Where to start? MMORPG

Is today national 'Make your own MMORPG' day or something?

You'll need at least one (preferably more) good (preferably excellent) programmer(s). You'll also need to produce a lot of resources (art, sfx, etc). Due to the high volume of questions such as this, a few threads have been created to help answer the common questions, I suggest reading all the linked resources:
- Game Development Isn't Easy (there are some MMO specific articles there, and check further down from the Original Post, it doesn't contain all the links in the thread yet).
- Interview with Radu Privantu (creator of Eternal Lands).

My suggestion is to visit those threads, read the articles provided, and then post again with any specific questions or queries you may still have.

Good luck.

I've never done or was involved developing an MMORPG.

But I believe MMORPG as any other complex program it should start from creating detail specification - Design Document.

Once you have Design Document for your MMORPG you should ask here how to implement a particular part of it.

This way, IMHO, you will have a chance to succeed.

Thank you very much, Kazgoroth and zenit2n. You are both a great help.

Does anyone have any program and language recommendations?

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Original post by zenit2n I've never done or was involved developing an MMORPG. But I believe MMORPG as any other complex program it should start from creating detail specification - Design Document. Once you have Design Document for your MMORPG you should ask here how to implement a particular part of it. This way, IMHO, you will have a chance to succeed.

True. Especially due to the massive nature of such a project, good design documentation is often even more important than with other types of projects. GDNet maintains a category of articles on the topic of Design Documents here.

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Original post by SolarFX Thank you very much, Kazgoroth and zenit2n. You are both a great help. Does anyone have any program and language recommendations?

C++ is pretty much an industry standard for languages, but there are other viable options.

What do you mean by program? As in programs for creation of resources (art, SFX, etc)? If so, it depends on if you want to work with free programs (there are some high quality ones available), or spend some cash. Check this thread for a list of audio software, and this thread for a list a graphics software. I'll leave it up to you to do some research on the listed software packages in each of those threads, but feel free to ask additional questions about them if need be.

Errrr... Have you ever considered that you may be in over your head here?
I've seen a lot of beginner posts (I'm a beginner myself... hehehe) that feature people wanting to make MMORPGs or 3D shooters or whatever, but they were all way over their head, the learning took too long, and they eventually abondoned the project and their dream never got made.

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Original post by smart_idiot Is today national 'Make your own MMORPG' day or something?

I think it's national 'Make your own MMORPG' year! I think MMORPGs are the next 3D shooters for beginners. :)

[EDIT] By the way, if you're looking for language tools, I recommend either Visual C++ (industry standard) or Dev C++ (free yet very powerful). I recommend SDL if you're going with Dev C++ (very easy to learn) and DirectX/OpenGL with Visual C++ (very powerful). Also, try out freeBasic. You can get some pretty good stuff working with that, even though its only on version 0.12b!

Hey, I have an idea: Don't make a MMORPG.

Take whatever stuff you have as concept art and graphics, and write a nice simple 1-player game. Nice and simple. Make it modular, and just add components later.

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Original post by Oberon_Command Errrr... Have you ever considered that you may be in over your head here? *snip*

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Original post by Programmer One Hey, I have an idea: Don't make a MMORPG. *snip*

They raise a good point, and if you're reading those articles I linked to, you'll see that everyone agrees - an MMORPG is an incredibly complex project, and although it is entirely possible to succeed if you put in the time and effort, the chances are low that you'll complete anything attempting this as your first project. Most people who attempt it have at least a few years experience first.

Whoa! I'm not going into this as being my first project. I've done my research, I know this is one of the hardest projects. I'm not looking to start tomorrow.

I've got 5 years to produce an MMORPG thats at least a semi-hit. I'm going to start with smaller projects first, don't get me wrong. But I just need a bit of guidance on where to start learning to... well, make games. :D So far you all have been really helpful! Thanks!

That brings me with another question though, what exactly should I start with, and then build up to to get to an MMORPG?

