so you all are saying if I make a Kickstarter, it won't be funded, and if it does get funded, it will never be finished, and if it does get finished, it will be garbage BUT if I make single player games and work on smaller projects first, later on I will undoubtedly have a funded KS, completed game, and be really good?
I think one could realistically build a fairly low budget MMO for the phone. Most phone MMOs fall into one of two categories:
1. Games with "energy" or other time factors that make it impractical to just sit down and play them. 2. Games that try too hard to be like PC games and don't really take advantage of the control schemes that feel natural on a phone.
Because of that I could see breaking into the market for phone games and phone MMOs fairly easily it you have a simple/solid design that takes advantage of the control schemes that work well for phones and does away with the cash grab energy timer nonsense. You'd have to find alternative monetization methods but I think you could still turn a decent profit.
In the PC MMO market, fairly hefty projects like Wurm Online are considered low budget, and while there is little innovation in the AAA market, you have a lot of other indie companies to compete with. Taking them on in any kind of serious fashion means millions.
so you all are saying if I make a Kickstarter, it won't be funded, and if it does get funded, it will never be finished, and if it does get finished, it will be garbage BUT if I make single player games and work on smaller projects, I will undoubtedly have a funded KS, completed game, and be really good?
no.
If you make a kickstarter for an mmo without a lot of work behind it (or a single player game) you will most likely not get funded. Heck, Pantheon was not able to get started and they had concept art and the like and an idea. They had to actually work on the game themselves and then people gave them money.
Concept art, at this stage in the game, won't get you funded because others have done this, not come through and people have been burned.
Making an mmo is difficult.
Having said that, if you are dead set on making a game, actually work on making a single player game, get some levels done THEN you can try your hand at kickstarter or some such thing. At least some game play is more than pictures.
Making a single player game will be easier than an online massive multiplayer experience.
Heck, look at the budgets for mmorpg's compared to single player games if you want to get a sense of scope as far as costs.
edit: here's a single player game that has a LOT of work behind it but it didn't get funded. So bummed about this one.
so you all are saying if I make a Kickstarter, it won't be funded, and if it does get funded, it will never be finished, and if it does get finished, it will be garbage BUT if I make single player games and work on smaller projects, I will undoubtedly have a funded KS, completed game, and be really good?
You have just summarized the history of Crowd Funded game development. To the best of my knowledge there haven't been any successfully released KS/CF MMORPGs. (I won't stand by this, I just haven't heard of any) I can name quite a few attempts though.
@Sovrath so then are you saying if I start a Kickstarter with a lot of work behind it, it will be funded and the next 2 stages will likely succeed assuming I raise enough to last the duration of the project and my design is as good as I think it is?
and btw, I did mention I had every intention of making the kickstarter with a offline gameplay video displaying all systems functioning and implemented so no one would have to worry about being burned as it's being shown on a smaller scale as evidence and would only be a matter of time and money to magnify it into an mmo
thx all for the suggestions lots of help. since i'm not gifted in coding and no one has volunteered to physically help yet, I will actually, like suggested, code it myself on an easier to learn program but still use it as the evidence for my kickstarter, sound good? I only like MMOs is why I want an MMO. I can't play single player games make me lonely
@Sovrath so then are you saying if I start a Kickstarter with a lot of work behind it, it will be funded and the next 2 stages will likely succeed assuming I raise enough to last the duration of the project and my design is as good as I think it is?
and btw, I did mention I had every intention of making the kickstarter with a offline gameplay video displaying all systems functioning and implemented so no one would have to worry about being burned as it's being shown on a smaller scale as evidence and would only be a matter of time and money to magnify it into an mmo
thx all for the suggestions lots of help. since i'm not gifted in coding and no one has volunteered to physically help yet, I will actually, like suggested, code it myself on an easier to learn program but still use it as the evidence for my kickstarter, sound good? I only like MMOs is why I want an MMO. I can't play single player games make me lonely
Well, I don't know if it will get funded. Look at the links I put there. Especially the single player game. There was a whole game there and people didn't fund it.
