Ego Trip
by James Thomas II · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 02/06/2005 (5:02 pm) · 2 replies
Hello Everyone,
I am a novice programmer. A novice programmer on a big ego trip with a "Can I really do it" mentality. Here is my idea of a MMORPG. The game title is "Heroes of the Realm." There are 4 classes: Fighter, Healer, Nuker (wizard), and Rogue. My plan is to create 3 different zones. Each of these zones will load when the character reaches a portal tunnel. The max level is 10 with a boss creature that these 4 classes will have to kill. While these 4 classes are leveling up to level 10, they are increasing in equipment, weapons, spells, and abilities. This will be a 1st Person PoV game and by pressing the TAB key, it goes to 3rd Person PoV and vise versa. Here is the zone break up:
1. Starting zone (complete with weather changes). There will be a portal tunnel to Zone 2
2. Island Zone.
3. Castle Zone (where the boss creature is)
Each of these 3 zones will have NPCs that the 4 characters will have to fight, buy and sell to, or kill to get the equipment. The game UI will have an inventory screen that the player can see the equipment that they have. When the player signs in the game, they can select which of the 4 classes they want to play as well as name that character. The races in the game at the moment will be human (both male and female). My idea of this game is based on Everquest and Worlds of Warcraft.
I have the following materials at my disposal to use:
MS Visual C++ 6.0 Professional (Service Pack 6)
MS Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional (Academic Pricing)
Torque Game Engine
Torque Shader Engine
Milkshape 3D
Quark
Torque Show Tools Pro
Python 2.4
Tim Aste Combo Pack
Lighting Pack
Blender
3D Progamming All In One Book
Programming Role-Playing Games with DirectX, Second Edition
Any suggestions that my more experienced programmers here can assist with would be greatly appreciated. I might be over my head. If anyone has sample source code that I could study, I would be grateful. I am a visual learner, if I can see it, I will remember it. Should I finish the demo, would anyone like to be a tester? At the moment, it is still in the planning stage.
I am a novice programmer. A novice programmer on a big ego trip with a "Can I really do it" mentality. Here is my idea of a MMORPG. The game title is "Heroes of the Realm." There are 4 classes: Fighter, Healer, Nuker (wizard), and Rogue. My plan is to create 3 different zones. Each of these zones will load when the character reaches a portal tunnel. The max level is 10 with a boss creature that these 4 classes will have to kill. While these 4 classes are leveling up to level 10, they are increasing in equipment, weapons, spells, and abilities. This will be a 1st Person PoV game and by pressing the TAB key, it goes to 3rd Person PoV and vise versa. Here is the zone break up:
1. Starting zone (complete with weather changes). There will be a portal tunnel to Zone 2
2. Island Zone.
3. Castle Zone (where the boss creature is)
Each of these 3 zones will have NPCs that the 4 characters will have to fight, buy and sell to, or kill to get the equipment. The game UI will have an inventory screen that the player can see the equipment that they have. When the player signs in the game, they can select which of the 4 classes they want to play as well as name that character. The races in the game at the moment will be human (both male and female). My idea of this game is based on Everquest and Worlds of Warcraft.
I have the following materials at my disposal to use:
MS Visual C++ 6.0 Professional (Service Pack 6)
MS Visual Studio .NET 2003 Professional (Academic Pricing)
Torque Game Engine
Torque Shader Engine
Milkshape 3D
Quark
Torque Show Tools Pro
Python 2.4
Tim Aste Combo Pack
Lighting Pack
Blender
3D Progamming All In One Book
Programming Role-Playing Games with DirectX, Second Edition
Any suggestions that my more experienced programmers here can assist with would be greatly appreciated. I might be over my head. If anyone has sample source code that I could study, I would be grateful. I am a visual learner, if I can see it, I will remember it. Should I finish the demo, would anyone like to be a tester? At the moment, it is still in the planning stage.
About the author
#2
Back to the MMORPG question - methinks it is viable, although it seems like a rather big task. If you are a skilled programmer (which, by the looks of your tools, methinks you are...), I think this is a viable feat. Here's probably some tips...
-Search for hte MySQL plugin thingie in hte resources section. I've used PHP and MySQL for MMO web games, and obviously using a database is the best way to go. You could use other proggies, but I would suggest the MySQL as a starter
-When modelling, go for low poly. I think most of the detailed stuff should be done more on the texturing side. The reason for low poly is that with many MMORPG games, you'll obviously want player-to-player interaction. But what happens when you have a bunch of players that needed to be rendered? Total lag-age.
-In most MMORPG games i've played, there are usually quests....it would be a good idea to list them out and stuff, including rewards, requirements (ie what level you must be to do this quest), and possibly locations. THese should all be listed out clearly in your design document.
-Storyline - a good storyline ties everything together. You might wanna link this up with the quests as well in your design doc
sorry if this wasn't very helpful...i'm not too fond of MMORPGs, so I can't really say much...
02/06/2005 (6:22 pm)
Wow, you're loaded. Very Very loaded. Back to the MMORPG question - methinks it is viable, although it seems like a rather big task. If you are a skilled programmer (which, by the looks of your tools, methinks you are...), I think this is a viable feat. Here's probably some tips...
-Search for hte MySQL plugin thingie in hte resources section. I've used PHP and MySQL for MMO web games, and obviously using a database is the best way to go. You could use other proggies, but I would suggest the MySQL as a starter
-When modelling, go for low poly. I think most of the detailed stuff should be done more on the texturing side. The reason for low poly is that with many MMORPG games, you'll obviously want player-to-player interaction. But what happens when you have a bunch of players that needed to be rendered? Total lag-age.
-In most MMORPG games i've played, there are usually quests....it would be a good idea to list them out and stuff, including rewards, requirements (ie what level you must be to do this quest), and possibly locations. THese should all be listed out clearly in your design document.
-Storyline - a good storyline ties everything together. You might wanna link this up with the quests as well in your design doc
sorry if this wasn't very helpful...i'm not too fond of MMORPGs, so I can't really say much...
William Finlayson
Have a think about everything you will need to do to complete this, and then see if you can do it all, and have a think about how long it would take. Then ask again if this is the project for you. It's all very well expecting to get help with it, you may think that you can find people to do the bits you don't feel up to, but to find people to help you, you will have to convince them that you are up to this, and can drag it through to completion. You will have to do research and know what you are talking about, and be able to be specific about what you need.
Good luck :)