Quote: Original post by TheWebdev
Ok thanks. This is fast being shot down, with logic... Though are there any other engines similar to Valves?

If not how hard to develop my own? And how much would it cost, $1, $2 million etc.

With your money, I'd approach an existing developer, pitch the concept, and throw down a few million to get the ball rolling. There's no reason to get your hands dirty as the financier.

Quote: Original post by TheWebdev
I have little knowledge of programming, and so I am looking for advice on feasibility. Also, so you know this is not a pipe dream I earn roughly $5 million per year and would be financing this venture myself.

Can I ask what you do for a living?

Anyway, it sounds like it could be cool if the cheating concerns can be addressed. There are certainly many engines out there varying from free to $millions; however with the added emphasis on security in this game, that may narrow down the list somewhat. You could consider licensing a game engine to actually run the game on the client, and developing your own server software which is designed from the ground up to be secure.

Are you looking to run this project yourself, or follow the kind of route Morgan suggested in the post before mine?

Sent you a PM.

Quote: Original post by PolyGone
Sent you a PM.

Wow, that was your first forum post!

Quote: Original post by TheWebdev
** Edit **

... Just doing more research and saw this open source engine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id_Tech_3

Any comments?

It is a bit old these days, but it depends if you want to make something which competes graphically with the most recent FPS games, or something that looks good.
Normally, I don't like the idea of games which need a hard-core gaming PC to run well, but perhaps this game you suggest might be a hard-core game anyway.

By the way, the Q3 engine is released under GPL for free use, which probably shoots you in the foot. If you're looking into this seriously, you need to read up on various licenses because it can play a big part in selecting an engine to use. I guess wikipedia is a good place to start; the important (and hopefully obvious) thing is not to jump in without a lot of thought and research first.

Yes, I mostly just lurk here and send around the occasional PM, but since TheWebdev is new to this forum I thought I'd give him a headsup about the message.

Now everyone is aware of my presence, I guess I'll just have to make a new account again... ;)

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it, but the website Skillground actually has an FPS that does exactly what the OP wants to do, except instead of 10c every kill all the entry fees go into a winners pool that are then divided up between first, second and third place winners. They also have a Rainbow 6 style game, a car racing game and a Tekken style fighting game. I played the racing game LASR a lot when the website first launched and it's actually pretty decent.

Damnit that was my idea from years ago!

There was a another company called Skillgaming who set up to do the same thing. They failed and went bust.

It is entirely possible to do but as above the main problem with an existing engine (or any new one) will be security. It is far to easy to cheat.

Quote: Though are there any other engines similar to Valves?

If not how hard to develop my own? And how much would it cost, $1, $2 million etc.

There are lots of engines that range all the way from a few hundred $ to license (Torque) up to $1 million (Unreal). The Half Life and top end id engines are close to the top end of that scale.

How much to make your own? entirely possible but it takes time and costs money. How long and how much depends on where on the above scale you want to be. To develop an engine and make a game that competes graphically with the HL2 Source engine would be in excess of $2 million.

Quote: Original post by Obscure
There was a another company called Skillgaming who set up to do the same thing. They failed and went bust.

It is entirely possible to do but as above the main problem with an existing engine (or any new one) will be security. It is far to easy to cheat.

Quote: Though are there any other engines similar to Valves?

If not how hard to develop my own? And how much would it cost, $1, $2 million etc.

There are lots of engines that range all the way from a few hundred $ to license (Torque) up to $1 million (Unreal). The Half Life and top end id engines are close to the top end of that scale.

How much to make your own? entirely possible but it takes time and costs money. How long and how much depends on where on the above scale you want to be. To develop an engine and make a game that competes graphically with the HL2 Source engine would be in excess of $2 million.

Strange you mention Skillgaming, I just found out the financier was one of my friends.

Looking into it.