If I was you I would (and if you have to do this as opposed to getting hired and working in the industry and learning about the industry) find a school that teaches animation.
Find someone who is an advanced student and offer them a small bit of money to animate some of your work. IF that means that you get an extra job or put extra away so be it.
To illustrate the point, when I have a piece recorded I hire my own musicians, pay union scale, and get someone who knows recording to record it. It's the only way I'm going to get a decent enough work that I can show to people.
However, in the arts, especially dance and acting, there are people who will do things for free because they get to put it on their resume.
So, I imagine there is a young animator out there who will do the work but not for full blown industry pay but for some pay so he can also show his work, put it in his portfolio.
Be industrious and contact some schools, say you have a small job for a young animator. Also remember you want to see his/her work as well. They might look at what you have and turn it down OR they might say sure, I'll do that for a few hundred bucks or so.
It's a start.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
so you all are saying if I make a Kickstarter, it won't be funded, and if it does get funded, it will never be finished, and if it does get finished, it will be garbage BUT if I make single player games and work on smaller projects first, later on I will undoubtedly have a funded KS, completed game, and be really good?
If you don't plan for ALL aspects of developing a game, then yes.
so you all are saying if I make a Kickstarter, it won't be funded, and if it does get funded, it will never be finished, and if it does get finished, it will be garbage BUT if I make single player games and work on smaller projects first, later on I will undoubtedly have a funded KS, completed game, and be really good?
The biggest hurdle you haven't considered is that majority of the funded KS mmos had big talent behind them that worked on or built mmos in the past. You have zero experience and no offense are a nobody in the gaming world. Why would you think people would fund your game based off a few assets and some art and a couple animations? If you dont have almost a solid foundation of your game done before KS. People won't even consider taking a risk on it.
so you all are saying if I make a Kickstarter, it won't be funded, and if it does get funded, it will never be finished, and if it does get finished, it will be garbage BUT if I make single player games and work on smaller projects first, later on I will undoubtedly have a funded KS, completed game, and be really good?
The biggest hurdle you haven't considered is that majority of the funded KS mmos had big talent behind them that worked on or built mmos in the past. You have zero experience and no offense are a nobody in the gaming world. Why would you think people would fund your game based off a few assets and some art and a couple animations? If you dont have almost a solid foundation of your game done before KS. People won't even consider taking a risk on it.
And to follow up on this idea ...
I only give money to kickstarters if they:
A, have experienced people and/or ... B, the presentation shows a mostly finished game.
Mostly B.
If someone has years of industry experience but nothing much to show on a kickstarter (looking at you Pantheon) I won't give a dime.
If someone is new on the block but the presentation, the actual finished work is very good then I can rest assured that they that they at least know enough to get that far and they will use the extra money to "bring it on home".
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
@MrMelGibson by the time of the KS, i'd have more than art ,assets ,and animations,
@postlarval so you were the one who posted an incomplete yet relatively long list of things I probably hadn't thought of like infrastructure, legal council etc... i've thought of them but for the ones I haven't, wouldn't there be someone I could hire to take care of them and even if it took one person to think of and handle them dealing with multiple people, it still would be covered in the funding, isn't that what it's for, and the expensive parts of mmo development come from paying the team weekly for a few years and maybe bulk payments here and there for equipment?
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.
Not really... "desperate" isn't the word I'd choose, at least.
You have:
Vendetta Online (I've blogged about it) Albion Online Order and Chaos
...
RuneScape (upcoming).
...and countless others.
If you haven't found a decent MMO for phones yet, let me hazard it may just not be your genre.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Authored 139 missions in VendettaOnline and 6 tracks in Distance
@Phaserlight - I draw a major distinction between tablet and phone games. I'm 6'7" with hand size to match and not even I want to carry a full blown tablet everywhere to use a phone. They are really their own classification somewhere between phone and laptop. That eliminates Albion Online.
Order and Chaos was the specific title I had in mind when I said "Games that try too hard to be like PC games and don't really take advantage of the control schemes that feel natural on a phone." It's essentially WoW for phones. I don't even like WoW for the PC.
