anyone want to help me make an mmo?

Bestinna

I have all the ideas and art I just need someone to program it all, thanks.

Forgrimm

If only it was that easy.

Quizzical

Bestinna said:

I have all the ideas and art I just need someone to program it all, thanks.

You have all of the artwork for a game already made?  How much artwork and what sort of game?  Is this a collection of whatever artwork you could find for free, or have you actually put a ton of work into making artwork?

Asheram

So no one else can have ideas?

Bestinna

it is still a work in progress but i've put my own work into making art and I dont mean bad anime that you find on any page of deviant art.. so are the ideas, few holes here and there but essentially done, over the course of a year. the game has not already been made and it's an mmorpg @Quizzical

Bestinna

Asheram said:

So no one else can have ideas?

that's right because they're all done already.. you could make suggestions on how to make some better but you could spend that time programming instead so it's made faster

Quizzical

Bestinna said:

it is still a work in progress but i've put my own work into making art and I dont mean bad anime that you find on any page of deviant art.. so are the ideas, few holes here and there but essentially done, over the course of a year. the game has not already been made and it's an mmorpg

The thing about programming is that it forces you to fill in all of the details of exactly how everything will work.  Kind of intuitively like this doesn't cut it.  You have to say, here is the exact formula that will be used.  Even if you were a professional programmer with many years of experience, you'd still run into a ton of places where you go to code something up and realize that you've glossed over a lot of details and have to decide what you want it to do before you can write the code.  So no, you don't have all of the ideas ready unless you're game is going to be awfully simple--the sort of thing that an amateur could code up in a few days.

The thing about game development is that a new idea for a game has no value.  Everyone and his neighbor's dog has ideas for games.  Lots of people even have ideas that would be pretty good if they could implement them--which they usually can't.  People who have both the skills and the inclination to create a game have their own ideas that they want to implement, and getting them to implement someone else's ideas generally requires a paycheck.

The ideas that do have value are filling in the little details for a game that is going to be created anyway.  For example, if we're making a theme park MMORPG with 1000 quests and the first 598 quests are done, and you're responsible for building the 599th, then what should that quest ask players to do, which NPC should offer it and where, what text should be used to introduce the quest to players, and so forth.  Also, for the quest giver NPC, what color should his left shoe be?

If you have a lot of high-quality artwork created custom for a game, with animations for all of your characters, textures for all of the objects in the game world, and so forth, then that has considerable value.  But I'm extremely skeptical that you have that, either.  Maybe you have a few things that could legitimately be used in a game, but there are so many things that you'll need that you won't even realize until you're far along in the project.

Or if you have a game idea that doesn't need very much work to actually create it, then perhaps you should explain in more detail.

postlarval

Bestinna said:

I have all the ideas and art I just need someone to program it all, thanks.

Oh sure, because that's all it takes: an idea and someone to program it.

Excession

Quizzical said:
 Also, for the quest giver NPC, what color should his left shoe be?

He is barefoot, with seven hairy (Ginger hair) toes!

laxie

I'll add that game development is a lot of trial and error. People often have this vision that developers have 10 bullet points, implement them and you have a working game. That's not how it works in my experience.

It took me 3 months to implement basic networking. 3 additional months to add the basic systems (crafting and harvesting). After a few rounds of testing with a small group of people, it was obvious that some of the basic systems aren't really fun. We went back to the drawing board and completely reworked stuff to address some of the issues. Now we are 9 months in, refining the networking backend to support the security of an online game (it was pretty barebones before).

In other words, game development is fun if you're happy to invest the time in. If you approach it as a hobby, there's not much to lose. At worst, I'd have made a small MMO noone plays - it would still be a worthwhile achievement to me.

If I approached it focused on the end goal (and not the path), it would be a painful ride in my case.

