Hey,
So, for those of you who don't know, my high school senior project is to make a video-game (an MMORPG). We're making the game to learn about 3D programming and game-programming in general, so we're going to use jMonkeyEngine. There is also a class associated with helping us learn 3D programming, but it won't be dedicated to this game (that is the state of things now, I have said different things before but this is the situation that is most up-to-date).
Is there anybody who is experienced with jME, especially somebody who has had experience making an MMORPG, that would be able to tolerate talking to me one-on-one (via AIM or MSN or e-mail) to help me get started on my way to MMORPG greatness (or, more likely, mediocrity)?
I've decided that my random spurts of thought aren't going to just fall into place, and that I need a way to gather all of my thoughts together and come up with a plan of action for my game, and for that I need the help of an experienced jME'er.
Thanks 
If I may give you a suggestion, perhaps the IRC channel (though not official as far as I know) is a good location to ask your questions?
Darklord said:
If I may give you a suggestion, perhaps the IRC channel (though not official as far as I know) is a good location to ask your questions?
Not really what I asked for, but a good suggestion. A link, perhaps, so I know where it is? Didn't see any links from the main jME page.
the #jme channel is on freenode.net, its usually a bit quiet in there :) but i think it would be nice it that channel would be used a bit more
Once there are enough fresh jME users interested we should get some more experienced members online to do a Q and A session on some topic I think finding the experienced member will be harder though…
Logs could later be also posted in the WiKi. Just an idea for the future
Hmm… Still hoping for somebody to volunteer to email me one-on-one
You'll have to settle for posting in the forums, reading the wiki, and going through example code…ideally in reverse order. We have a massive and active community that is growing daily and though it would be great if we all had time to sit down and help new users one-on-one it's not practical.
Agreed one-on-one is non-optimal as once all your questions are answered, it's not documented anywhere (such as this forum) to help other people later on. That one of the prime tenets of Open Source, IMO.
mojomonk said:
Agreed one-on-one is non-optimal as once all your questions are answered, it's not documented anywhere (such as this forum) to help other people later on. That one of the prime tenets of Open Source, IMO.
I love writing tutorials and would be happy to, after I figure out what I am doing :D
Then ask your questions here, as they get answered post them to the wiki. 
What is the most efficient method for creating MMORPG maps:
Importing OBJ files with MTL for the textures, Using heightmaps and having BMP textures, or another?
Is it feasible to have the locations of all GameObjects (trees, rocks, and the like) stored in a server and have that information transmitted to the client to be rendered locally, or is it better to have the GameObjects as part of the model?
When I'm putting together my pieces of terrain, do I have to somehow write my own "TileLoader" that will load the tiles, or is there a simple class in jME that will take care of that for me?
Sounds like you are trying to figure out how to get going.
You say this is for a High-School senior project, how much time do you have left??
A MMORPG is a tremendous undertaking, at least 400 hours (2.5 months) to really start scratching the surface. I would suggest to get an initial single player, very simple frame work which loads a terrain map, some static models, and an animated 'character' to move around. You can then decide if you want to focus on the network, game-play, or one of the various other aspects that need to be implemented.
One thing you will have to be careful of is getting lost in the details, just get some terrain in before trying to over think all the aspects like tile loading etc.
basixs said:
Sounds like you are trying to figure out how to get going.
True.
basixs said:
You say this is for a High-School senior project, how much time do you have left??
I'm a Junior right now, so I have a little over a year left.
basixs said:
A MMORPG is a tremendous undertaking, at least 400 hours (2.5 months) to really start scratching the surface. I would suggest to get an initial single player, very simple frame work which loads a terrain map, some static models, and an animated 'character' to move around. You can then decide if you want to focus on the network, game-play, or one of the various other aspects that need to be implemented.
Yes, I get that it is a tremendous undertaking. I don't expect World of Warcraft by the end of the year. I had the same plan, and that's why I asked the question about loading terrain in the first place. However, it would be ludicrous to just ignore the fact you need to tile-load, since if I try to load one fat chunk of terrain, nothing will get culled and it will cause me a lot of trouble down the line. That's why I want to tackle the Tile Loading now, so the game doesn't have to stop and go backwards for 2 months to figure it out later.
Sorry if you think I'm a little harsh in the reply, but I'm getting tired of people telling me that an MMORPG can't be done by a highschool team and that it's too massive of an undertaking, and then in doing this they don't even answer the question that I had asked, like how should I handle Tile Loading.
So far I have just been using FreeWorld3D and exporting it as an OBJ file, and I then put the OBJ file in the game.
I have the OBJ file in, how do I put in water? I looked at an example and there was something about WaterRendererPass or something. Any tuts exist to show me this?
just get some terrain in before trying to over think all the aspects like tile loading etc.
Check out terrain-page, there is definitely culling going on there. You should try to leverage things that are pre-built into jME at first in order to learn from them, you will probably have to extend quite a few but this should get you off to a pretty good start. Thats why I suggested just plopping some terrain in. :)
How you should do your terrain is entirely up you and the end result that you want to achieve.
Check out the tests, that is the easiest way to get started. Although I wouldn't throw water in until you have the rest of the 'game' in, unless water is an important aspect to the game (generally its just a visual appeal thing though).
basixs said:
Check out the tests, that is the easiest way to get started. Although I wouldn't throw water in until you have the rest of the 'game' in, unless water is an important aspect to the game (generally its just a visual appeal thing though).
Hoping to have swimming implemented... is that not possible?
Swimming logic will be completely up to you, I don't believe there is anything (currently) built into jME to facilitate this.
basixs said:
Swimming logic will be completely up to you, I don't believe there is anything (currently) built into jME to facilitate this.
Awesome.