I CAST WALL OF TEXT, NONE SHALL PASS. (Summary at bottom).
I WANNA MAKE A PLATFORMER...
Yeah... weren't expecting that, were ya.
That said, I have an MMO engine from a company whose last single player RPG had a budget of 3 million. The same engine powers an MMO with millions of registered subscribers.
I have this engine at the state it was in 1 year prior to completion. I have the full legal rights to use/sell/distribute/modify/sublicense this engine.
Now what? 3 years (not counting pre-existing code from previous versions) of work by a company and the best programmer I have ever seen, and I have it like it's Christmas day. This engine can power graphics capabilities 1 point below Unreal Tournament on an IGN graphics score. And apparently Crysis... how did Unreal Tournament and Crysis get exactly the same graphics scores? I would expect at least a half point of difference). That's out of 10.
So basically, the graphics are AA quality if done full-up and it does an MMO very nicely. The lead developer (I don't have the tweaks he made, only the notes) has even managed to get it running on a web browser in more than one way.
I also have... a server generator (domain specific), an AI toolkit that siimplifies world generation, years of roleplaying experience, and an imagination most people would kill for (if it didn't kill their productivity). "Sorry, I'm back on earth now... but just so you know, the princess is destroying the kingdom and kidnapped the dragon."
"Don't you mean the dragon is destroying the kingdom... and has kidnapped..."
"I know what I said. Oh, and riding a dragon side-saddle is a bad idea, FYI."
So... what would you do. Is this business... working out the business side was rather challenging. I want to walk with the engine and the first guy I started talking with went immediately to collateral.
"We want to own something."
"Okay, I want to walk with the completed engine. It's pretty much the only reason I'm talking to you. I could do an entire game for 1/4th the cost... in millions... if I didn't have to worry about collateral for investments."
"Then what would the investors get?"
"It's called profit... hopefully. Yes, sometimes with less insurance people expect more."
But... I couldn't say that. It didn't fit his worldview and trying to put it into his worldview didni't leave me with enough wiggle room to figure out a solution. (I really need to respond to his last e-mail... from 6 months ago).
But, I've been sick.
So... I could make another type of game... but I'm an expert procrastinator and I accomplish surprisingly little. I can work around it as a game designer, but as a programmer, I'm slow. I could work with another person... but my games are all like my children... and letting go of them or splitting them is difficult.
Most of them want half. "So you get half... I get half... the artist gets half? Sounds fair. And then if we stop working together the game becomes a rights nightmare with two leeches for each of us so we never finish because we have to give away 2/3rds of what we make... GREAT!!!!"
(I wish I was working with that 'Fez' guy. "Just let me make the game and I'll make you rich." [from the movie] "Dude, I'm not evil, ALL I WANT IS YOUR SOUL... mwahahaha!" "Okay, maybe I'm a little bit evil.")
Seriously, I hate it when rights get divided and people become enemies. That's another reason I'm slow to work with anyone. I'd honestly rather they get the first X of profit (within X years... 1.... for quick turnaround... 2....). I'd honestly rather struggle at the edge of poverty and risk making nothing off of my game while another guy gets paid for the work he did than compromise the future of my work. Maybe I need to stop being such a sissy artist. [INTENTIONAL GOAD!!! C'mon... bring it... ]
Ah, finding an artist is another problem. There are so many great artists... but I mostly don't care. I've got pixel art from guys who draw on 16x16 panels before and backflipped for joy. As long as it fits the game and I have $20 to pay for it, and it's worth at least $20. (Legally, you have to pay SOMETHING for art or you can't transfer ownership to a multinational soul-sucking mega-corp... or consolidate rights to one source to make sure it's not divided up, as I said before. That's why I usually use public domain art).
And none of those are relevant... the platformer, I'd sell out on in a heartbeat. That said... when the other guy realizes I'm going to take what I make on a platformer and parlay it into a rediculous international MMO... he may not be so happy about getting his fair share. "You did what with the money... a lottery ticket... and you won? I hate you." 5 months and a huge lawsuit about whose 50 cents that was later...
"Half of that dollar was mine dude."
I know I seem down on partnerships... but if you've ever read up on David Braben and Ian Bell, they created Elite and hated each other. The other guy (Not Ian Bell) is... (It's probably against the rules to call people that here, so I digress).
And then there's Notch. He got the idea from the infiniminer guy (Zachtronics). ... XD
So, I want to save them. I want to create an MMO, to employ as many people as necessary (I'd say possible, but better 10 guaranteed jobs than 20 walking tight-ropes). I want to make simple fun games. I want to craft worlds. And I want to share all the worlds inside my head with people.
Too conflicted, too inexperienced, too much of a procrastinator, too unfocused, and yet I have all this amazing stuff. I can do it for a lot less than ANY competitor. And my subconscious rocks at solving unsolvable problems. Apparently not this one though.
Any ideas?
Yes, someday I will PAY FOR an MMO... why make it when you can write it. It'll start with a few monsters, a few NPC's, and a game engine... it'll grow from there.
I'd better post, Lightning.
****Summary, with relevant info, to prevent duplication **********
I have an MMO engine with probably over a million dollars of 'developer is more awesome than I ever will be' infused into it. I want to make a platformer, and an MMO, and more games. I've tried talking with companies, it hit hurdles like 'investors' and 'collateral'. "By collateral, do you mean collateral damage? Yeah, we should totally add WMD's into the game."
Anyway, I am poor, flip burgers by day, stare at 'my precious' wishing I had the skill to finish it (it has hundreds of thousands of lines of code and if I lived to be a hundred I would die shortly after I finished duplicating it, according to source code analysis... yes, the programmer is that good.).
Mostly, I just want the engine and I have pieces and improvements that will help them complete it faster and get a full production quality engine/game in a short(er) amount of time... but... they seem more concerned with owning things than making money? I'm not sure they're actually a business.
How do I complete the engine? I lack the skill and nothing can replace it. (Ogre wishes it was this engine, when someone tries to use Ogre to make an MMO... I die a little. Ogre is not a game engine, it is a rendering engine, it renders nicely but you cannot play it as well as an actual game engine.)
This is a specialized professional RPG Game engine. Not a general use engine. It currently powers an MMO with millions of subscribers and has powered AA games whose graphics scored in within 1 point of Unreal. (If only their plot scored well against other major RPG's).
Basically, I have MOST OF what every guy dreams about when he says "I wanna make an MMO" and it's going to waste. *sigh*
How do I accomplish... something productive.
