Hi!

I'm a long time C++ programmer (hobby) and lately I've been poking C# with a few small projects. I've always had the feeling that all these online MMO medieval games were too "fantastical" and out of line. So I thought my next project could be making one of my own.

Here's what I think I want to create:

- A realistic medieval society kind of simulator.

- Isometric perspective, or 2.5D, or 3D 45º i don't really know what you call it. It would look between this:

and this:

I havent decided yet the exact look, but you get what I mean.

- Also, ideally it would be playable by a lot of people at the same time, like Diablo.

Suming up, I'm a programmer who knows nothing about 3D or game design but I'm a very fast learner and I'm willing to invest money too (i was thinking to hire an artist if i see it's too time consuming for me for example).

What I need to know is, what technology should I use? What software does one use to achieve what I want to achieve? Should I go Unity? Should I build it from scratch using some engine? Which one and why? What should I use to do the art part? What's the general process of developing a game such as mine?

I really hope there are skilled enough people here to answer these questions.

Thank you very much!

If you've never made games then change from MMO to some other much (much) smaller single player game type (mmo's are the last kind of games i want to make). The meaning of MMO is enough.

If you've never made games then change from MMO to some other much (much) smaller single player game type (mmo's are the last kind of games i want to make). The meaning of MMO is enough.

I understand your worry but I'd really appreciate if you could address my questions. I may opt to hire more coders besides artists and move the project forward so please respect the original post.

What I need to know is, what technology should I use? What software does one use to achieve what I want to achieve? Should I go Unity? Should I build it from scratch using some engine? Which one and why? What should I use to do the art part? What's the general process of developing a game such as mine?

These are all questions of the type "if you have to ask, you really shouldn't bother asking". Show some modicum of effort and do your own goddamn research!

I really hope there are skilled enough people here to answer these questions.

Implying that we're not "skilled enough" if we can't/won't spoon-feed you answers to you ill-formed questions. That's not a very good way to start out in a community.

I understand your worry but I'd really appreciate if you could address my questions. I may opt to hire more coders besides artists and move the project forward so please respect the original post.

So you're wealthy? Because hiring people strongly implies paying them. In cash. At market rates.

What I need to know is, what technology should I use? What software does one use to achieve what I want to achieve? Should I go Unity? Should I build it from scratch using some engine? Which one and why? What should I use to do the art part? What's the general process of developing a game such as mine?

These are all questions of the type "if you have to ask, you really shouldn't bother asking". Show some modicum of effort and do your own goddamn research!

Yes I was afraid I was asking too much and too general. I assumed it would be better to throw several questions and hope to get some answers than just to ask one thing (which was the original idea, to ask about Unity for my particular project). Can you get any of my questions?

Since it is a beginners forum I was only trying to prevent other beginners like me from jumping in with speculations, a very common thing to happen in such forums, not everything is an attack Mnemotic :)

What I need to know is, what technology should I use? What software does one use to achieve what I want to achieve? Should I go Unity? Should I build it from scratch using some engine? Which one and why? What should I use to do the art part? What's the general process of developing a game such as mine?

Based on the vague information you've provided, it seems to me that you're looking to develop some sort of a multiplayer dungeon crawler. I told this to my magic 8ball and it came back with the following list:

• Either a game development kit, like Unity3D; any 3D game engine under the sun, if you're feeling adventurous; or roll your own if you never want to release a game. Ever.
• Database software for persistence -- I'm partial to PostgrSQL because it isn't MySQL.
• 3D modeling and animation software for creating character models and environments. Blender, Maya and 3DMax are popular contenders. Blender are free, other have licensing costs.
• 2D art software for creating textures and concept art -- Photoshop or GIMP or MSPaint.
• Networking engine. I've read good things about RakNet.
• Hardware for developers and/or test environment.

Rough outline of the tradition inception-development-release cycle is as follows:

1. Write a game design document.
2. Get funding.
3. Hookers and blow.
4. ???
5. Release.

Since it is a beginners forum I was only trying to prevent other beginners like me from jumping in with speculations, a very common thing to happen in such forums, not everything is an attack Mnemotic

Your questions are in a form that encourage speculation.

What I need to know is, what technology should I use? What software does one use to achieve what I want to achieve? Should I go Unity? Should I build it from scratch using some engine? Which one and why? What should I use to do the art part? What's the general process of developing a game such as mine?

Based on the vague information you've provided, it seems to me that you're looking to develop some sort of a multiplayer dungeon crawler. I told this to my magic 8ball and it came back with the following list:

• Either a game development kit, like Unity3D; any 3D game engine under the sun, if you're feeling adventurous; or roll your own if you never want to release a game. Ever.
• Database software for persistence -- I'm partial to PostgrSQL because it isn't MySQL.
• 3D modeling and animation software for creating character models and environments. Blender, Maya and 3DMax are popular contenders. Blender are free, other have licensing costs.
• 2D art software for creating textures and concept art -- Photoshop or GIMP or MSPaint.
• Networking engine. I've read good things about RakNet.
• Hardware for developers and/or test environment.

Rough outline of the tradition inception-development-release cycle is as follows:

1. Write a game design document.
2. Get funding.
3. Hookers and blow.
4. ???
5. Release.

So Unity3D is a good choice after all, good.

I'll look into RakNet.

That outline was a good try but wasn't funny at all, you gotta work on your jokes man.

"I have the feeling you are used to people promising the world and delivering nothing. I'm not in that demographic."

The others all do say that as well, though... :-)

"I have the feeling you are used to people promising the world and delivering nothing. I'm not in that demographic."

The others all do say that as well, though... :-)

But I really mean it...

The reason why you're getting the replies you're getting is because your question really doesn't have reasonable answer. If you go through the posts on the For Beginners section you'll notice that a lot of posts don't differ. It generally goes like this:

"I want to make an MMO, I have no/little/dabble/some in this language but none in this language/etc. experience. What do?"

The replies are always the same. It makes no sense for people to exert effort into answering these questions in detail because answers to these questions are limited in being usable. MMOs are a massive undertaking, and describing a way to go about it would be the subject of a book, not a forum post. On the other hand, "how to make an MMO" is in fact one of those questions that, if you have to ask, then you shouldn't.

One of the moderators, ApochPiQ, has already outlined why this is a very bad idea in a journal entry: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/355/entry-2250155-why-you-shouldnt-be-making-an-mmo/