How to create an MMO

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Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game!

by, Ameise.

Firstly, what is an MMO?

A massively multiplayer online game (also known as an; MMO) is a multiplayer game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players. There are already a lot of MMOs' out and you can find them here; List!. Probably the most famous ones will be; Runescape, World of Warcraft, Eve online, etc.

What type of MMO?

By yourself you will not be able to create a MMO to compete against the big ones, especially if you have no experience in creating an MMO. You would want to create some small simple games first hand, so you know how they work. When you know this, you will know how hard it is going to be.

There is a whole lot of stuff you are going to need to know before you can even get a MMO working:

• Graphics API
  
• Networking API
  

Types:

• Roleplaying
  
• First\Third Person Shooter
  
• Adventure
  
• Strategy
  

What's an API?

An API or Application programming interface is software that enables it to interact with other software. Read More.

Programming

What programming languages will I need to learn?

Well that depends on what you are making:

For example, Runescape is written in Java. World of Warcraft is written is C++ and Lua. You can even create a game that is simply texted based which will use HTML, CSS, MySQL, PHP and Javascript.

Where can I learn to program?

There are a lot of places you can learn to program. Going to college, renting books from the library or you can just find an ebook.

C++
PHP
HTML
CSS
Javascript
SQL
LUA
Java
More..

Note: Java and Javascript are not the same. They were created by different people.

Are there programs I can use to create games?

RPG MAKER

RPG Maker, known in Japan as RPG Tsukūru (RPGツクール, sometimes romanized as RPG Tkool), is the name of an expansive series of programs for the development of role-playing games (RPGs), first created by the Japanese group ASCII, then succeeded by Enterbrain. The Japanese name, Tsukūru is a pun mixing the Japanese word tsukuru (作る), which means "make" or "create", with tsūru (ツール), the Japanese transcription of the English word "tool".

Offical page: http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/

Spoiler (Click to View)

DARK BASIC

DarkBASIC is a commercial game creation programming language released by The Game Creators. The language is a structured form of BASIC and is similar to AMOS on the Amiga. The purpose of the language is game creation using Microsoft's DirectX from a BASIC programming language.

Offical Page: http://www.thegamecreators.com/

Spoiler (Click to View)

FPS Creator

FPS Creator is a commercial application developed by The Game Creators that allows rapid and easy creation of first-person shooter video games for the PC without any programming. Users can create a game with up to 50 levels and build it as a standalone executable.

Offical Page: http://www.thegamecreators.com/

Spoiler (Click to View)

Realm Crafter

Realm Crafter is a 3D Game Engine designed specifically for making MMORPGs. There are two distinct versions of the engine: Realm Crafter Professional, and Realm Crafter Standard. Both engines are targeted at independent developers and hobbyists with a team size of one to five people. The engines use an editor-based interface to minimize the amount of programming needed.

Offical Page: http://www.realmcrafter.com

Spoiler (Click to View)

World Forge

The WorldForge project is producing an open source framework for massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The intent lies in creating a widely used development framework and set of libraries by motivating interested developers to improve on the original code.

Offical Page: http://www.worldforge.org/

Spoiler (Click to View)

Private Servers

Private servers allow to to take a game already create and change it to a certain point.

Here is a list of places you can visit to learn more about this;

Runescape - Private Servers

Wow - Private Servers

Others

Game Development Tools/Resources

• Tools
  
  
• XNA Game Studio 3.1 - the game development framework based on .NET for game development for Windows, Xbox 360 and Zune.
  
• Dark GDK Game Development Kit for Microsoft Visual C++
  
• Unity Game Development Tool
  
• FlatRedBall Game Engine
  
• Blender - a free, open-source, 3D design software. Useful for creating 3D models.
  
• Softimage Mod Tool - a free tool for creating 3D models. Supports exporting to XNA.
  
• Paint .NET - a simple graphics tool that will let you create basic textures and sprites.
  
• GIMP - a free, open-source, graphics tool that can be used for creating more complex textures and sprites.
  
• InkScape - a vector graphics editor.
  
• Caligari trueSpace
  
• SpiralGraphics Tools - a set of tools for creating textures.
  
• Anim8or - a free tool for 3D modelling
  
• SFXR - sound effects generator
  
• Musagi - music editor/synthesizer
  
• CherryBrush - sketching application
  
• FFTuner - pick out notes from recorded music
  
• FMOD - a great utility to work on the sound for your games
  
• Pyro - particle editor
  
• SDL Mixer - a free audio mixer library
  
• Linux Multimedia Studio - a free application to produce music and sound effects
  
• MaPZone - texturing tool
  
• Sprite Animating Tool
  
• Alice - 3D Programming Environment
  
• cAudio - a free audio wrapper for OpenAL
  
• WavePad Sound Editor - Free Sound Editor with library of free sounds/music
  
  
  
  Textures
  
  
• KatsBits TGA Textures - some free textures in TGA format for your game.
  
• CG Textures - a huge collection of various textures. All textures are sorted into categories so it's easy to find exactly the one you need.
  
• TextureKing - also an extensive library of free textures for your game.
  
• texture lovers - a website with references to lots of different free textures for your game.
  
• Free 3ds Textures - not too many, but quite interesting and useful textures are present for free download on this web site.
  
• TextureWarehouse - a useful set of free textures for your game (not in high-resolution).
  
• FreeTexture - a nice set of free textures.
  
• Image * After - a library full of free images and textures.
  
• BackgroundLabs - a set of nice textures and backgrounds.
  
  
  
  Sprites
  
  
• VideoGameSprites - a library of simple 2D sprites.
  
• PocketHeaven Sprites - a small set of sprites from other games for use in sample projects.
  
• Spriters Resource
  
• Flying Yogi - a set of simple sprites.
  
• Charas Project - a large collection of sprites
  
• The People's Sprites - a great resource with free sprites
  
• Sprite Database - a large collection of free sprites
  
• The Mystical Forest Zone - a web site that contains several Sonic the Hedgehog sprites and resources
  
• NES/SNES Sprites
  
• RPG2000 - site in German
  
• SpriteLib GPL
  
• Last Guardian Sprites
  
• Game Sprite Archives
  
  
  
  Models
  
  
• Psionic3D - some free models for your game.
  
• 3DGuru - a collection of 3D models for non-commercial use.
  
• XNA Fusion Models - a few free 3D models.
  
• Quake 2 Models
  
• Google models
  
  
  
  Sound FX
  
  
• [url=http://www.freesound.org/index.php]FreeSound
  
• ZeldaSounds
  
• PacDV Sounds - a large collection of free sounds
  
• SoundJay - a large set of free sounds
  
  
  
  Sites With Mixed Resources
  
  
• Reiner's Tileset - a resource containing 3D/2D graphics and Sound FX for your games
  
  
  
  Fonts
  
  
• DaFont
  
• 1001 Free Fonts
  
• UrbanFonts
  
• Acid Fonts
  
• Font River
  
  
  
  Backgrounds
  
  
• Background HQ - a collection of game backgrounds
  
  

Credits to - Myself and for the resources Core @ Dream.In.Code