VO and RS literally are just PC games ported over to the phone.
I feel very safe in saying that the phone MMO market is still relatively unexploited and about even more desperate for innovation than the PC market. Plus nobody is going to get upset with a well done 2D or 2.5D game on a phone which makes breaking into the market dramatically easier. From the aspect of controlling things I think 2.5D is actually the optimal format.
@MrMelGibson by the time of the KS, i'd have more than art ,assets ,and animations,
@postlarval so you were the one who posted an incomplete yet relatively long list of things I probably hadn't thought of like infrastructure, legal council etc... i've thought of them but for the ones I haven't, wouldn't there be someone I could hire to take care of them and even if it took one person to think of and handle them dealing with multiple people, it still would be covered in the funding, isn't that what it's for, and the expensive parts of mmo development come from paying the team weekly for a few years and maybe bulk payments here and there for equipment?
You're gonna need a lot more than just an offline video showing off some in game systems. MMOs are probably the most complex games to get running and keep up on. From your limited knowledge I would say you won't get funded. You need to get a lot more training and experience before you go into building a full mmo. MMOs cost millions of dollars to just get off the ground. Your best bet would be to get a job with a developer (if you have the schooling or training that is) and learn what it is to make a video game. Right now you haven't convinced me you could even make a single player game let alone an mmo.
This isn't something you just learn as you go. Some of the biggest names in the video game industry couldn't even get funded for their mmos because people know the massive challenge something like that entails. These are people who have extensive knowledge about building a video game. What makes you think you'll succeed when they didn't? Just an honest question.
Nothing wrong with having dreams, but as an adult you're gonna have to put some of that in check. As others have already said. You need to start small and see if you are even able to do that. Going from no experience at all to full blown mmo is like having some small fights with your siblings and expecting to take out the heavyweight champion of the world.
I wouldn't say your dream is impossible. It's just unlikely if you try to go big right off the bat. I personally think there is potential to create a small project yourself and build a small community around it. I wouldn't be making my game if I thought it's not likely to succeed.
If you try to make most of it yourself, your expenses will be low. You'll probably only need to find 5 paying customers to cover your server costs. If the idea is good and you are dedicated, you may get 200 active users. The conversion rate (number of paying customers) will be higher for a small "fanmade" sandbox, so you could have 40 paying customers on your 200 active users. That's enough to save up for some licenses, assets and grow it from there.
Have you thought about learning to code? That would let you realize your dreams with no need for others' help.
@MrMelGibson by the time of the KS, i'd have more than art ,assets ,and animations,
@postlarval so you were the one who posted an incomplete yet relatively long list of things I probably hadn't thought of like infrastructure, legal council etc... i've thought of them but for the ones I haven't, wouldn't there be someone I could hire to take care of them and even if it took one person to think of and handle them dealing with multiple people, it still would be covered in the funding, isn't that what it's for, and the expensive parts of mmo development come from paying the team weekly for a few years and maybe bulk payments here and there for equipment?
There are very few of those roles that you can double up on. MMOs are huge undertakings, much different from a single-player game with no online component. As someone said previously, you should start small to get a feel for what it's like.
As for funding, how do you plan on getting it? Do you think just because you put up a Kickstarter page with a few ideas people will suddenly start throwing money at you? It's going to take a lot of hard work convincing people to invest. It's going to be even harder to convince people to work for you, because you won't be able to pay them much at the beginning. It will be even harder to retain them, especially if other jobs are out there that pay more and provide better perks. People may love to do something, but they also have to pay their bills and feed their families. Reality will always win.
Lastly, what's your investment? Most people who start business endeavors put up a significant amount of their own money as well. Do have that kind of money? If you don't, you better start saving now.
One more thing: The success litmus test...
Are you building a game or a business. If you answered 'game' you failed.
Anyone want to help me start a family? I have some ideas for the furniture and what the kids will wear, I just need a wife to make some kids. Can anyone help?
