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Help: Engines

Started by DarkTravesty 8 replies 800+ views
Original Post
DarkTravesty
DarkTravesty
Okay, I'm really tired at the time of this post, so please excuse any stupidity, typos, etc... I am currently in charge of locating the best options as far as a game engine for an indie MMORPG developer. Here is where the problem starts, and I need the advice of anyone that reads this if possible. The following engines are looking like good possibilities: -Torque -Realm Crafter -Multiverse -Video Game Design Pro 2006 The problem is, which one? Currently Multiverse is uncomplete and it is looking like it will not be for quite some time here, but that can;t be said for certain. Realm Crafter would be great, if the graphics were acceptable, and once again there is no telling how long it will be until RC2 is availible. Development could be started in RC and ported to RC2, but I imagine that would not lead to having excellent graphics, and may not evne be worth the effort. Torque has an MMORPG kit out for it, and is a nice engine, but the graphics are mildly dated. VGD2006 is one engine that I know next to nothing about, but somewhere it was reccomended as an MMO engine. Perhaps there are some out there I am missing, but I am looking for free/cheap engines geared towards MMORPGs, or ones that could be easily changed. If I am taking a completely wrong route, please let me know, but I would also ask that you give me some guidance. Any advice as to which route to take is greatly appreciated, thank you. P.S. I will be posting this exact post on other forums to get a variety of responses, just a heads up.
Terradigits
Terradigits
I have no experience with MMO development or even 3d game development, but I will say this. It doesnt matter which engine you pick. The most important thing is that you have a good team behind your game. And you arent going to find the "perfect" MMO engine unless you build one yourself.

Everybody who replys to this will likely tell you a diferent engine, and im going to throw out mine too: Multiverse, since it was actually designed for MMO's.
ArchWizard
ArchWizard
Just out of curiosity: how much game development experience do you have?

Quote:
Original post by Terradigits
Everybody who replys to this will likely tell you a diferent engine, and im going to throw out mine too: Multiverse, since it was actually designed for MMO's.


Most of the people who reply to this will say that making an MMORPG is a nigh-impossible task unless you're a fantastic developer or have a team of very good developers backing you.
"Sir, it is pie." - Mark TwainThe ArchWizard's site.
DarkTravesty
DarkTravesty
Quote:

Most of the people who reply to this will say that making an MMORPG is a nigh-impossible task unless you're a fantastic developer or have a team of very good developers backing you.


Yeah, this is something I am well aware of, and have weighed it accordingly. This is not a "Hey, let's design a game and start developing in a month!" project, it is a project concieved with the understanding that this will be a four plus year endeavor, and we will likely not even start developing for a year until we have a full document.

Anyway, just interested on engine opinions, but I am fairly sold on Multiverse at this point.
jpetrie
jpetrie
Quote:

Yeah, this is something I am well aware of, and have weighed it accordingly. This is not a "Hey, let's design a game and start developing in a month!" project, it is a project concieved with the understanding that this will be a four plus year endeavor, and we will likely not even start developing for a year until we have a full document.


This, in fact, is an indication you don't have what it takes.
You can't spent an entire year doing nothing but developing a "full document." You cannot design completely in isolation (especially for THAT long) and expect that design to be, in any way, actually valid or useful. All the research you do will be out of date. All the tools and middleware you've evaluated will be old and crufty. This is not the correct approach.

You need to strike a fine balance. You should assemble a core team, flesh out the basic requirements, select your middleware, develop a tentative timeline, and go. Don't plan on a four-year project; it will fail. Reduce development time, don't extend it. If you think you need four years, you need to start cutting features and reducing scope. Since you're sold on Multiverse, grab it, get your team together, and get going. Work on prototypes and playing around with the Multiverse tech while you build your initial project planning documents, et cetera (but plan to discard this prototype work). That way you can reduce your ramp-up time. Et cetera.

My personal opinion about MMOs and your likelyhood of success aside, I bring up the above points to illustrate that the common reaction to the statement that MMOs are difficult is to say exactly what you've said -- we're going to take a long time and plan everything before we write a single line of code, et cetera. But this is every bit as bad of a decision as the decision to jump in and code and design as you go.
DarkTravesty
DarkTravesty
We have a partial team together already, by no means complete, but close enough that we could get something done if we wanted to. I am just inclined to take the cautious approach, and have all of "our ducks in a row" before we jump in and start developing, and at the very least would like to spend several months on design.

But, like you believe, this approach may be entirely wrong. Critique is always welcome.
Terradigits
Terradigits
Quote:
Original post by ArchWizard
Just out of curiosity: how much game development experience do you have?

Quote:
Original post by Terradigits
Everybody who replys to this will likely tell you a diferent engine, and im going to throw out mine too: Multiverse, since it was actually designed for MMO's.


Most of the people who reply to this will say that making an MMORPG is a nigh-impossible task unless you're a fantastic developer or have a team of very good developers backing you.


Eh, that too ;). For every person who gives an opinion, it will likely be different. At least thats how its been with posts like these in the past.
DarkTravesty
DarkTravesty
Quote:
Original post by ArchWizard
Just out of curiosity: how much game development experience do you have?

Ah, sorry, missed this question. I have been on one team in the past as a Lead Designer, but resigned after a short time. Other than that my experience is mostly in modding various games.

Jarrod1937
Jarrod1937
Quote:
Original post by DarkTravesty
Quote:
Original post by ArchWizard
Just out of curiosity: how much game development experience do you have?

Ah, sorry, missed this question. I have been on one team in the past as a Lead Designer, but resigned after a short time. Other than that my experience is mostly in modding various games.

i say you don't understand what you're getting yourself into and should start simpler. if you start hard with your first try you're doomed to fail, however if you start simpler and buildup your experience a larger project will be more possible.

-------------------------Only a fool claims himself an expert

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