I am thinking of starting an mmorpg

[dragonfire999]

like i said, i never played it, saw it one time on Gamesdex...

[XpYtZ]

--WARNING-- The road you are attempting to take is long and arduous. I\'ve been working on one for seven(7) years...*checks the date* make that eight(8) and it\'s still not large enough to make into a real MMORPG. Not that you could not do what all the game studios are doing and bang out a game just for the sake of having one but there are all kinds of things to make sure of if you want to be passionate about it.
I\'d agree with the others that said you should do some writing first. But I\'ll be more specific.
A: write the worlds history
   How was it made?
   Where did the races come from?
   Were they always friends?
   Have there been other wars?
   What is it like today?

B: Write your races
   Who are they as a culture?
   How are they viewed by the other races?
   Who are they as a species/race?

C: Write some adventures
   Three or four short stories and an epic

Why all that? Because when you are done you will notice that, if you really are a writer, the world will have evolved and come to life. Who knows mabey you could be a writer for a living if it all works out well. Or mabey the world will become so vast that you always have another story waiting around the bend. That\'s what happened to my worlds and it can be really fun to be sitting around, day dreaming about something and suddenly realise \"Oh, my God! How\'d that guy do that?\" They become alive and you watch them doing things and simply begin to cronicle that is happening rather than writing it. When that happens you\'ve entered a whole new world and that my friend is what RPGs are all about...Building worlds.

[JellyWerker]

You have been working on a game XpYtZ? For 8 years? Cool! Any data on it? A site, a forum thread?

[John_Thazer]

Originally posted by XpYtZ
A: write the worlds history
   How was it made?
   Where did the races come from?
   Were they always friends?
   Have there been other wars?
   What is it like today?

B: Write your races
   Who are they as a culture?
   How are they viewed by the other races?
   Who are they as a species/race?

C: Write some adventures
   Three or four short stories and an epic

Why all that? Because when you are done you will notice that, if you really are a writer, the world will have evolved and come to life. Who knows mabey you could be a writer for a living if it all works out well. Or mabey the world will become so vast that you always have another story waiting around the bend. That\'s what happened to my worlds and it can be really fun to be sitting around, day dreaming about something and suddenly realise \"Oh, my God! How\'d that guy do that?\" They become alive and you watch them doing things and simply begin to cronicle that is happening rather than writing it. When that happens you\'ve entered a whole new world and that my friend is what RPGs are all about...Building worlds.

How true, I would say background is everything, have a decent story, decent world and not so decent game (in terms of graphics, mostly), and will go good, facinate people, catch them with nets of your imagination, and don\'t hurry yourself. A world of this kind does not get created over night, if you ever get serious about this, you find that the world will change, it will change slowly, and when it will enter the final stage, where main background was set, you will see how different it is from one you originally created. Patience, patience and dedication.

Actually, you can make a fortune writing a book after it, or selling it to a movie producer

Ah, how I enjoy doing that, although it so depends on inspiration, sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night and you get this feeling that you have to write! Then after you fell asleep while writting, you\'ll find it days, weeks, months or even years before you continue. Who knows maybe I\'ll publish it someday...maybe...

[John_Thazer]

Originally posted by John_Thazer

Originally posted by XpYtZ
A: write the worlds history
   How was it made?
   Where did the races come from?
   Were they always friends?
   Have there been other wars?
   What is it like today?

B: Write your races
   Who are they as a culture?
   How are they viewed by the other races?
   Who are they as a species/race?

C: Write some adventures
   Three or four short stories and an epic

Why all that? Because when you are done you will notice that, if you really are a writer, the world will have evolved and come to life. Who knows mabey you could be a writer for a living if it all works out well. Or mabey the world will become so vast that you always have another story waiting around the bend. That\'s what happened to my worlds and it can be really fun to be sitting around, day dreaming about something and suddenly realise \"Oh, my God! How\'d that guy do that?\" They become alive and you watch them doing things and simply begin to cronicle that is happening rather than writing it. When that happens you\'ve entered a whole new world and that my friend is what RPGs are all about...Building worlds.

How true, I would say background is everything, have a decent story, decent world and not so decent game (in terms of graphics, mostly), and will go good, facinate people, catch them with nets of your imagination, and don\'t hurry yourself. A world of this kind does not get created over night, if you ever get serious about this, you find that the world will change, it will change slowly, and when it will enter the final stage, where main background was set, you will see how different it is from one you originally created. Patience, patience and dedication.

