific elements thus far.

Multiverse (http://www.multiverse.net/) Multiverse is a new MMORPG engine, complete with a set of user-friendly tools to create and modify the game world. With a built-in implementation of SpeedTree and a DirectX 9 rendering engine, Multiverse has much of the power of recent MMORPGs. The tools are in open alpha testing although not enough of the application is released to actually create an MMORPG. The alpha version of the tools come with some sample content. *Note* without enough funding to afford the one time license fee, the game client is a generic client that can connect to ANY Multiverse game, similar to a MOD. Status: Beta, as of 07-10-2007

Realm Crafter (http://www.realmcrafter.com/) For $100 a person can purchase RealmCrafter, a Blitz based MMORPG engine. This engine is meant to be easy for ANYONE to make an MMORPG, with the company even selling 3D models. The graphics engine is poor and dated, being DirectX 7.0. Realm Crafter 2 is in production and will support DirectX 9. Realm Crafter 2 will be backwards compatible so that games designed with Realm Crafter can be imported to RC2. Realm Crafter is best for the absolute newbie as it has a basic MMORPG framework that comes with it and extensive documentation made for newbies. Status: Beta (RC1), Alpha (RC2), as of 07-10-2007.

BYOND (http://games.byond.com/start/dm.html) BYOND is a free game creation and publishing system. It is based around 2D worlds, and can create just about any type of game. It has an active userbase and seems quite popular. Games are created in BYOND through BYOND's scripting language and are completely limited to what the engine has to offer. It is favored by its very easy and basic system, allowing those who have never programmed before to make a game within weeks. Don't get your hopes up on anything "massive" with this, though.

MMO Enhancement Kit for TGE (http://www.mydreamrpg.com) The MMO Enhancement Kit utilizes the Torque Game Engine to create the most professional looking games available anywhere. The networking optimization brings your online game to life with the speed you would only expect out of a game engine costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. The quest and skills system work with a simple easy to understand sql syntax. The learning curve is small and their technical support team is online 24-7 with Live Help and a dedicated IRC server. Their technical manuals and tutorials are constantly updated and available to all MMO Enhancement Kit owners. *Note* This kit is no longer offered.

Torque MMO Kit (http://www.mmoworkshop.com) This kit features the power behind Minions of Mirth, the stability of Torque, and the most tedious art pipeline available. The development is extremely slow, but the community is great. You CAN make an MMORPG with this engine, providing you have a .DTS model exporter and plenty of free time to learn the Torque art pipeline. The largest downfalls of this engine revolve around some not-so-efficient systems of handling UI interaction. You can visit http://www.minionsofmirth.com to test the engine and see if this will work for you. The Torque MMO Kit is under active development within the non profit project "TalentRaspel open development" driven by the company TalentRaspel (http://www.talentraspel.com). The kit has been migrated to the actual version of MoM and uses TGE 1.3.5 at the moment and can be considered stable and production ready. The C++ engine core is not code open but everything else written in python is. The migration to TGE 1.5.2 is beeing worked on and that will also open up the C++ engine core to owners of the TGE and AFX licenses. There is a Demo Game available that can be tried out within the kit or played live on a demonstration server.

See also

Multiplayer Mobile Game Development (http://www.devmaster.net/wiki/Multiplayer_Mobile_Games)