(I am already married but I hope you get the point)
It's not that easy. Any game that isn't a simple mobile game take a team of people and a lot of money to make anything worth even looking at nowadays. It's like youre asking to put together a car from some homemade parts and panels, ya know, you got some ideas. It will look like a go cart from the 1950s and you wan to complete in a world of 2017 modern cars.
Try pre-built toolsets like RPGMaker and you can make at least an MMO Adventure to scratch that itch. To make an actual MMO solo, realistically, you need to get your hands on an existing MMO engine and just change the graphics, mechanics, half the Chinese MMOs are just that. If you have some ideas and artwork you might be able to pitch that on a Kickstarter to get enough money for an existing engines or developers
FYI I made my own MMO game recently, but its a website and is turn based. Not what you are probably looking to make but just saying, my goal was realistic and its up and running after YEARS of toying with it.
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.
You've already started about the steps beyond just making a game demo. 'I was actually planning on posting it on Kickstarter and expecting the
rest to fall into place once I could pay the appropriate people.' So, start by building a business plan.
Start by determining how many people it will take to develop your dream game, and how long you might expect it to take to both hire the staff and for the staff to do the work. That will help you determine how much building the game will cost. Then you will know how much money you will need up front. From there, to attract investors, you need to plan things like unit cost and how long it will take for an investor to recoup their investment (a business monetary model). The more attractive your project is to investors will determine how much money you can attract. You'll probably need some people on board to help you sell yourself and your plan (names *do* attract the attention you want). That's going to get you to financial stages (Kickstarter, you mentioned, although I would suggest that an average successful Kickstarter campaign doesn't pull enough cash to actually complete most games, especially ones as large and complex as an MMORPG). You might also want to be able to answer the questions in @postlarval's response above. Those are the kinds of things investors will want to know, and I'm certain you've got reliable cost projections (both short-term and long-term) in order to implement the solutions you provide. You are running all of this stuff by your lawyer to get commitments from your 'board', right?
Then the business plan is acted upon. Hire that staff, produce those design documents like @Sorvath suggests (this is where your idea for a game goes), create the various game assets (art and sound and writing -- quests don't just appear by themselves), manage your team and develop the product. Now, test it, market it, produce it, set up distribution channels to automate your business monetary model. Set up a hosting center and iron out issues to get it running as smoothly as possible; this is actually your product you're going to sell.
My guess is that you don't have 100 pages/charts/graphs of a business plan written down, you're probably only halfway to attracting an investor. Now, smarten this into a nice presentation. Oh, and you'll probably need more than one investor.
The thing many new businesses wanting to get into the MMORPG business have the most difficulty with is the about of writing it really needs. And I'd estimate the amount of text (NPC dialog, in-game objects, help files, instructions, descriptions, and other elements) in a typical MMORPG to be equivalent to 2-4 fantasy novels at 350-400 pages each. If you think you're going to do all that writing yourself, let me suggest that you might want to start by writing 1200 to 1600 pages of a novel. (It's a boatload of work, and takes a lot more dedication and discipline than skill).
Ideas and art are the easy bits. Everything else is where the money is made or lost.
Finally, if all you are asking for is someone to code something for you, make sure you have a good response to the inevitable question, 'What are you paying?'
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Anyone want to help me start a family? I have some ideas for the furniture and what the kids will wear, I just need a wife to make some kids. Can anyone help?
(I am already married but I hope you get the point)
It's not that easy. Any game that isn't a simple mobile game take a team of people and a lot of money to make anything worth even looking at nowadays. It's like youre asking to put together a car from some homemade parts and panels, ya know, you got some ideas. It will look like a go cart from the 1950s and you wan to complete in a world of 2017 modern cars.
Try pre-built toolsets like RPGMaker and you can make at least an MMO Adventure to scratch that itch. To make an actual MMO solo, realistically, you need to get your hands on an existing MMO engine and just change the graphics, mechanics, half the Chinese MMOs are just that. If you have some ideas and artwork you might be able to pitch that on a Kickstarter to get enough money for an existing engines or developers
FYI I made my own MMO game recently, but its a website and is turn based. Not what you are probably looking to make but just saying, my goal was realistic and its up and running after YEARS of toying with it.