Bestinna

wot

Sovrath

Bestinna said:

Asheram said:

So no one else can have ideas?

that's right because they're all done already.. you could make suggestions on how to make some better but you could spend that time programming instead so it's made faster

I think I'm going with quizzical here. I just don't believe you have all the textures done for every item, all the animations for everything, etc.

I do believe you have some concept art. that's great.

Do you really want to get people to help you?

Make a site with some of your art and the concept for the game. This way those who are interested can see the level of your work.

Make a business plan. If you can't make a business plan or don't know how to run a business then that is an additional person you want to recruit.

if you want this to be a "free game made by the fans" then you are going to have to have some sort of development plan in place so people know that you aren't going in blind, aren't "dicking around".

You have to show you are serious, you are professional, dedicated and know what you are doing.

Also, a criticism, you came her to get people but post nothing to get people excited about the game you want to make. this isn't going to create confidence.

How about making an actual pitch, some of the art work in the original post and the list of people you want to "hire" for the project. As well as your credentials you can ask for a certain level of credentials as well.

Bestinna

laxie said:

I'll add that game development is a lot of trial and error. People often have this vision that developers have 10 bullet points, implement them and you have a working game. That's not how it works in my experience.

It took me 3 months to implement basic networking. 3 additional months to add the basic systems (crafting and harvesting). After a few rounds of testing with a small group of people, it was obvious that some of the basic systems aren't really fun. We went back to the drawing board and completely reworked stuff to address some of the issues. Now we are 9 months in, refining the networking backend to support the security of an online game (it was pretty barebones before).

In other words, game development is fun if you're happy to invest the time in. If you approach it as a hobby, there's not much to lose. At worst, I'd have made a small MMO noone plays - it would still be a worthwhile achievement to me.

If I approached it focused on the end goal (and not the path), it would be a painful ride in my case.

i am sorry to hear that. i know programming isn't easy coz i've tried a lot but my system would be fun and you totally won't have to worry about your efforts being wasted.

Bestinna

Sovrath said:

Bestinna said:

Asheram said:

So no one else can have ideas?

that's right because they're all done already.. you could make suggestions on how to make some better but you could spend that time programming instead so it's made faster

I think I'm going with quizzical here. I just don't believe you have all the textures done for every item, all the animations for everything, etc.

I do believe you have some concept art. that's great.

Do you really want to get people to help you?

Make a site with some of your art and the concept for the game. This way those who are interested can see the level of your work.

Make a business plan. If you can't make a business plan or don't know how to run a business then that is an additional person you want to recruit.

if you want this to be a "free game made by the fans" then you are going to have to have some sort of development plan in place so people know that you aren't going in blind, aren't "dicking around".

You have to show you are serious, you are professional, dedicated and know what you are doing.

ur right but right now I just want someone who can program some cryengine so I can import my models and stuff and make a video to put on the site otherwise I don't feel like there's enough to make one or rather there'd be too much reading when a lot can be seen

Quizzical

Bestinna said:

Sovrath said:

Bestinna said:

Asheram said:

So no one else can have ideas?

that's right because they're all done already.. you could make suggestions on how to make some better but you could spend that time programming instead so it's made faster

I think I'm going with quizzical here. I just don't believe you have all the textures done for every item, all the animations for everything, etc.

I do believe you have some concept art. that's great.

Do you really want to get people to help you?

Make a site with some of your art and the concept for the game. This way those who are interested can see the level of your work.

Make a business plan. If you can't make a business plan or don't know how to run a business then that is an additional person you want to recruit.

if you want this to be a "free game made by the fans" then you are going to have to have some sort of development plan in place so people know that you aren't going in blind, aren't "dicking around".

You have to show you are serious, you are professional, dedicated and know what you are doing.

ur right but right now I just want someone who can program some cryengine so I can import my models and stuff and make a video to put on the site otherwise I don't feel like there's enough to make one or rather there'd be too much reading when a lot can be seen

How many fully animated models have you created for your game?