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Original post by Kazgoroth Quote: Original post by Oberon_Command Errrr... Have you ever considered that you may be in over your head here? *snip* Quote: Original post by Programmer One Hey, I have an idea: Don't make a MMORPG. *snip* They raise a good point, and if you're reading those articles I linked to, you'll see that everyone agrees - an MMORPG is an incredibly complex project, and although it is entirely possible to succeed if you put in the time and effort, the chances are low that you'll complete anything attempting this as your first project. Most people who attempt it have at least a few years experience first.

Timmy agrees.

I recommend making a Tic Tac Toe game using the console. With that knowledge, you could then make a very nice text-based RPG. To get some ideas stirring, you could have it load all content from XML files so that you could expand the game while you're playing it. MSPRPG!

MMORPGs are quite possibly the most difficult kind of game to make. And that's just to build them. People who have been there and done that will tell you how many hundreds of manhours they waste on an ineffectual, moronic and angry customer base, often for absolutely no reward.

...

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Original post by SolarFX Whoa! I'm not going into this as being my first project. I've done my research, I know this is one of the hardest projects. I'm not looking to start tomorrow. I've got 5 years to produce an MMORPG thats at least a semi-hit. I'm going to start with smaller projects first, don't get me wrong. But I just need a bit of guidance on where to start learning to... well, make games. :D So far you all have been really helpful! Thanks! That brings me with another question though, what exactly should I start with, and then build up to to get to an MMORPG?

;)
... ravuya? What a small web! I see your all over the game development world! Hehe.

Ah, that's alright then.

First of all, there's some excellent information to be found here and here on getting started in game development (the focus is on the programming side of things). They have links to some good tutorials, and compilers, etc that you can use.

Now, you'll firstly need to learn your language of choice. For now, I'll just assume C/C++, but the advice translates to most languages as well. To begin with, you need to learn the basics of your chosen language. This unfortunately entails writing a few console mode (ie. text) programs, such as the infamous hello world, and some simple games such as guess the number, hangman, tic-tac-toe, etc - basically a couple of simple things you can represent as text to learn the fundamentals.

From there, you learn basic graphics, using an API such as DirectX, OpenGL or SDL. You should start off with some very simple 2D games - Pong, Breakout, and Snake are common suggestions. These are fairly simple, and don't involve too much code, but contain many similarities to full sized games. After that, you begin learning 3D (unless you want to make a 2D MMORPG of course). At this point, you'll probably want to also do a larger project. Doing a single player RPG is an excellent option at this point - it's still a very complex project, but has a lot of the problems inherrent to the MMO genre removed, while still including a LOT of the features.

By that stage, you'll probably be ready to attempt your MMORPG project. [smile] Along the way, it may be helpful to get one or more books to assist you in learning, as many people find that these include information that may be hard to find in online tutorials, or may explain things a little clearer.

Again, feel free to ask any additional questions.

Astonished! Extremely helpful. I shall ask questions in the future, but I have to jet right now. Server problems. Gah!

I am really grateful for your help, I've been all over the web looking for a start and only gotten replies here and one other place. Thanks. :D

Don't forget the gamedev Multiplayer and Networking FAQ

Particularly item 0:

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The best place to start is here

Maybe MUD game programming is worth a look. It has the MMORGP concepts... without time-consuming creation of the bells-and-whistles. If the game play is solid then adding graphics on top as a next version will only be a bonus.

Good luck

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Original post by possom Maybe MUD game programming is worth a look. It has the MMORGP concepts... without time-consuming creation of the bells-and-whistles. If the game play is solid then adding graphics on top as a next version will only be a bonus. Good luck

This had completely slipped my mind, but since possum posted it, I'll second it as another excellent potential option. This type of game IS basically an MMORPG, but without graphics.

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Original post by Kazgoroth Quote: Original post by possom Maybe MUD game programming is worth a look. It has the MMORGP concepts... without time-consuming creation of the bells-and-whistles. If the game play is solid then adding graphics on top as a next version will only be a bonus. Good luck This had completely slipped my mind, but since possum posted it, I'll second it as another excellent potential option. This type of game IS basically an MMORPG, but without graphics.

thirded