That's an interesting game my friend. Nice work! Looks like you put in a lot of effort in it. I like the premise as well. I think I'm gonna give it a shot on tablet soon. I wish I had even half the talent you do to put together something cool like that.
If you want your game to become a reality, the critical thing is to scale it back to what you can actually pull off. There are a lot of cool game ideas that even a collection of the best game developers in the world with a $500 million budget wouldn't be able to implement properly. The ability to scale back your ambitions to something you can actually accomplish is an important skill to have.
@MrMelGibson by the time of the KS, i'd have more than art ,assets ,and animations,
As opposed to previous examples, due to the recent changes made to the KickStarter rules devs already have to show a realistic and honest presentation of a working prototype of their game. Without a working demo or an alpha build KickStarter wouldn't let you start a campaign. This new rule doesn't apply to campaigns started prior to the changes.
Also note that the vast majority of KS campaigns fail to meet their goals without having any publicity and the ones that get funded usually have big names with extensive marketing and hype fueling them.
@MrMelGibson by the time of the KS, i'd have more than art ,assets ,and animations,
As opposed to previous examples, due to the recent changes made to the KickStarter rules devs already have to show a realistic and honest presentation of a working prototype of their game. Without a working demo or an alpha build KickStarter wouldn't let you start a campaign. This new rule doesn't apply to campaigns started prior to the changes.
Also note that the vast majority of KS campaigns fail to meet their goals without having any publicity and the ones that get funded usually have big names with extensive marketing and hype fueling them.
I am really glad they finally made this change because it will kill off future scams.
I stopped replying coz it seemed people weren't reading before commenting. good chat but apparently I dont have enough beans to go around for a programmer
will anyone help me make an mmo with good ideas? learning c++ was easier than I thought and that made learning an engine very easy so now I just was wondering what were some ideas that would make for a great mmo?
Comments
1. Games with "energy" or other time factors that make it impractical to just sit down and play them.
2. Games that try too hard to be like PC games and don't really take advantage of the control schemes that feel natural on a phone.
Because of that I could see breaking into the market for phone games and phone MMOs fairly easily it you have a simple/solid design that takes advantage of the control schemes that work well for phones and does away with the cash grab energy timer nonsense. You'd have to find alternative monetization methods but I think you could still turn a decent profit.
In the PC MMO market, fairly hefty projects like Wurm Online are considered low budget, and while there is little innovation in the AAA market, you have a lot of other indie companies to compete with. Taking them on in any kind of serious fashion means millions.
If you make a kickstarter for an mmo without a lot of work behind it (or a single player game) you will most likely not get funded. Heck, Pantheon was not able to get started and they had concept art and the like and an idea. They had to actually work on the game themselves and then people gave them money.
this was their pitch: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1588672538/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen
Concept art, at this stage in the game, won't get you funded because others have done this, not come through and people have been burned.
Making an mmo is difficult.
Having said that, if you are dead set on making a game, actually work on making a single player game, get some levels done THEN you can try your hand at kickstarter or some such thing. At least some game play is more than pictures.
Making a single player game will be easier than an online massive multiplayer experience.
Heck, look at the budgets for mmorpg's compared to single player games if you want to get a sense of scope as far as costs.
edit: here's a single player game that has a LOT of work behind it but it didn't get funded. So bummed about this one.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1806160598/rise-of-the-king?ref=email
You're gong to need a bit of work and an amazing pitch.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
So, yeah, that sounds about right
and btw, I did mention I had every intention of making the kickstarter with a offline gameplay video displaying all systems functioning and implemented so no one would have to worry about being burned as it's being shown on a smaller scale as evidence and would only be a matter of time and money to magnify it into an mmo
thx all for the suggestions lots of help. since i'm not gifted in coding and no one has volunteered to physically help yet, I will actually, like suggested, code it myself on an easier to learn program but still use it as the evidence for my kickstarter, sound good? I only like MMOs is why I want an MMO. I can't play single player games make me lonely
If I was you I would (and if you have to do this as opposed to getting hired and working in the industry and learning about the industry) find a school that teaches animation.
