Building a game like "Game of War"

It'll be more than enough.

I have all the ideas written down and all the math done. I just don't know what to do for developing the game into an app. I just downloaded unity. Will this be enough or do I need other programs? What do you guys recommend?

Do you know how to program?

If not, I'd recommend to start with a much simpler game first to get your feet wet.

You are aware of the scope your are talking about?

I give you two links to skim:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/07/25/machine-zone/

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-MZ-EI_IE409080.11,13.htm

Couldn't find more information about the exact team size of Game of War. Couldn't even find the exact company size for Machinezone in a quick search.

Still, we know MZ has 501 to 1000 employees (so 501 at least). We know that MZ is talking about Game of War as an "very ambitious MMO". So we are most likely talking about a development team of 50+ people, who most probably worked on the game for 1+ year. These are all professional devs.

Now, how do you plan to build a "Game of War like game" on your own, when it would take you 50 manyears at least, even if you are an expert in all the disciplines involved?

Okay, lets get down to the basics. You are WAY out of your league. Put down that design you have there, shelf it for now. Ask yourself if you are ready for a LOOOONG journey. Then start with WAY simpler games first. Pac Man, Tetris, Stuff like that.

Learn programming. Learn to create some basic art, find sources for stock art, or find an artist willing to work with you (hint: ain't gonna be easy unless you have become REALLY good as a programmer and ready to share creative ownership with the artist).

Learn to use engine editors. Yes, Unity is a pretty good one. But its complex as hell, and you still need to know programming. And you still need art. So don't see it as a shortcut, its not.

Then, when you have some games under your belt, maybe you can dust off that design your wrote down there that had gathered dust on your shelf for some years, and see if you are now ready to tackle something of a scope approaching this... you most probably still need to downscale the scope, unless you got filthy rich in the meantime.

And best drop the plan to create an MMO right now. Yes, different people call things differently, and we had some heated discussions with people wanting to build MMOs on this very board just to find out they just wanted to build a plain old Online Multiplayer game.

If we talk about millions of users and tens of thousands concurrent ones, no, just no. Unless you are so filthy rich you are typing this from your yacht somewhere in the pacifics.

I don't think it would take a long time...
I need to draw a picture of a kingdome. And each building. Allow players to place building where they want. Then I need a world map. Resource spots and a few monsters. That's about it. I have the combat system done. Which is different than them all. I have the skills. Building time formulas and VIP bonuses. All of it done. It really can't be that hard. I'm not building a game like "league of legends" that would take forever. I'm not building a game like "charter" or "dark souls" or "wow" these games are hard. I did all the hard work already. And I bielive my game would be successful. Because I'm basing it off other successful games. I understand key words. I'm not stupid. I've built many board games and card games. I've written other video games but never saw potential for them.

So can I find helpers? Or should I solo the project? A lot of you have experience. Would it take long to do what I described up top? I went over my numbers many times. The combat and math and flow of progress is all great. That is the hard part to this type of game.

Between this and your other topic on the lounge, I don't think anyone has stressed this (and if they have, it hasn't been near loud enough) one point in particular:

Design is a tiny fraction of what goes into making a game.

Particularly design before any actual coding is done, is little more than a concept. Actual design occurs during development, as you iron out things you left hazy (and may not have even realized you did) and revise your ideas on what, contrary to your expectations, turns out not to be all that fun. Even that en medias res stuff is maybe 10% at most of what goes into a game. The work you've done so far is probably somewhere between 0.01%~2%, depending on how thorough you were.

Yea. I realize designing will take time. I can draw a kingdom in an hour or 2. Each building I can Google image. Get an idea what it looks like. Them make a simple structure. Doesn't need full details. World map needs a small kingdom. And some resources and a few monsters. Army marching image isn't to hard. Combat system was going to be simple like all the others but I decided to take it to a chess board. So I need 7 unit images with a move and attack image now. Before it was just auto combat with no action. But this newer version can't be much more difficult. For materials for equipment its so easy. I need 4 images. Just change images in different cors for different monsters. And have a star rating for quality. To easy. I have factions. I'm literally making the game slightly complex yet simple. The game can be 2d for all I care.

I made a Zelda game on a Ti-86 calculator in highschool 15 years ago. Lol.

