10 replies to this topic

[KirkS]

Programmers:
I am the head of a development team working on a Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game. We've been working for a few months on concepts for this MMO, and are now ready to put the tires on the road and begin programming.

As I do a lot of web programming (Start laughing now), I tried to do some C++ work on my own. By the end of the week, I was tired, irritated, and had only managed to get sprites to move in OpenGL. I even resorted to using the Torque engine, and quickly discovered I was not made for programming, but sitting back and getting mad at code.

In any case, I'm looking for programmers to help me on this project. Just to head you guys off on what I'm trying to do:
- A full 2D Game with no 3D (Which means either sprites in OpenGL or that odd trick in Direct3D...)
- A massively multiplayer network architecture (Meaning we need it to access a database of some kind, be it MySQL or PostrgreSQL, or whatever you feel like at the time, so long as others can use it.)
- A few specific abilities not found in other MMORPGs, including the ability to import your own character graphics and edit the colors of them, et al.
- Being a MMORPG, it will probably need some pretty complex memory work, but because we've purposely picked 2D as a "Downgrade", it shouldn't be too complex, relatively.
- I would prefer this being in C++ for portability, but I'm willing to put up with C# or some other style. Being willing to do some of the more taxing runs (For example, the queries) in Assembly is a big plus.
- Generally someone willing to work with us, because obviously the rest of my team is too stupid to code.

You can contact me via:
AIM: HeliosLoire
MSN: Adonis3260@Hotmail.com (I rarely get on, it's a prank account)
YIM: kitaa_densha
E-mail: Kirk@Gametrash.com
Website: www.gametrash.com
Otherwise: Get on top of your roof and yell "KIRK!". If you hear me go "WHAT?", then you know you've got me.

Thanks for the time and the long read.

[Reedbeta]

If you've only tried C++ programming for a single week, you haven't experienced enough of it to know whether you like it or not. I didn't like C++ either when I first started with it, but now it's my first language.

Also, since you are trying to make an MMORPG, you should probably read this, and this.

[KirkS]

Reedbeta said:

If you've only tried C++ programming for a single week, you haven't experienced enough of it to know whether you like it or not. I didn't like C++ either when I first started with it, but now it's my first language.

Also, since you are trying to make an MMORPG, you should probably read this, and this.

Thanks for the links. I actually tried it more than a week, and I agree that I probably havent had a huge perspective of it, but I'm just looking for experience.

But in this case, I'll probably still end up programming it. I'm willing to take the time, of course, but I'd rather have someone with more skill.

Guess it's time to crank down and bite the bullet?

[eddie]

Well, the other thing is too, if you really want "portability", you might want to take a look at something like Java, or Python, or some such.

The language is similar to C++, but you won't have memory issues, you'll also not have a deployment nightmare, and you'll be a lot farther ahead since you'll have a lot of native library support.

Taking that one step further, you said you're a web programmer and you're doing 2D: why not make a Flash game? Don't laugh, there's a lot of benefits:

• Easy deployment (If you're making an MMO*, you've got an Internet connection, which usually means you have a browser, which *should* mean you can access Flash)
  
• Single "target" platform
  
• Easier language

Anyways, I'm not well versed enough in Flash to say "It'll be easy!", but it definitely would be a good first step. Why not try it out in your chosen arena?

[dave_]

eddie said:

Anyways, I'm not well versed enough in Flash to say "It'll be easy!", but it definitely would be a good first step. Why not try it out in your chosen arena?

Its good advice. Theres a lot of money to be made out there for flash programmers freelancing, especially games, at the moment.

[eddie]

That's a good point too. Your skills are transferrable, even in the non-gaming arena.

(While they would be transferrable in C/C++ too, it'll take a long time to get them market-worthy. Flash's ROI is much higher, with less of an on-ramp)

[juhnu]

I'm afraid that making the game in 2D doesn't necessarily make it considerably easier to implement. The most problems will still be there.

Why is it that people with a week programming experience are trying to do something that takes a team of professionals working full-time few years? It's like trying to make the Lord of the Rings movie with a sony handycam your mother bought you last christmas.

[dave_]

juhnu said:

It's like trying to make the Lord of the Rings movie with a sony handycam your mother bought you last christmas.

Good analogy! :yes: :yes:

[roel]

Yeah, it should get added to the FAQ :) (ehhh, is there a faq? ;) )

[justdan]

It's more like getting a multi-million doller company to work for you since most of the time people try to become the leader with their own version of something that they think is better.

[Dismalbiscuit]

From what I understand of programming (not much) "sitting back and getting mad at code" comes with the territory. Luckily before I started taking classes, a good programming friend of mine let me know 10% of code is writing 90% is figuring out why it won't work. (No worries, I'm the same way)