Sovrath

Bestinna said:

Sovrath said:

Bestinna said:

Asheram said:

So no one else can have ideas?

that's right because they're all done already.. you could make suggestions on how to make some better but you could spend that time programming instead so it's made faster

I think I'm going with quizzical here. I just don't believe you have all the textures done for every item, all the animations for everything, etc.

I do believe you have some concept art. that's great.

Do you really want to get people to help you?

Make a site with some of your art and the concept for the game. This way those who are interested can see the level of your work.

Make a business plan. If you can't make a business plan or don't know how to run a business then that is an additional person you want to recruit.

if you want this to be a "free game made by the fans" then you are going to have to have some sort of development plan in place so people know that you aren't going in blind, aren't "dicking around".

You have to show you are serious, you are professional, dedicated and know what you are doing.

ur right but right now I just want someone who can program some cryengine so I can import my models and stuff and make a video to put on the site otherwise I don't feel like there's enough to make one or rather there'd be too much reading when a lot can be seen

Then I think you are tyring to run before you can even crawl.

First thing it seems you need is someone to animate some of your assets. If you can't get someone "for free" and I fully think you won't unless someone wants practice animating, hire someone in school who is going for animation. At least that's a start.

You aren't at the mmo stage at all. You need to get your assets animated first before anyone else is even going to get on oboard for anything more.

LackingMMO

Just jump on Kickstarter, share your idea, ask for money and the rest will fall in place. Its been working so far, why change the formula now?

Cryomatrix

How about this, use cryengine yourself, spend time into it and then import your models and everything, then post it while you have something. Maybe the process of trying to program a little in Cryengine will give you the idea of a scope of things. 

Or you can get out your wallet and find a cryengine programmer to do what you want. Have some alpha footage then get some crowd funding. 

I'd take Sovrath's advice as well as all the other ones. Also, do you work 40 hours doing something and have little time to put in the effort? How did you make this MMO and once you say it will work 100% then i'd give you close to 0% chance because the reality is you never know. 

Another thing to do is to try some free designer platforms like Unity or even yoyo game maker on steam. I learned how to program a silly game on android platform called donkey bits. It took me 90 hours. But I did it. So try there if you are confident in your ideas and you don't want to quit. 

Cryomatrix

Quizzical

Excession said:

Quizzical said:
 Also, for the quest giver NPC, what color should his left shoe be?

He is barefoot, with seven hairy (Ginger hair) toes!

My point wasn't that the color of the left shoe is particularly important.  My point was that there are a ton of little details that you probably don't realize until you try to make a game yourself.  Choosing a shoe color isn't hard.  But choosing and implementing many, many thousands of comparably little things is what making a game is all about.  An hour to do this and two hours to do that multiplied by the many little things that have to be done to make a game is how game budgets end up in the tens of millions of dollars.

You can make a simple game on the cheap.  I've actually make quite a few.  But making a single-player game where you and up to three AI characters that can't move are trying to pick the right firing angles to blow each other up is not at all similar to making an MMORPG.

postlarval

Quizzical said:

Bestinna said:

Sovrath said:

Bestinna said:

Asheram said:

So no one else can have ideas?

that's right because they're all done already.. you could make suggestions on how to make some better but you could spend that time programming instead so it's made faster

I think I'm going with quizzical here. I just don't believe you have all the textures done for every item, all the animations for everything, etc.

I do believe you have some concept art. that's great.

Do you really want to get people to help you?

Make a site with some of your art and the concept for the game. This way those who are interested can see the level of your work.

Make a business plan. If you can't make a business plan or don't know how to run a business then that is an additional person you want to recruit.

if you want this to be a "free game made by the fans" then you are going to have to have some sort of development plan in place so people know that you aren't going in blind, aren't "dicking around".

You have to show you are serious, you are professional, dedicated and know what you are doing.

ur right but right now I just want someone who can program some cryengine so I can import my models and stuff and make a video to put on the site otherwise I don't feel like there's enough to make one or rather there'd be too much reading when a lot can be seen

How many fully animated models have you created for your game?