The world created by me started with just one character, John, he was not Thazer then just John, then a land grew around him, a continent, a world, the world. This started 13 or 12 years ago, one man it was, now a richly detailed world.

Actually, you can make a fortune writing a book after it, or selling it to a movie producer

Ah, how I enjoy doing that, although it so depends on inspiration, sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night and you get this feeling that you have to write! Then after you fell asleep while writting, you\'ll find it days, weeks, months or even years before you continue. Who knows maybe I\'ll publish it someday...maybe...

[Krayn]

I...I HAVE INSPIRATION!!!! I want a world where players can be free and live as they want.  I know the inspired part of me is like this now prepare my next reply will prolly have a background story.

[Foresteer]

hey dont go on the defensive... i\'m gun\'n for ya

i just want you to know what your getting yourself into thats all... if you want it done your basicaly gonna have to be a \"one man dev\" as there are hundreds of game designers for every one coder :/

like i said study mythology and literature that will give you many unused race ideas right off the bat but whatever happens keep at it

(i\'m trying to help you here but i can only lead you to the water.. i cant make you drink it)

[ramlambmoo]

i just want you to know what your getting yourself into thats all... if you want it done your basicaly gonna have to be a \"one man dev\" as there are hundreds of game designers for every one coder :/

Precisely.... everyone wants to make a game, but only a small number of people like spending a year coding the damn thing...  Coders arnt exactly a dime a dozen, and with so many up and coming well established projects (like PS) that they can contribute to what incentive is there for them to join yours?  My advice to you would be to start learning c++ yourself, so at least you have an idea of what to expect and how it all works, before you expect other people to program it for you.

[Foresteer]

Exactly http://www.gamedev.net/columns/books/bookdetails.asp?productid=379 is very helpful though.. i am breezing through it even though i usualy suck at coding

also the artists or even if you take the low tech route sprite designers are also rather rare :/ the \"idea man\" if a dime a dozen.. but most of them (99.9%) are total crap XD

[ramlambmoo]

http://www.gamedev.net/columns/books/bookdetails.asp?productid=336
Thats one you\'d need, or a similar one for DirectX...
The biggest problem i see to making a game is probablly the 3D-engine / graphics.... that and the networking to get the game online.  If you could get decent coders with good knowledge and experience in those two areas then your laughing.  The code to handle everything else is standard stuff.

[Foresteer]

Yeah i saw that figured it\'d make a good 2nd book.. but i plan to make my own ORPG (nothing massive about it XD) in 2D sprites (once finished i could stay up on frequent updates for it and still learn 3D in the time i\'m not making updates ) plus i mean gotta love that retro feel and its good to already have a 2d game to convert to 3d (things like concept, fanbase, items and even player made lore throughout the playing of the 2d that would make a good \"ancient times\" backdrop are already finished)

[ramlambmoo]

Yeah i saw that figured it\'d make a good 2nd book.. but i plan to make my own ORPG (nothing massive about it XD) in 2D sprites (once finished i could stay up on frequent updates for it and still learn 3D in the time i\'m not making updates  ) plus i mean gotta love that retro feel and its good to already have a 2d game to convert to 3d (things like concept, fanbase, items and even player made lore throughout the playing of the 2d that would make a good \"ancient times\" backdrop are already finished)

Either way, 2D or 3D you still need a graphics libary to make it work, and openGL is a pretty ok one to start out with.  2D would be considerably easier than 3D of course, so maybe you wouldnt need a book- there is a really good openGL tutorial on that site anyway, if you\'re interested...

[Foresteer]

very interested what exactly is openGL anyway? i jsut hope to make my ultimant ORPG with all the fun crafting stuff i have spent years thinking up and will do anything to meet that goal

[ramlambmoo]

openGL is a set of graphic libaries for c++....  Bsaically a set of routines that let you set screen resolution, draw shapes, and set up 3D scenes....  You can just use it to draw 2D, but thats not what most people use it to do.

[John_Thazer]

Originally posted by Krayn
I...I HAVE INSPIRATION!!!! I want a world where players can be free and live as they want.  I know the inspired part of me is like this now prepare my next reply will prolly have a background story.

No one said you don\'t......I\'m totaly for...