But do you still believe this to be hard and needs 50 developers?

Game Of War looks like a tile based RTS / base building type of game.

HERE is a video tutorial to get you started ...

Programming the AI for a game like this is not going to be easy!

So let's say I have 20 buildings. Each building takes 2 hours to make a simple structure with min details. Just enough to make it look like something. So 40 hours of work. You think more?

Coding. I did the math. So I just need to learn how to code it in. This is not my first designed game. I've designed many. My personal experience with game play and writing out my own ideas has given me the experience I need.

I have a sales job. All commission. I do advertising for my sales and close the sales myself. I make 4 - 12k a month depending on how much I want to work. But I don't love my job. I love game developing. I'll learn unity. U mentioned it will be enough. :) thank you. I don't need 1 mil a day like game of war. I'll be happy with $100 a day. There is a huge passion for these types of games. I have cool ideas and I believe it will be fun for the users. :)

Keep your thoughts coming. I like a challenge. I'm use to hearing the negative and unexpected answers from my job. I'm good at finding sololuyions to problems. :p

I'm watching the video, "code fox". He is building an RTS like star craft. I love that game BTW. But that is a hard game to make. My game doesn't need all of that. I'll watch the videos to learn but most of it I won't need if its like "star craft".

My combat system will be like "hero's of might and magic" turn based. It won't be like star craft.

You can't just take images from Google.

If you want to be sued into the middle of 2050, feel free, but the images on Google aren't free for reuse and you can't just put them into your game.

Even considering that, do you know how you will put them into your game, make them move etc?

What about the fact that the image on Google will only show one view of the building or unit etc and what will you do to view it from other angles?

You'll need either 2d game sprites, free for reuse (check opengameart.org) or 3d models (see the same site).

You'll need to know how to program in C# or javascript to get anything useful out of Unity (note: javascript is not java!)

You'll need to be able to use a 3d modelling program like blender, or draw well in a program such as photoshop or gimp.

You'll need to be good at game design, considering balance and other technicalities not just making up story.

You'll need to be good at network programming (note: not just making a simple chat app or copying and pasting from Google) and you'll need to be aware of scalability.

You'll need to be aware of all the idiosyncrasies of your platforms e.g. Android and iPhone. Only then will you get good performance. Even using Unity you aren't completely shielded from these.

When you're done you'll need to market your game. You can't just put it on Google play and hope people find it, they won't. You'll need lots of money or need to be a very lucky entrepreneur.

Good luck because you'll need it!

Everyone takes ideas or images from somewhere and changes it into their own. So yea. I can take images and change them and nobody would know.

I can look at anything and draw it and change it so it becomes my own. Art works is no problem.

So I can't use just unity? I'll need an art program like gimp? Someone earlier stated all I need is unity. :( I'm confused.

My game has no story. Lol. It doesn't need a story. Here is the story. U r on a map to build the most powerful kingdom. End of story.

Is network programming hard? I understand I have a year to get this game done. I need all the help I can get.

In simplicity. Step by step. Write down the game and mechanics and have a game name that's legal. Do the art work. Next is use gimp to create the art then transfer it to unity. Then use JavaScript to create the code and game mechanics. Then I need networking online for an mmo. Is this about right?
The hardest part to all of this will be learning how to use unity and javascript. I really only need to learn what I need to develope the game. I don't need all.

Would anyone be interested in helping to build the game? As far as advertising. Key words are 65% then 35% word of mouth. I'm not worried about the game being popular. I based my facts on realistic facts and what people like. :)

Would anyone be interested in helping to build the game?

Recruiting goes in the Classifieds section of the forums, not here.

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If it were as simple as you say, then games wouldn't take as long (and require as many people) as they do. It doesn't matter how smart you are (or think you are), games are a lot more work than you give them credit for. Multiplayer games even more so. MMOs even more so, much much more than you believe.

Can you give any reasonably explanation as to why similar games have development times measured in years, with production teams measured in tens of people, if it were as easy as you think it is?

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Unity will not be enough. Once you have all the assets you need, you can use Unity to put them together and make them do as you want, but in order to create and potentially process/adjust all the assets (images, sounds, etc etc), you will need other software (e.g. Gimp, as was mentioned).

