Lead technical designer for 2D MMO wanted

For anyone looking into this project, sunandshadow is very dedicated and has some great ideas. Hope all goes well.

Good luck w/ your project! :)

Thanks for the good word. [smile]

To anyone interested in this project and wanting to discuss it in realtime, I will be logged in to AIM and MSN most of the day today, so please PM me your AIM or MSN name so we can chat. [smile] My AIM name is sunandshadow1, sorry but I can't publicly post my MSN name because it's also my email address.

I have experience programming 2D games, including MMOs

Contact me on msn (gerunbaum@hotmail.com)

*still looking*

Heh, I doubt I would be terribly interested, but may I ask you what language you plan on having this written in?

All languages/engines/dev kits/libraries/etc. will be up to the lead technical designer. But it will have to be something that can do what I want to do:
- realtime arcade-style combat in one minigame
- a square-tile-based isometric farming sim in another minigame
- character avatars which are custom sprites automatically created by flattening several transparent layers of clothing onto a character base
- a messageboard/PM system
- adventure-game style puzzles
- etc.

So presumably we will want a database to store all the players' data especially the game's market, and since the game will be ad-supported making it browser-based with the realtime minigames in flash would be one possibility... well, since the most programming I would be doing would be a little scripting, I really don't care what the game is made with as long as it works.

Quote:

Original post by sunandshadow ... well, since the most programming I would be doing would be a little scripting, I really don't care what the game is made with as long as it works.

My partner says "do the magic" when referring to programming.

Any interest, contact me at spikesofchrist@gmail.com

[Edited by - Spikes on May 21, 2007 7:57:56 PM]

It wouldn't necessarily have to be browser-based, that's just the most obvious option. The alternative would be to have a client which could display advertising the same way a web browser could.

*eyes your email address* I don't usually work with christians, because since I am an atheist, a writer of erotica, and pro gay rights, christians usually aren't best pleased with my stories. For example Becoming would permit marriage between 2 avatars of the same gender and sexual roleplay would be permitted in age-verified areas. but if you'd be cool with all that let me know and we can have an IM session to discuss details.

Quote:

Original post by ID Merlin Quote: Original post by sunandshadow ... well, since the most programming I would be doing would be a little scripting, I really don't care what the game is made with as long as it works. My partner says "do the magic" when referring to programming.

Yep, lol, exactly, I need a partner who can do the magic.

Quote:

Original post by sunandshadow It wouldn't necessarily have to be browser-based, that's just the most obvious option. The alternative would be to have a client which could display advertising the same way a web browser could. *eyes your email address* I don't usually work with christians, because since I am an atheist, a writer of erotica, and pro gay rights, christians usually aren't best pleased with my stories. For example Becoming would permit marriage between 2 avatars of the same gender and sexual roleplay would be permitted in age-verified areas. but if you'd be cool with all that let me know and we can have an IM session to discuss details.

haha, nah dude. I am Christian but I don't go to church (im not at all religious), it's my old school counter-strike gaming name that just kinda stuck with me.

No need to worry about that

Awesome. [smile] ok IPMed you my IM contact info, I hope you have rither AIM or MSN? If not, PM me here or email me at my MSN name.

Ok, still looking for a lead programmer, but now have some people interested in being staff programmers.

*bumpitty* I'm so bored waiting to fin a co-designer so I can get started on this...

Hey well I'm not much of a programer, but I come up with ideas like no other, I do have a Game engine it is being re engineered by my, it's built in VB6.0 I'm still learning so it's not much, but it's still somthing, I'm willing to lend a hand in all that I can do.

hit me back if your interessted.

Features list:

Avatars are 2D anime-style high-res or vector sprites which come in different genders, skin colors, and body builds. (the game has a standard color range that all items come in.)

Hair styles, eyes, (facial expressions?) animal ears wings and tails, articles of clothing, and weapons and other accessories can be added to the avatar base to customize it. The game automatically sandwiched the layers together to create custom sprites.

For the player to control the equipage, there must be a screen where the inventory of equippable items is available and the player can control which are on the avatar and what order the layers are in. Possibly the player should be able to save “outfits”. Possibly skin, eyes, hair, and tattoos should only be alterable at special shops.

