I have been working on the design for a MMO for over 2 years. I am now programming the client and server so I can get a demo running and use the demo to find a source of funding for the development of the full game. I am a programmer not a artist so I am getting to a place where I NEED art assets so I can fully implement the features I am programming. I have a post here in the help wanted forum. The post is a long detailed post going into details about what the game is and how it will be set apart from other MMOs. It has a bunch of screenshots showing my progress. It has the link to our website and forum. However I am not getting any response. I would really hate to have spent all this time coding and designing just to be stopped because I don't have the art assets needed. So please give me some advice on how to get people interested! Thanks! [Edited by - Ravuya on November 19, 2009 10:12:50 PM]

Can you post a link to your other post, and also to your website?

Have you done research on other successful MMOs ? What do you like about them and what dont you like? What motivated you to create your own MMO? Presumably you wanted to build a game because your dream game didnt exist? Youve spent 2 years on it, what motivates you to keep working on it? What gets you excited about it? Put this all into words.

Unfortunately graphics mean more than gameplay when trying to get people excited about a game so it will need to look good. Maybe a cool, well-done 30 demo movie showing the highlights of your game, and what makes it fun.

There really is nothing to show yet other then what is in the screenshots because I don't have the art assets needed to get the stuff working. I am almost done with my basic combat system however I am having some problems with the math equations. Either the attacks do way to much damage and a lvl 1 NPC kills you with one hit or the Defense stat is to high and so no one's attacks are successful. But even if the battle system was working perfectly I have very few animations, I have no weapon models, I have no particle effects other then snow, so the Combat wouldn't be anything worthy of showing at this point until I can get the art assets needed.

The help wanted posted is located here: http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=553338

and the website is http://www.riseofheroesmmo.com

The forum is really the only part of the site that is working so far but we have a few people who post every day. We are up to 87 replies with in 30 topics most of which are discussion different aspects of the game. I am very active in the forum talking with the people and taking their advice. I can't promise everything they suggest will be added in the game but I do make notes of what they want and if there is a way to fit their requests and ideas into the game in a way that would make sense then I will do my very best to get them in.

Other MMO's that I have researched have been UO (ran my own private server for a couple months), EQ1, EQ2 (ran my own private server), The Sims Online (I'm a huge fan of The SIms), EVE, anarchy online, WoW (this past summer I ran my own private server).

I LOVE to create virtual worlds and be able to explore them. My Goal with RoH is to give the players a Hardcore experience with in a Massive Dynamically changing open Virtual world. To do this the NPCs will have a life of their own, They will grow up, get married, have kids, grow old, and die with the next generation taking their place. Seasonal changes will take place in real time according to the current date, there is a dynamic day/night cycle all done in real time, Advanced Weather system will mean that weather patterns will really move. There will be alot of freedom with in the game but their will be set events taking place in the background that you can choose to take part in or not unless you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

First of all, I don't think you should give up. The only way your project can fail - the only way - is if you give up.

As for art assets, it can be hard to find artists who will work for free. It's just the nature of this business that the skill required to model, rig and animate a mesh is in scarce enough supply that the people who can actually do it can ask for money. That's not to say they don't exist, but it might take a while to find them.

In the meantime, you still need your artwork. You've still got a number of choices:

• Visit a site such as Turbosquid and browse around. It can be hard to find stuff that cheap or free, but if you're willing to part with a bit of cash, there's plenty of stuff there,
• You can download Blender and get started yourself. Obviously if you're creating art/animation yourself it's going to look like crap, but that's not the point. Anybody who understands the process of making a game (particularly potential artists) will be able to overlook crappy artwork at the game behind it.

Neither of those options are easy, but they should keep you moving. In particular, Blender might take you a couple of weeks to be proficient enough to produce a half-decent character, but at least you'll have something you can release in a demo to attract potential collaborators.

But remember what I said: the only way your project will fail is if you give up.

Im not a huge fan of MMORPGs but my friend is a huge fan and I can tell you that the most important factor for him is: the rules.

