Hello, Over the past few days I've taken my knowledge in Java/C#/MySQL and started learning XNA. This is my first time with a graphic engine, up to this point I've built an MMORPG that supports over 1,000 clients using the Lineage 2 client. This includes encryption/talking/attacking/npcs/ai/quests/clans/shops/items, ect. I am now starting to take that to the next level and plan to create an MMORPG network that involve many games. As such, we all know World of Warcraft is 1 game and one world. If you don't like World of Warcraft, you don't play. What if that was not the case. What if you could play Pong, Spades, Chess, Checkers, Racing Cars, ect on a site and it would commit to an MMORPG. Where you could build a house, buy your own car, upgrade your clothing line, ect. So, my idea comes down to this. My first game is going to be Pong. I don't want to make it boring like the 70's version. So what ideas do you have? Reminder : All games and ideas must be multiplayer related. Here is what I have so far : - 2 vs 2 (Each side has two paddles) - Power ups (Such as an energy bar to temp increase your paddle speed). - Ability to catch the ball and fire it at your oppenent. - Holy Shield (Given some how, it protects your entire field for x seconds) Things I want to put in some how : - A way to hurt you opppent making his controls hard to handle. - Adding more balls in - making it not a matter of hitting the one ball, but to chose which ball to hit to make the less amount of balls go in. - Avoid from 'lives' yet have a timer based games.

Is your general idea just Home? If so, what are you going to offer as an incentive to play your MMO rather than just finding better individual versions of each game. For inspiration, look to Xbox Live. People buy games for the 360, in part, to earn achievements. It sounds sad, but people like that thing. The other thing you've got to do is get everyone's friends on it as well. This would be made easier with not having to register to play, only register for stats. You don't have the same advantage as Xbox Live, people on the PC have so many options. You must offer a unique reason for players to sign up; for example, Steam has game downloads and dedicated servers for CS etc.

As for Pong, check out a game called Pong Solo. It featured some interesting twists on the pong theme. Another thing that you might want to consider is, get a proper normal game of pong completely nailed, then start adding in crazy power-ups. What if, suddenly, the ball had gravity. Or maybe, the ball splits in to three.

I like the idea of co-op pong, but how are you going to make it so the person doesn't feel like they could do it on their own. Ie, more than one ball?

Pong + breakout, but with indestructible blocks + more frequent powerups = Xtreem Pongz0rz