Find someone who is an advanced student and offer them a small bit of money to animate some of your work. IF that means that you get an extra job or put extra away so be it.
To illustrate the point, when I have a piece recorded I hire my own musicians, pay union scale, and get someone who knows recording to record it. It's the only way I'm going to get a decent enough work that I can show to people.
However, in the arts, especially dance and acting, there are people who will do things for free because they get to put it on their resume.
So, I imagine there is a young animator out there who will do the work but not for full blown industry pay but for some pay so he can also show his work, put it in his portfolio.
Be industrious and contact some schools, say you have a small job for a young animator. Also remember you want to see his/her work as well. They might look at what you have and turn it down OR they might say sure, I'll do that for a few hundred bucks or so.
It's a start.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
~~ postlarval ~~
I only give money to kickstarters if they:
A, have experienced people and/or ...
B, the presentation shows a mostly finished game.
Mostly B.
If someone has years of industry experience but nothing much to show on a kickstarter (looking at you Pantheon) I won't give a dime.
If someone is new on the block but the presentation, the actual finished work is very good then I can rest assured that they that they at least know enough to get that far and they will use the extra money to "bring it on home".
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
@postlarval so you were the one who posted an incomplete yet relatively long list of things I probably hadn't thought of like infrastructure, legal council etc... i've thought of them but for the ones I haven't, wouldn't there be someone I could hire to take care of them and even if it took one person to think of and handle them dealing with multiple people, it still would be covered in the funding, isn't that what it's for, and the expensive parts of mmo development come from paying the team weekly for a few years and maybe bulk payments here and there for equipment?
You have:
Vendetta Online (I've blogged about it)
Albion Online
Order and Chaos
...
RuneScape (upcoming).
...and countless others.
If you haven't found a decent MMO for phones yet, let me hazard it may just not be your genre.
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
Order and Chaos was the specific title I had in mind when I said "Games that try too hard to be like PC games and don't really take advantage of the control schemes that feel natural on a phone." It's essentially WoW for phones. I don't even like WoW for the PC.
VO and RS literally are just PC games ported over to the phone.
I feel very safe in saying that the phone MMO market is still relatively unexploited and about even more desperate for innovation than the PC market. Plus nobody is going to get upset with a well done 2D or 2.5D game on a phone which makes breaking into the market dramatically easier. From the aspect of controlling things I think 2.5D is actually the optimal format.
This isn't something you just learn as you go. Some of the biggest names in the video game industry couldn't even get funded for their mmos because people know the massive challenge something like that entails. These are people who have extensive knowledge about building a video game. What makes you think you'll succeed when they didn't? Just an honest question.
Nothing wrong with having dreams, but as an adult you're gonna have to put some of that in check. As others have already said. You need to start small and see if you are even able to do that. Going from no experience at all to full blown mmo is like having some small fights with your siblings and expecting to take out the heavyweight champion of the world.
I wouldn't say your dream is impossible. It's just unlikely if you try to go big right off the bat. I personally think there is potential to create a small project yourself and build a small community around it. I wouldn't be making my game if I thought it's not likely to succeed.
If you try to make most of it yourself, your expenses will be low. You'll probably only need to find 5 paying customers to cover your server costs. If the idea is good and you are dedicated, you may get 200 active users. The conversion rate (number of paying customers) will be higher for a small "fanmade" sandbox, so you could have 40 paying customers on your 200 active users. That's enough to save up for some licenses, assets and grow it from there.
Have you thought about learning to code? That would let you realize your dreams with no need for others' help.
As for funding, how do you plan on getting it? Do you think just because you put up a Kickstarter page with a few ideas people will suddenly start throwing money at you? It's going to take a lot of hard work convincing people to invest. It's going to be even harder to convince people to work for you, because you won't be able to pay them much at the beginning. It will be even harder to retain them, especially if other jobs are out there that pay more and provide better perks. People may love to do something, but they also have to pay their bills and feed their families. Reality will always win.