>> The hardest part to all of this will be learning how to use unity and javascript

No, the hardest part is everything after learning to program and use Unity. Learning to drive does not make you a formula one driver and learning to program does not make you a game developer. As yoda once said: "much to learn, you still have"...

Ok. I have your attention. You guys are the experienced developers. You say it takes a lot of people and experience to make a game. I believe you. But when I look at the game it looks easy to me to make. If honestly it does take a lot of people and a lot of time I'll drop it. But I'll explain again.
I use a wallpaper for the kingdom. Designate spots for you to build buildings. I need visual art work for each building. 20 buildings. All the game mechanics are done. All it needs is coding. World map is a plain flat surface with resources to gather, kingdoms of other players and monsters to hunt. Can it really be that hard and time consuming? If I were to draw on paper and use things on papaer I can make the game on paper in 40 hours or less. Why does it make it so much harder to do on the programming side? You all make it sound like I'm building a hard game. Its not like star craft, wow, lol, charter. Those are hard games. No story. No videos. The game mechanics are finished. Can it really be that hard? :( combat system like chess with 7 units. That's all. U ether move or attack or skip turn. No spells. Turn based. It really can't be that difficult. I could careless for 3d high quality graphics right now. 2d pixel art is fine. 2d in general art is fine. It doesn't need to high quality graphics. Look at mine craft. Candy crush. Simple stupid graphics. Even angry birds. I don't need 3d amazing animation.

So I use unity and gimp. Any other programs I need?

Unity and Gimp will be all you need for now. What you need to do next is actually start making the game. Beginning that process and starting to make some headway on it will be extremely illustrative for you, and show you what specifically you need to do or learn or find help with next as you progress towards your goal.

Ok. I have your attention. You guys are the experienced developers. You say it takes a lot of people and experience to make a game. I believe you. But when I look at the game it looks easy to me to make. If honestly it does take a lot of people and a lot of time I'll drop it. But I'll explain again.
I use a wallpaper for the kingdom. Designate spots for you to build buildings. I need visual art work for each building. 20 buildings. All the game mechanics are done. All it needs is coding. World map is a plain flat surface with resources to gather, kingdoms of other players and monsters to hunt. Can it really be that hard and time consuming? If I were to draw on paper and use things on papaer I can make the game on paper in 40 hours or less. Why does it make it so much harder to do on the programming side? You all make it sound like I'm building a hard game. Its not like star craft, wow, lol, charter. Those are hard games. No story. No videos. The game mechanics are finished. Can it really be that hard? :( combat system like chess with 7 units. That's all. U ether move or attack or skip turn. No spells. Turn based. It really can't be that difficult. I could careless for 3d high quality graphics right now. 2d pixel art is fine. 2d in general art is fine. It doesn't need to high quality graphics. Look at mine craft. Candy crush. Simple stupid graphics. Even angry birds. I don't need 3d amazing animation.

So I use unity and gimp. Any other programs I need?

You probably want something to record and mix sound and music as well. (Audacity is free and probably good enough to start with).

And yes, it can really be quite hard, the biggest challenge for you will most likely be to prevent rampant cheating while still keeping the server side scalable and fast. Doing one of those things is reasonably easy if you know what you are doing, doing both at the same time is extremely difficult, The client side programming of those games is fairly straight forward but you still want some high quality artwork (which is both time consuming and difficult to produce)

Yea. The hacking cheating thing... My brother Roy who has 2 years in programming told me that only part of code can be viewed since it will be an mmo and most of the code can stay hidden on server. I believe this prevents the cheaters. I was worried about that as well. But cool, I'll start with those programs. :) you guys rock!

It is fun that you repeatedly write how you believe it is so easy.

If this really is so easy for you, then stop writing about it and just do it.

I don't remember saying easy. I'm taking short cuts to make it more simple. I think it is hard but not as hard as everyone says. Honestly, artwork won't be tough. I'm learning JavaScript now. Some is familiar.

For the most part. I was trying to see if I can spark interest in experienced developers. Nobody has asked to see my game I wrote down. Which is weird. They probably believe that I know nothing about game developing because I never made a game. So how can I actually make a game? I can make it. And will make the game. Well, I already made the game. I just need to program it and then market it.

I'm taking everything that people say in consideration.