Goal: an MMORPG that isn’t too boring, when you attain enough resources, you will be able to establish a kingdom and begin to change the world.
Looking for: graphics designers (because my art is terrible). Testers with patience (because I have a busy schedule). Gamers with dreams (because I’ll be taking requests).
I think your idea is too boring.
Too many games have the "shape" like yours.
U have other different ideas?
You better start coding your own game and learning about game development before you bash other peoples projects. Ever noticed that all big games are concepts from the 90's or 80's??
@Demon:
Cool project, you have object syncing via net working as well or only chat until now? Do you use JGN for that?
I suppose you know that "MMO" is a pretty tough thing coding-wise, I wish you all the best with your project!
Well, many games have this "shape" now. After all, we probably had the idea at about the same time and I lacked the time and resources to produce it (I have notes and notes from my younger years on my plans). I've been working on some hardware projects, so there have been delays. Object syncing has been built for object creation on certain meshes and a few basic shapes. I was also working on texture imports and scaling. Once I get this back up and running I'll post the links for my demo. Once I get the object modification lines up beyond spawning and movement, the game will resemble some infantile form of Second Life (in terms of their building method, start with basic shape, modify, texture, and link to other shapes). So I can start building from within. Before I got sidetracked, I had also created a rough AI zombie to walk to the nearest thing it saw, They do respond to being "shot at" or selected, but the issue is hosting them, so I have been sketching up plans for the server host to handle the AIs or at least delegate them for the time being.
I'll agree with snakevash a little, (no hard feelings, I AM crazy) but I'm looking to find the balance between engaging gameplay with depth. (playing a shooter is fun but is shallow, playing an MMORPG has depth but gets tedious).
Once I get this other project out of the way I'll be back on the code and check this thread more often.
I think your idea is too boring.
Too many games have the "shape" like yours.
U have other different ideas?
You better start coding your own game and learning about game development before you bash other peoples projects. Ever noticed that all big games are concepts from the 90's or 80's??
@Demon:
Cool project, you have object syncing via net working as well or only chat until now? Do you use JGN for that?
I suppose you know that "MMO" is a pretty tough thing coding-wise, I wish you all the best with your project!
I'll look up JGN, currently I had modified my chat program and that thread became my network input/output thread. I created message types (gameMessage/chatMessage) and they just get routed different places. gameMessages will be treated similar to console messages and soon-to-come level files. (for convenience, but I'll work on security as it goes on). basically like: [object type] [name] [variables1......variablesN] for creation of objects, then [move/rotate/scale] [object ID] [X] [Y] [Z] for simple modifications. Once AIs hit the scene, the server will have to improve beyond mere relaying.
I'm working on a distributed server framework which might also be usefull. It was originally designed for a gaming project by a friend of mine but he stopped working on that a while ago. I continued work on the framework though.
The framework uses a plugin architecture where you write plugins which you then plugin into the core of the framework via XML config files. After writing the plugin, all you need to do to go from 1 server to multple, distributed servers is update the config file. No change to the code needed.
Currently I have the main plugin stuff, the config parser and the distributed stuff done. In the SVN I even have a beta version of the registry. This registry is where the various servers register which plugins they are running and what IP/Port those plugins are to be contacted. This greatly simplifies the config files.
It’s been a long and dull semester (and part of a break, just didn’t get around to updating)
I’ve put steps into motion for territories, zones that affect certain aspects of the engine, such as water level and gravity, they also receive notification for when something enters or leaves the boundaries, those work, along with the addition of swimming and flight.
I have also tweaked my collision system to allow gravity to be rotated to not just change the strength, but also the direction. Once I get the camera to reorient itself following a gravity change, it will look a lot nicer and I can introduce bizarre architecture reminiscent of the works of M.C. Escher. More importantly, I am constructing a plugin setup for the game itself, so that I can include coded additions instead of scripts, I’ve been testing it in conjunction with a random maze generator I built a while back and so far they’re playing nice. Plugins will be given different classifications based on the amount of information they want from the engine, such as everything that comes in from the network feed, or just to be consulted when the feed gets a request it does not understand, to being dormant (just using a separate thread to control itself). This will help me make games within the game and simplify the process of making another one on the same platform. I’m using this experiment to make a plugin interface so future modders won’t have to muck around in my main code. Scripts will be read in with levels and either influence the engine or just point to a plugin to load.
@ractoc I’ll see what I can do with some of that code, I’ve got my sights on making additional server support and redirection to private game servers.
(sorry for the long post, but a lot has happened). I intend to release an alpha-ish launch before my next semester starts. (January 28)
Hah, I’d almost forgot about that. I’ll add to this picassa link, you can see how it once started in 2D, after learning some 3D, and when I started to use jME.
(changed. Creepy little mixup where – becomes 1 big - instead)
My launch might be slightly delayed… my processor went down, right before I go back to college, it will be repaired sunday, and I might just be able to polish things up in time.
It’s not pretty, but it’ll work, and it will improve as I add to it.
WSAD keys for movement, press HOME to free the mouse or put it back.
It will update upon connection… just usernames for now, I’ve set the pieces in motion for passwords and permissions later.
It’s also a bit late, and I’m sorry for that.
Free the mouse with HOME and click the return button on the screen to return to the center of town at any time… like when you get lost or stuck.
Other people currently don’t appear in multiplayer, I was re-adjusting that.
For the time being, most teleporters are just block platforms that seem out of place. I’ve linked in some of my test cells, see if you can find my old halloween project.
The important part is that the groundwork has been put in, the server is set up to store data in files when an area is empty, meaning things can be built and saved on the server.
The maze and a burn simulator are all that exist for entertainment at the moment. The maze itself is generated by a plugin I made, while the burn simulator is an external program run by a script (before I made the plugins).
I’ll be working on making a plugin that talks across the server to make an actual game to play with others.
Thanks for the download! Keep in mind though, this is a cross-platform community. You might want to distribute Mac & Linux executables as well if you’d like to have more people testing your game. I’m on Ubuntu right now so I won’t be able to test your game until later.
Thanks for the reminder, I’ll be working on that shortly. The .exe was just an installer (mainly for the fact that it set down a shortcut, since my non-programmer friends were having trouble and happen to use Windows). Next link I post will have a .zip with some other launchers, soon as I figure them out. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I am very sorry for the delays… I did throw together a system for easier launches. (running one java program which adds the other jars to the classpath) And I will be posting this configuration tomorrow. Nothing much has changed, as I have currently been very busy this semester. However, there is a slight structural change in how I will be setting this game up. The project I outlined above will still exist, but I will be creating a shell for it and other games around it. Basically, a virtual space to enter my game or other games in my works. It started as a walk-in menu for mods (since I make demonstrations in this engine using my code sometimes) that was inspired by memories of an old game demo disk, but will expand into something like a locally-hosted Second Life. I’ll work to make changes so that locally-hosted worlds can be linked, as my server-side resources are abysmal.
Over a year and a half already… Figures that the feds would crack down on my download site while I focused on graduating on time. I’ve focused more on the platform’s development than the initial game idea itself. The upshot being that others can make use of this as a starting platform or development environment for others. (changing download link at top.)
I’ve figured out a decent workaround for passing new class files across the network via server in an archive. I added an exception for .zip files labeled .odpkg, where the game will unzip them into the Mods/ directory, then you can reload your classes without restarting.
Plugins are loaded in via .odmod files (plain text for now) contained in the Mods folder or one directory in (added for convenience).
I’ll be improving the “ScriptSuite” mod for better code import and testing via Beanshell. So programmers out there will have something to play with. Also onto improving server configuration (assigning a custom thread type and login/clearance levels).