Any Tips For A New Comer?

[Alms1407 0]

Has anyone got any tips for me im sort of new in this type of thing but have a passion for gaming. I want to make my own mmorpg and I have a good team behind me but to be honest I dont know were to start so have you got any tips for me?

[smithy500 0]

You know what you need a friend who will do it al cheap. I am going pay my friend ?20 month for the coding mantanience and hosting and domain etc. Of cource he would charge you as little as that however he's open for any business...as for you problem make sure you and your team know exactly what you want.. for text base mmorpgs I'd suggest PHP and Mysql as for others i'm no expert but I'm sure your think of something. I myself have just started learning PHP and mysql so won't be much help there I think you should draw up on paper exactly what you want first before carrying on with anything else!!!

[Liam_CF 0]

What type of mmorg are you talking about? If it is a text based one, I reccomend getting into contact with a few programmers on these forums. I know a few people who run a text based mmorg and you can PM me for contact details.If it is a java one or something like that, then I'm not sure. Also, are you planning on generating profit from this or just doing it for fun?

[DeM0nFiRe 0]

Well, there are several things you have to consider when starting a game. Before you even begin making a game, there are several things you need to know:What platform you will use. (Java, C++, RPG Maker XP etc.)Know the limitations of your platform.Who is your target audience.What is the average skill level of your team. (The game overall will only be as good as what the average of the team is)Is there anyone in the team with experience. (If so, you should always go to them for guidance)Once you have the answers to these questions, some of your other questions will have a bit more obvious answers. After that, I have made a tutorial that I still need to get up here eventually...

[dre 0]

When I hear the words "I don't know where to start" and "mmorpg" then I have only this to say: NO. Want to make a mmorpg that bad? Fine, just make 5 full games before hand, other then that, don't even think about it. There's no way years of experience will suddenly creep into your mind when working on such a huge project. The team will have to progress in experience with you, they can't lag behind. Also, then comes the choice in the programming languages. There's no way a beginner can make games with C++, so you should try and program with lower-level but still very powerful game languages. The top 3 hands down no click-and-drag playskool retard game creation engines/languages would be: BlitzMax, DarkBASIC Professional, and Torque. All of them have their advantages, all of them cost money, but they are the best in their class. They are all fully capable of creating amazing mmorpg games, you just have to be able to unleash the power. Like I said earlier, create at least 5 games before moving on to one of the most complicated game projects possible. Having at least 2 of them include multiplayer would be highly recommended.

Edited December 25, 2007 by dre (see edit history)

[DeM0nFiRe 0]

When I hear the words "I don't know where to start" and "mmorpg" then I have only this to say: NO. Want to make a mmorpg that bad? Fine, just make 5 full games before hand, other then that, don't even think about it. There's no way years of experience will suddenly creep into your mind when working on such a huge project. The team will have to progress in experience with you, they can't lag behind. Also, then comes the choice in the programming languages. There's no way a beginner can make games with C++, so you should try and program with lower-level but still very powerful game languages. The top 3 hands down no click-and-drag playskool retard game creation engines/languages would be: BlitzMax, DarkBASIC Professional, and Torque. All of them have their advantages, all of them cost money, but they are the best in their class. They are all fully capable of creating amazing mmorpg games, you just have to be able to unleash the power. Like I said earlier, create at least 5 games before moving on to one of the most complicated game projects possible. Having at least 2 of them include multiplayer would be highly recommended.

Well, the "Retard engines" that you talk about are actually alot better than you think, and especially good for a beginner. I could show you some people who can program very well, however they have no game making experience at all so they couldn't make a decent game to save their lives. Starting with RPG Maker or Game Maker is probably a good step for a starting game developer. It's a great way to learn how to make games without needing to learn code at the exact same time.

 

In addition, RPG Maker XP is a great platform to start learning Object Oriented Programming. I started on RMXP myself, using RGSS, and now I code my own engines from scratch. All around, if you can get access to RPG Maker or Game Maker for your first game, you want to do that.

 

My last words of wisdom for you (OP) are these: If you want to make an MMO, go for it. Just be aware that you will probably not finish it. Just try to take whatever experience you can from making however much you do make so later on you can come back and make an MMO that's even better than you may be planning right now.

[dre 0]

Well, the "Retard engines" that you talk about are actually alot better than you think, and especially good for a beginner. I could show you some people who can program very well, however they have no game making experience at all so they couldn't make a decent game to save their lives. Starting with RPG Maker or Game Maker is probably a good step for a starting game developer. It's a great way to learn how to make games without needing to learn code at the exact same time.

I'd have to disagree with you there, I think the ones I've mentioned are easy enough. I see little to learn from drag-and-drop.

Just try to take whatever experience you can from making however much you do make so later on you can come back and make an MMO that's even better than you may be planning right now.

