How much would it cost to finance the development is a low graphics MMO like Eldevin?

MMOExposed

How much would it cost to finance the development is a low graphics MMO like Eldevin?
Just curious. 

I dont have AAA level money to make my dream MMO. but I dont mind starting small, very small. I am trying out this Eldevin MMO and for a browser MMO, I like elements it has so far for its limitations. I was wondering how much it would cost to get a MMO like this or perhaps less graphical made in you'll opinions?  

TwistedSister77

If it were me, I'd actually buy a dead MMO super cheap and update/change it the way I want.  Probably you could buy some for <$100k

Then depending on your technical skills, contract some folks to update graphics, systems, etc.

Building from scratch would be waaaaayy more expensive.

eoloe

Do you have any technical / art skills?

If yes maybe you can start something very small using godot(frontend) + phoenix(backend).

https://github.com/alfredbaudisch/GodotPhoenixChannels

eoloe

I didn't know that Eldevin was in 3D. I would start something in 2d. Not necessarily easier but less scary IMHO.

Amaranthar

That's actually some pretty good looking art, IMO. 
Very acceptable. 
I have no idea on costs, can't help you there. 

However, you could do like UO did. The characters were made in 3D, then sprite images were captured to put together the sprite animation. 
Meanwhile, all the other art if 2D, and a huge cost savings. 
The drawback is that you are stuck in one view direction. 
UO had a small radius around the character that made any art in front of them transparent. Buildings, tree canopies, whatever. So the Player could see what was immediately around them. 

UO also "broke" the angles, and made whatever was standing upwards at more of an angle than the camera perspective would otherwise show. 
So you could get a better view of characters, buildings, and anything else where it made it better. 

Edit to add:
For most items, like those chests in the picture, they made them with two directions by simply copying them and reversing the image. So you could place them on the left side of the room, against the wall like those you see on the right. 

Here's a pic so you can see it. 

ringdany

You can make an mmo like Eldevin for about $12 ( just the cost of Neverwinter Nights Extended Edition on sale). NWN's Toolset lets you build a full 3D mmo for up to 128 players simultaneously per server, and you can link all these servers together with portals, with unlimited player numbers beyond that.

Scot

Why don't the MMORPG posters make their own MMO? That way I could lounge back like Chris the fat cat, smoking cigars rolled in 50 pound notes on the thighs of Manchester ladies.

The_Korrigan

https://ummorpg.net/

finefluff

Building it yourself would cost more time than money. Runescape started small made from scratch at their parents home. But you would also have to consider the cost of advertising it. Otherwise, getting noticed, let alone drawing in players, would be a challenge. But a man can still dream. Who knows, maybe it will catch on.

ConstantineMerus

Scot said:

Why don't the MMORPG posters make their own MMO? That way I could lounge back like Chris the fat cat, smoking cigars rolled in 50 pound notes on the thighs of Manchester ladies.

Or also known as a Wednesday. 

Vrika

TwistedSister77 said:

If it were me, I'd actually buy a dead MMO super cheap and update/change it the way I want.  Probably you could buy some for <$100k

Then depending on your technical skills, contract some folks to update graphics, systems, etc.

Building from scratch would be waaaaayy more expensive.

The problems with that are:
 -You'd be stuck with a lot of tech that was in use and supported a decade ago, but is outdated today
 -You wouldn't know how the game works since it was built by someone else

You would get the game running quickly and cheap, but afterwards you'd pay it by having to do extra work every time you want to change or update stuff.

LynxJSA

MMOExposed said:

How much would it cost to finance the development is a low graphics MMO like Eldevin?

A lot of it would depend on what you are capable of doing and have the bandwidth to do yourself.

IMO, you have a strong asset, and that is communication. I know hardly anything about you but I can say with complete certainty after a decade's worth of reading your posts and interacting with you, that you could hit a home run in the community building aspect of an MMO. 

You're knowledgeable about MMOs and you seem to be able to read people rather well. You know how to engage people (positively or otherwise), and if your development/management skills are like your conversation skills, you know how to keep the focus where you need/want it. 

That's a big part of the battle for an indie MMO dev. It's how you'll attract talent. It's how you'll build a core community. It's what will make people invest in your project - financially and emotionally. 

There are enough solid engines out there, that you should be able to put together a prototype of what you want to do. Get a basic vertical slice with a handful of users connected so you can showcase what the game experience will be like. 

Notice I haven't written anything about money yet. That's because we don't need another Divergence Online or Star Citizen. Get that first pre-Alpha FaF slice built, and see if you have something worth making. THEN, and only then, should you even ask what kind of money you're looking at. 

Unless you're independently wealthy, of course. If so, get started.

Personally, if I had the cash, I would do as @TwistedSister77 suggested.  I'd buy Celetania, Taikodom, Black Prophecy, Auto Assault, Earth and Beyond Online, or Firefall. I'd then get with the game's core players/clans that were into PVE to create a re-imagining of the game (different approach for each of those, of course) 

Theocritus

Scot said:

Why don't the MMORPG posters make their own MMO? That way I could lounge back like Chris the fat cat, smoking cigars rolled in 50 pound notes on the thighs of Manchester ladies.

Hahaha we'd never get past PVP or PVE.....

LynxJSA

Torval said:

Buying the technical debt of decade old software sounds like a nightmare to me. 

It should go without saying that one would first take a look at the code, platforms, dependencies, etc of old code before committing (if at all) any worker or financial resources toward it.  

Kyleran

Not sure, but what ever the estimate comes out as, double it, then add 50%, then you should be only short by a factor of two or three a few years into the delivery.