It doesnt matter how many cool features a game has. For him, everything boils down to a few rules that are deal-breakers for him. I cant remember his particular preferences but I can tell you that he doesnt play WOW because he doesnt like the rules. He says theyre 'gay' and they baby you too much. Apparently, you are never really in danger of losing too much. Even if someone kills you they still cant take all your stuff. And there are too many safe zones where no one can fight anyone else. Stuff like that. I guess MMORPG fans are really anal about their rules. If you come up with a good combination of rules, that might get people excited.

Edit: It sounds like you're really passionate and you've really tried a lot of other MMORPGs. I really like your attitude and Im sure you'll eventually end up with a cool game with lots of fans. Good luck!

Quote: Original post by EmpireProductions
I LOVE to create virtual worlds and be able to explore them. My Goal with RoH is to give the players a Hardcore experience with in a Massive Dynamically changing open Virtual world. To do this the NPCs will have a life of their own, They will grow up, get married, have kids, grow old, and die with the next generation taking their place. Seasonal changes will take place in real time according to the current date, there is a dynamic day/night cycle all done in real time, Advanced Weather system will mean that weather patterns will really move. There will be alot of freedom with in the game but their will be set events taking place in the background that you can choose to take part in or not unless you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just on the topic of day/night cycle, I'm personally not a fan of the "real-time" day/night cycle. The problem, from my point of view, is that most people, most of the time will play your game at the same time every day. So there's not much point having a day/night cycle, if it's always late evening when I'm playing your game.

Same with NPCs getting old and dying. What would be the point of that feature if the NPC only ages one "year" for every real year that passes? I'd have to be playing your game for 20 years to notice any actual effects!

So, I think you should run your game time at something like 6.4x "real" time (Use a non-integer number so that at 8pm "real" time, it's a different time in your game each day). That means the "day" in your game will last 3 hours, 45 minutes of "real" time - so an average sitting will see the full cycle. It also means your average NPC age will be about 10 "real" years (that is, from birth to death (at age 64)). That's still pretty long, but it's short enough that you'll have many NPCs at different stages of life at any given time, and you'll actually notice the changes in age over time (a baby will grow from being born to being 10 years old in about 18 months of real time).

Of course, that's just my personal opinion and kind of off-topic anyway :)

Yes WoW does baby you alot and death really has no meaning. The players I am targeting are the hardcore RPG players. Death will have meaning in fact every choice you make will have a impact on you and others around you.

and Codeka thanks. I have worked to hard on this now to just give up. I am looking on turbosquid and so far I found a animated spider I can use for free as a mob.

Quote: Original post by Codeka

Quote: Original post by EmpireProductions
I LOVE to create virtual worlds and be able to explore them. My Goal with RoH is to give the players a Hardcore experience with in a Massive Dynamically changing open Virtual world. To do this the NPCs will have a life of their own, They will grow up, get married, have kids, grow old, and die with the next generation taking their place. Seasonal changes will take place in real time according to the current date, there is a dynamic day/night cycle all done in real time, Advanced Weather system will mean that weather patterns will really move. There will be alot of freedom with in the game but their will be set events taking place in the background that you can choose to take part in or not unless you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just on the topic of day/night cycle, I'm personally not a fan of the "real-time" day/night cycle. The problem, from my point of view, is that most people, most of the time will play your game at the same time every day. So there's not much point having a day/night cycle, if it's always late evening when I'm playing your game.

Same with NPCs getting old and dying. What would be the point of that feature if the NPC only ages one "year" for every real year that passes? I'd have to be playing your game for 20 years to notice any actual effects!

So, I think you should run your game time at something like 6.4x "real" time (Use a non-integer number so that at 8pm "real" time, it's a different time in your game each day). That means the "day" in your game will last 3 hours, 45 minutes of "real" time - so an average sitting will see the full cycle. It also means your average NPC age will be about 10 "real" years (that is, from birth to death (at age 64)). That's still pretty long, but it's short enough that you'll have many NPCs at different stages of life at any given time, and you'll actually notice the changes in age over time (a baby will grow from being born to being 10 years old in about 18 months of real time).

Of course, that's just my personal opinion and kind of off-topic anyway :)

the day/night cycle can still be discussed. I just thought having it real time would be cool because then we could have in game events and things for all the different Holidays which was one thing I really liked from WoW. Also it is a fantasy game so who said a NPC's life span would have to be 64 real years? I was thinking having a NPC's natural life span be about 6 months.