Hi, I've got a dream that one day (maybe) I will make my very own MMORPG (doesn't everybody). Of course, I can't make one, I can't even make Pong. I have been desiging one however, but there is still much more to do. I want it to be like Diablo 2, in that it is top-down view, and the combat will be similar (though I'm heading towards a Nox combat style). There will be races and quests but classes will be treated differently. When you start the game, you won't pick a class, instead, you choose it by joining a guild or group. Over time, as you do quests and the like, you will earn your name as a Fighter or Magician, etc. You don't have to pick a class, but there will have to be bonuses and penalties when doing so, wether to skills or stats or whatever. MAGIC!!! Magic will be different as well. I realized I needed to create an open and vast magic system to make an interesting game, so I came up with these mechanics: Offense - Contains all the spells that hurt the enemy. Defense - Contains all the spells that help your allies and avoids your enemies. Healing - Contains all the spells that replenish your allies Health, Stamina etc. Summoning - Contains all the spells that summon things into being, creatures, items, portals. But maybe your thinking, "This isn't very informative", so I've divided these basic mechanics among what will presented ingame: Light Magic: All that is good and holy. Regenerative magic, buffing spells and spells that hurt the undead. Water Magic: Basic "Good" magic that any noble citizen studies. Not the holy magic that is Light, but the norm of magic studied is Water. Offensive spells (relating to water and ice), creature summoning and basic healing spells is what Water magic is made of. Earth: Everything relating nature and earth. Summoning creatures, damaging enemies with boulders and some buffering spells is what makes up Earth magic. Air: All magic that is trickery and illusionary. In it contains some damaging spells, summoning of portals and debuffing spells. Fire: Fire magic is complete destruction with a few spells for summoning items. Dark: Summoning zombies, slow-damage spells and anything else evil. All opinions are welcome and please post back, anything positive or negative will be useful. Thanks in return. -Scott :)

Erm, classes via guilds and that magic deliniation are not different at all...

I mean that spell system alone is the cornerstone of almost every RPG known to man. [okay, I overstate the case, but still; not uncommon even]

Quote:

Original post by ozzoright Of course, I can't make one, I can't even make Pong

Go download the CircleMUD codebase. Build your idea on that. You can design a lot of MMO systems in a text based environment; pretty graphics or text, it's just a way of giving information.

CircleMUD is written in C, and is pretty easy to play around with and change. I used it to learn the basics of programming and now have a little 3D multiplayer engine with modern features. It's amazing what you can do if you find the right way to use your energy :).

Their site is: developer.circlemud.org

You can get the Bloodshed compiler if you need a free compiler.

Why am I suggesting this? Practical experience on building gameplay systems is one of the best ways to learn.

As Telastyn said, none of the ideas are particularly original.. but whos are these days?

Thanks guys! I'll take your advice Boruki and check out that site.

Thanks again! :)