Mendel

If you're looking to buy into an existing game, that comes with design decisions the original owners/developers made.  Old tech is a headache unto itself, and getting it to work on modern machines can be a real problem.  Plus, Microsoft has 'retired' several operating systems (like Win7) that may have been the base-line technology for older games.  If you are looking to buy, renovate, and restore, you might be opening yourself up to all manner of problems.

If you're looking to peek under the hood to see how an MMORPG is made, you might consider looking at Ryzom or another open-source game.  That would likely be a cheaper route, especially if you're just curious.

If you're serious, I'd suggest starting with looking into the specific development technology you plan to use -- graphics modelling, compilers, and the like.

Quizzical

TwistedSister77 said:

If it were me, I'd actually buy a dead MMO super cheap and update/change it the way I want.  Probably you could buy some for <$100k

Then depending on your technical skills, contract some folks to update graphics, systems, etc.

Building from scratch would be waaaaayy more expensive.

Licensing a game engine and some middleware libraries would probably get you more of the benefits that you're looking for.  Those are intended to be useful in far more ways than the code from some particular game.

Quizzical

If you want to make a game cheaply, then the key is to not get carried away with feature creep.  Pick two or three features that you think are really important, make sure that they work really well, and build your game around them.  Anything that isn't important to the core of your game doesn't need to be there at all.

TwistedSister77

Quizzical said:

TwistedSister77 said:

If it were me, I'd actually buy a dead MMO super cheap and update/change it the way I want.  Probably you could buy some for <$100k

Then depending on your technical skills, contract some folks to update graphics, systems, etc.

Building from scratch would be waaaaayy more expensive.

Licensing a game engine and some middleware libraries would probably get you more of the benefits that you're looking for.  Those are intended to be useful in far more ways than the code from some particular game.

Yes, and the other cons previously posted are valid (I was aware of these).

When I posted I had no idea of the experience of the OP (still kinda unsure).  

To me though, he likes a specific browser mmorpg in another thread (that is player dead).  Not sure if a private server approach would be best.

Take the developers of Warhammer Return of Reckoning for an example, they did a great job (even though they still had to re-engineer a lot because they didn't straight up buy the code).

I would love to buy Age of Conan and revamp it.. but the IP is on full lockdown.

Scorchien

Alganon would be a good game to get the code for , Really good game IMO but that fucking idiot Derek Smart has it , and has been telling the community he would be putting up a server for 4 years now ..

http://www.alganon.com/

laserit

Scorchien said:

Alganon would be a good game to get the code for , Really good game IMO but that fucking idiot Derek Smart has it , and has been telling the community he would be putting up a server for 4 years now ..

http://www.alganon.com/

Isn't that the game where something shady went on he took control of the game?

Can't remember the details but I remember Derek posting some pretty incriminating stuff.

faithvoid

I've actually run into a few people who have had the same ambition and didn't have a lot of prior knowledge or seemingly the desire to learn.  Once all of them started looking into the cost of freelancing a project together piecemeal, I'm sorry to say, they were all unpleasantly surprised. 

kjempff

If you have no experience with game development, start there and return to your dream in x years.
The x years are less if you are a programmer, even less if you are an experienced programmer. If you are not, hopefully you are at least an artist or project manager. Point is you have to bring some skills to the table, as being the idea person is not going to happen..besides I can assure you that without game development experience your ideas will suck. And if you don't have those skills right now, you have to do the learning part first.

And THEN you can think about the funding.
Which I would recommend that you spend on paying yourself a salary while working on prototypes for a few years. If you are not a programmer it will be expensive to hire someone qualified aka experienced...basically if you can not make at least your own prototype concpts as a starting point, you are screwed.

Cost? Pulling numbers out of thin air...  Anywhere from 100k up to a mil for a very basic game (if you manage it well).

Scorchien

Scorchien said:

Alganon would be a good game to get the code for , Really good game IMO but that fucking idiot Derek Smart has it , and has been telling the community he would be putting up a server for 4 years now ..

http://www.alganon.com/

Yes , Its David Allens the Dev of , Demise ( still an amazing game ) and the MMO Horizons (now known as Istaria)

  David Allen is a really smart guy ,  Alganon was his baby , Smart was brought in to assist soon after it launched, but by mid-March he had taken over the company as president and fired founder Dave Allen, a move which prompted no small amount of controversy in itself.

  Basically there was money troubles with investors Smart was asked by Allen to help him because of his erhmmm Industry experience , Smart talks the Investors into making him President of Quest (behind David Allens back), he then Fires Mr Allen takes over and launches the game ..

Kyleran

Scorchien said:

Scorchien said:

Alganon would be a good game to get the code for , Really good game IMO but that fucking idiot Derek Smart has it , and has been telling the community he would be putting up a server for 4 years now ..

http://www.alganon.com/

Yes , Its David Allens the Dev of , Demise ( still an amazing game ) and the MMO Horizons (now known as Istaria)

  David Allen is a really smart guy ,  Alganon was his baby , Smart was brought in to assist soon after it launched, but by mid-March he had taken over the company as president and fired founder Dave Allen, a move which prompted no small amount of controversy in itself.

  Basically there was money troubles with investors Smart was asked by Allen to help him because of his erhmmm Industry experience , Smart talks the Investors into making him President of Quest (behind David Allens back), he then Fires Mr Allen takes over and launches the game ..

And it fell flat on its face, just like every other game Derek ever was in charge of.

DigDuggy

It's would be hard, for me at least.  I would want crafting similar to that game and housing like that game.......  I wish make sure you have a clear roadmap on what you want before starting.  With a good roadmap, you already be ahead of many developers.