And to add to it...

• On what platforms will you release your client?
• Who will be responsible for infrastructure?
• How will you determine your needs and configuration strategy for your firewalls? Loadbalancers? Databases? Login server? Game server? Web server? Payment server?
• Have you determined how much bandwidth you will need? Do you know how much it will cost?
• What's your disaster recovery strategy?
• What kind of encryption will you use to ensure privacy?
• How will you stage and test your implementation?
• Who will provide support?
• Have you decided on legal counsel? Will they be doing your branding scrub to ensure you aren't violating copyrights and trademarks?
• What is your marketing strategy?
• How many developers will you need? Software testers? Product managers? Game content designers? Graphic artists? System administrators? Community managers? Customer support?
• How will you fund all of this?

I could keep going all day long...

Sovrath

I think, op, that the important take away is NOT to be discouraged but to be smart about it and do some actual legwork and some planning.

Do you want to do this? Do you REALLY want to do this? then start planning, start realizing what it's going to take to make this happen. Otherwise you are just one among thousands upon thousands of artists (from all disciplines) who have a dream but no idea how to make it happen.

Can I assume you went to art school? Did they not have "the business of art" or some such class where you were taught that there's more to just being good in order to be successful?

And if you didn't I think it's high time you took a few classes on what it takes to get an art career off the ground. And then learn a bit about what it takes to make an mmo and do it.

Bestinna

I have 12 good models (10 races 2 npcs)(best of my ability but could be done better ofc) made in blender that are rigged/good poly and all that jjazz but aren't necessarily animated to do anything in particular like spin in a circle to perform a spinning attack.

regardless, i'm young and only need some of what I have and a programmer to make a video showing off everything that could very easily be implemented, then like someone mentioned I was actually planning on posting it on Kickstarter and expecting the rest to fall into place once I could pay the appropriate people. (that's the way it has to go otherwise i'll probably never see a good mmo in my lifetime if CU fails in which case, to no fault of my own I'd pick up a different hobby like sex out of boredom)

I feel like I have put in the legwork doing what i've done which is mostly creating a game that is fun, balanced, etc in my head that no one except people on the left would uninstall

Forgrimm

Bestinna said:

I feel like I have put in the legwork doing what i've done which is mostly creating a game that is fun, balanced, etc in my head that no one except people on the left would uninstall

Tofke

Why run when you can't walk?

Sovrath

Bestinna said:

I have 12 good models (10 races 2 npcs)(best of my ability but could be done better ofc) made in blender that are rigged/good poly and all that jjazz but aren't necessarily animated to do anything in particular like spin in a circle to perform a spinning attack.

regardless, i'm young and only need some of what I have and a programmer to make a video showing off everything that could very easily be implemented, then like someone mentioned I was actually planning on posting it on Kickstarter and expecting the rest to fall into place once I could pay the appropriate people. (that's the way it has to go otherwise i'll probably never see a good mmo in my lifetime if CU fails in which case, to no fault of my own I'd pick up a different hobby like sex out of boredom)

I feel like I have put in the legwork doing what i've done which is mostly creating a game that is fun, balanced, etc in my head that no one except people on the left would uninstall

That's definitely not the way to do it and he was being sarcastic because he knows that others have tried that and failed.

I bet if you actually made a design document of your game, hired someone to animate what you have and get a student to help you with this you would at least have something to show so you can perhaps get hired at a small studio as an artist.

I'm sorry but you are going to have to do a lot of planning and actually have a company made before your dream of an mmo is going to happen. If you actually look at the mmorpg's that have launched on kickstarter and never made it you would know that it takes more than just some art assets. But like you said, you are young, no reason you can't start smart and slow and build up to it.

Better yet? make a solo game first. Really.

Eldurian

Based on the fact that you did everything yourself you have probably not made an MMO that would interest many people unless it's made for phones.

Now if it's made for phones... the market is desperate for a decent MMO for phones.