Usually that experience amounts to zero. Look around at game creation forums, they're riddled with this kind of stuff, and they get the same exact response from the members there. It's just better to break the illusion and let them realize that making quality games takes work. Edited December 26, 2007 by dre (see edit history)

[DeM0nFiRe 0]

You can learn game design (not creation, just design) from click and create makers. Plus, most of the new ones have Object Oriented scripting languages. I know many people, including myself, who started learning programming from makers like that, and now we're all on to coding our own engines from scratch.As for the experience, the idea is that you learn from your mistakes. Almost everyone's first game is way too ambitious and never gets done. HOWEVER, seeing your project fail is the perfect way to learn just how much effort it takes to make a quality game. Then after you fail miserably the first time, you ssee you'd better start out small. if you never try that huge first project, however, you'll be left wondering what it would have been like. It's best to find out sooner than later.

[dre 0]

As for the experience, the idea is that you learn from your mistakes. Almost everyone's first game is way too ambitious and never gets done. HOWEVER, seeing your project fail is the perfect way to learn just how much effort it takes to make a quality game. Then after you fail miserably the first time, you ssee you'd better start out small. if you never try that huge first project, however, you'll be left wondering what it would have been like. It's best to find out sooner than later.

I believe learning from the mistakes of others is more beneficial than learning from your own. Maybe that's just me, but sure, what you said is true, it's just a two-way path.

[DeM0nFiRe 0]

Yeah, I suppose all in all it's different for every person. I personally was not actively online when I started Game Development, so the same mistakes people go through alot I could not learn from them because I was never exposed to their mistakes. Nevertheless, I started big projects that neer got finished, however I learned some pretty important skills in trying to accomplish an unreachable goal.

[exemption 0]

Well it depends on what type of MMORPG you wanted. If you wanted a Text Based MMORPG you would want to know about php. you can buy pre-made php codes for a mafia game at McCodes. NJow if you want a flash game or something like that you would want to know C++, which you can make almost anything with that programming language.

[DeM0nFiRe 0]

Um actually if you wanted to make a Flash game you would want to know Flash...Over all, however, exemption is correct. There are a lot of questions that you need to ask yourself and your team. I already mentioned some of them earlier, but exemption just added a couple more. What type of game do you want to make? Text Multi-User Dungeons will not require much more than PHP and MySQL. A more intensive game like World of Warcraft (Which I am going to assume the OP is shooting for) is going to require a lot of time, money, and experience so I would recommend you try something else first.

[Sica-GURU 0]

put your beta version online I like testing games...I have also good imagination (I could say game design skills, maybe lots of us have them)... but the most important is to have good programming skills or someone who's good at it.. otherwise there's no game without that, it's just a concept.

[DeM0nFiRe 0]

Actually, the idea that you yourself need to know programming isn't necessarily true. If you have a legitimate idea for a game, all you have to do is design the game in a way that makes it, no only fun to play, but fun to create. A lot of ideas beginning designers have to create this huge mega-game are just way too complicated to be any real fun to make so they can't get the team. If you step back and scale down your project to a reasonable size-- and always stay open to suggestions-- you can get a game made with no programming skills.

[dimumurray 0]

Well, the "Retard engines" that you talk about are actually alot better than you think, and especially good for a beginner. I could show you some people who can program very well, however they have no game making experience at all so they couldn't make a decent game to save their lives. Starting with RPG Maker or Game Maker is probably a good step for a starting game developer. It's a great way to learn how to make games without needing to learn code at the exact same time.

 

In addition, RPG Maker XP is a great platform to start learning Object Oriented Programming. I started on RMXP myself, using RGSS, and now I code my own engines from scratch. All around, if you can get access to RPG Maker or Game Maker for your first game, you want to do that.

 

My last words of wisdom for you (OP) are these: If you want to make an MMO, go for it. Just be aware that you will probably not finish it. Just try to take whatever experience you can from making however much you do make so later on you can come back and make an MMO that's even better than you may be planning right now.

Sage advice DemonFire. In addition you (OP) might want to spend some time pre-planning. A good way to approach any project is to create a set of requirements and specifications. Then you break those down into manageable chunks and milestones. MMOs are huge endeavors practically by default so you'll also want to spend some time researching the different approaches used to develop that kind of game.

 

There are a lot of books out there on game design. One good one I've read is Swords & Circuitry: A Designer's Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games, by Neal and Jana Hartford. It is not a technical book, so it won't show you how to exploit your graphics card's pixel shader routines. What it does do, and does very well I might add, is show you how to build a game-world for an RPG. It takes you through all the components that make up a RPG and breaks them down for you to better understand them. The book also contains several interviews with game designers, case studies and even sample game scripts and design documents so you can get a solid understanding of how Role Playing Games are structured at the design level.

 

If you take one thing away from this, remember to spend enough time on pre-planning. Once you have a clear map of where you want to go, you and more importantly your team will have a tangible goal in mind. A lot of projects end up still-born because they lacked proper planning. And don't be afraid to fail in your first couple of iterations. Failure can give you better insight into the development process so that next time around you will be better armed.

 

Good luck with your efforts.

Edited August 5, 2008 by dimumurray (see edit history)