Lastly, what's your investment? Most people who start business endeavors put up a significant amount of their own money as well. Do have that kind of money? If you don't, you better start saving now.
One more thing: The success litmus test...
Are you building a game or a business. If you answered 'game' you failed.
~~ postlarval ~~
(I am already married but I hope you get the point)
It's not that easy. Any game that isn't a simple mobile game take a team of people and a lot of money to make anything worth even looking at nowadays. It's like youre asking to put together a car from some homemade parts and panels, ya know, you got some ideas. It will look like a go cart from the 1950s and you wan to complete in a world of 2017 modern cars.
Try pre-built toolsets like RPGMaker and you can make at least an MMO Adventure to scratch that itch. To make an actual MMO solo, realistically, you need to get your hands on an existing MMO engine and just change the graphics, mechanics, half the Chinese MMOs are just that. If you have some ideas and artwork you might be able to pitch that on a Kickstarter to get enough money for an existing engines or developers
FYI I made my own MMO game recently, but its a website and is turn based. Not what you are probably looking to make but just saying, my goal was realistic and its up and running after YEARS of toying with it.
http://baronsofthegalaxy.com/
http://baronsofthegalaxy.com/ An MMO game I created, solo. It's live now and absolutely free to play!
Start by determining how many people it will take to develop your dream game, and how long you might expect it to take to both hire the staff and for the staff to do the work. That will help you determine how much building the game will cost. Then you will know how much money you will need up front. From there, to attract investors, you need to plan things like unit cost and how long it will take for an investor to recoup their investment (a business monetary model). The more attractive your project is to investors will determine how much money you can attract. You'll probably need some people on board to help you sell yourself and your plan (names *do* attract the attention you want). That's going to get you to financial stages (Kickstarter, you mentioned, although I would suggest that an average successful Kickstarter campaign doesn't pull enough cash to actually complete most games, especially ones as large and complex as an MMORPG). You might also want to be able to answer the questions in @postlarval's response above. Those are the kinds of things investors will want to know, and I'm certain you've got reliable cost projections (both short-term and long-term) in order to implement the solutions you provide. You are running all of this stuff by your lawyer to get commitments from your 'board', right?
Then the business plan is acted upon. Hire that staff, produce those design documents like @Sorvath suggests (this is where your idea for a game goes), create the various game assets (art and sound and writing -- quests don't just appear by themselves), manage your team and develop the product. Now, test it, market it, produce it, set up distribution channels to automate your business monetary model. Set up a hosting center and iron out issues to get it running as smoothly as possible; this is actually your product you're going to sell.
My guess is that you don't have 100 pages/charts/graphs of a business plan written down, you're probably only halfway to attracting an investor. Now, smarten this into a nice presentation. Oh, and you'll probably need more than one investor.
The thing many new businesses wanting to get into the MMORPG business have the most difficulty with is the about of writing it really needs. And I'd estimate the amount of text (NPC dialog, in-game objects, help files, instructions, descriptions, and other elements) in a typical MMORPG to be equivalent to 2-4 fantasy novels at 350-400 pages each. If you think you're going to do all that writing yourself, let me suggest that you might want to start by writing 1200 to 1600 pages of a novel. (It's a boatload of work, and takes a lot more dedication and discipline than skill).
Ideas and art are the easy bits. Everything else is where the money is made or lost.
Finally, if all you are asking for is someone to code something for you, make sure you have a good response to the inevitable question, 'What are you paying?'
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
Especially when the details are in a sense a multi engineering nightmare. But anyway...
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
Also note that the vast majority of KS campaigns fail to meet their goals without having any publicity and the ones that get funded usually have big names with extensive marketing and hype fueling them.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
will anyone help me make an mmo with good ideas? learning c++ was easier than I thought and that made learning an engine very easy so now I just was wondering what were some ideas that would make for a great mmo?