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[h1ddentree]

Hi all, I waited a long time to post this, because I know solo MMO projects usually have a certian stigma about them! Especially as a first gamedev project. I am a long time lurker of Tig, and excited to be part of the community.





I have been working on this (currently unnamed) project for about 11 months on and off (nights and weekends). My strategy for this project has been to use technologies I am familiar with while leveraging pre-made stuff for the things I am bad at (3d modelling / animation). For these reasons I ended up writing my server from scratch in node.js and choosing Unity as my client.

I am a life-long fan of EverQuest, and always dreamed of making my own MMO heavily based on its design. After seeing some other indie MMOs (like the awesome Project Gorgon) I decided to take the plunge.





Here is some technical mumbo-jumbo that I am proud of:

Server Stuffs: written in node.js

• Server is authoritative and simulates the world. Makes cheating difficult. Going with the 'zoned' approach of one process per play area.
• Player input is sent to the server several times a second for processing.
• All entities (players, npcs, etc) are synced over UDP for fast & relevant updates
• I built a reliable messaging system on-top of UDP to handle all of the actual gameplay events (attack this, loot that, etc)
• Built a neat server-side pathfinding system that parses OBJ nav-mesh files so that NPCs know what the world looks like.
• Used mySQL for the relational bits (items, abilities, etc) and store a bunch of other things in redis

In addition my pipeline is pretty good. I can easily add new items, enemies, factions, abilities, weapons, etc. The client-side of things are pretty decent too after having to learn a *TON* about Unity.

As far as gameplay is concerned, right now I am trying to nail down all the basics that an MMO needs. I have spent WAY too long in node.js server-side hell, and I am just coming out of the darkness to do more fun things like world-building etc. I have some neat ideas on how to improve the genre that I am excited to share. I am hoping that I can get some feedback here, as I implement these systems.





The main challenge I see is content generation (duh!) as I have plans for a lot of races / cities / dungeons / quests etc. I am not 100% sure on how i'll solve this problem yet. I am still pretty motivated, so hopefully as my tools and methods improve each dungeon / city will be faster and faster.

Either that or this will  launch in about 2025





Anyways, hope you enjoyed taking a look at my project. I will try to keep this thread up-to-date as my MMO dev adventure continues.

I also post as often as I can on twitter: https://twitter.com/h1ddentree

As most of you know, every follow, like or thread reply means a lot to an indie dev, so I hope you stop by!  

- h1ddentree

[deab]

Just read your Reddit post, love to see more EQ inspired games. Love your approach of tech/engine first, but how are you going to tackle all the 3d assets required?

[s_harriton]

The environment looks cool. Keep it up!

[h1ddentree]

Just read your Reddit post, love to see more EQ inspired games. Love your approach of tech/engine first, but how are you going to tackle all the 3d assets required?

Thanks! Love that EQ still inspires so many people 

One of the main reasons I chose Unity is to leverage their massive library of assets (3d models, terrain tools, animations, sounds, etc). I still think I am going to have a pretty big problem of creating content for a big world solo, but hopefully this will help a bit!

[h1ddentree]

The environment looks cool. Keep it up!

Thanks!!

[h1ddentree]

Starting to work on my spellbook and spell icons. The first few icons took forever (my photoshop skills need some work!) but each one got a bit faster...





I'm thinking of each spot in the spellbook is 'reserved' for a specific spell. That way, having a complete spellbook can be another mini-objective that completionists can go strive for.

[h1ddentree]

Refining the style a bit. The effect is cool, but obviously won't work if I am flipping through hundreds of pages of spells. This would have to be paired with some sort of bookmark system (any other ideas?)

[h1ddentree]

Sorry for more boring spell stuff (it has been a slog!)

Working on memorizing, forgetting and casting spells and how the spell icons look and react.

The new Unity UI system has been pretty easy to work with. I find when I need to implement a new feature I just do some googling around and I find an answer pretty quickly!

Here are what the spell icon cooldowns look like. I have 3 different ones here since they are so easy to customize:



Let me know what you think!