Naturally the game must know what is in the player's inventory and which of these items are equippable.

The game does not have predetermined classes. Instead descriptive titles are awarded according to the abilities developed/discovered, gameplay style, and gameplay accomplishments of that avatar. The same applies to occupations – all types of crafting are available to all avatars, and titles are awarded according to which the player spends time doing and what goals the player accomplishes. Rather than locking characters into one or two types of gameplay we want every player to be free to explore every type of gameplay.

The game does not have exp or character levels. Instead the story portion of the game has a series of physical levels and the combat portion of the game has high scores/fame, equipment which can be crafted, and new spells/abilities abilities which can be earned. Rather than becoming more powerful, players would acquire a wider and wider 'vocabulary' of techniques they could equip (the avatar has a limited number of ability slots), some of which would make particularly good combos (tricking). Combat would be balanced like Magic the Gathering, where most setups would be strong against one type of opponent set-up but weak against other types of opponent set-ups. Altogether, this should be excellent for PvP play because all characters will be able to fight on a roughly equal footing and it is easy to experiment with different character builds and equips.

The main game world is an isometric area where the player interacts with NPCs. This is definitely not a free-roam game: the story chapters would each have a physical level associated with them which would be composed of a cluster of rooms (for example, a level could be an island, or a town with surrounding fields and forest) and these levels would be arranged in a roughly linear order with the player needing to unlock access to each new one. However the story would only account for about 20% of the gameplay. Combat, crafting, the marketplace, and the messageboard are available to players at all points in the story and a player can choose not to advance through the story.

Puzzles like those in Myst and other adventure games are part of the story progression. Among other things they keep the player sealed into the current level of the game until they complete the plot objectives to earn the puzzle pieces to unlock access to the next level.

Dungeons are sidescrolling platformer areas while the battle arena is a set of 2d fighter gauntlets. Both have singleplayer and group modes. There is also a pvp arena for duels and melee combat in both plain 2D fighter rooms and complex platformer rooms.

Possibly there are dungeons/a battle arena in alternate combat styles such as fps and tactical/turn based or real-time strategy.

Crafting is a set of minigames. Farming happens in an isometric environment and is similar to the gameplay of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. Genetic engineering is a speedpuzzle game.

Combat and crafting would be cross-rewarding: fighters would gain items useful to crafting and crafters would produce equips potions and pets useful to combat. Story rewards would be avatar appearance customizations, house decoration items, possibly pets and special skills.

The game has an automated searchable and sortable marketplace accessible by all players, as well as the ability for 2 players to make a personal trade of money/items/user created content/services, and one player to send stuff to another player or another of their own avatars.

The game has a messageboard accessible by all players and also private boards for diceless roleplaying, as well as a PM/IM system which includes the ability to post an away message. There are regional guilds or clans where you can meet people from your own geographic area, and also topic-oriented boards: art, writing, programming, etc, shops for selling player-created content, and an archive of player-submitted fanfiction/fanart of the game.

The game is free to play but is supported by advertisements, surveys, cash items, and game memorabilia such as t-shirts and keychains. A subscription would be available which would block all ads and surveys and give the player a stipend of game-cash. Unlike other games, cash items would be freely tradeable to other players. In-game currency would not be purchasable. Possibly players would be able to gamble with real money or pay a service fee to have their age or personal ad description verified.

Some sort of pets which could be bred, trained, and fought with.

Also houses which could be expanded and customized, including showcasing collections of rare items and trophies/high scores.

The player would develop relationships (positive or negative, romantic or friendly) with NPCS (of both genders) and would also be able to marry or declare blood brotherhood or friendship with other players. Building relationships with NPCs would happen via making dialogue and gameplay choices pleasing to that NPC, completing any quests they offered, and possibly one could give them. Since it would be impossible to measure the growth of a relationship between two players it would probably have to be measured by having the two do tasks together.

Some areas or servers would be age 18+ and require age verification; these areas would allow swearing and cybersex. Age-verified players could also post and read personal ads.