MMOG Design

From Multiverse

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Influential thinkers 1.2 Game design documents 1.3 More on game design 2 Books 2.1 MMOG-specific books 2.2 General game-design books 3 Web sites 3.1 Game development experiences and lessons learned 3.2 Game industry news and markets 3.3 Blogs, commentary, and research 3.4 Multiverse forum posts 4 Military specifications and references

Overview

The issues and processes of MMOG design are related to, but distinct from general computer/video game design. MMOG design in particular is a relatively new topic (though it should be noted that text-based games such as MUDs have been around for quite a while).

There are three main aspects to developing an MMOG:

• design
• art
• programming.

The game design is where you provide unique value. Before you start programming and creating art, you need to have completed at least some design. Once you have sketched out your design, Multiverse will enable you to put the design into implementation. Ideally, your design will be complete before you start, but this is not a requirement.

Topics such as art design, modeling, and texturing are not covered in the Multiverse Developer Wiki. There are many good tools for such tasks, including Milkshape, Max, Maya, and Modo. Multiverse uses the output of 3D modeling tools and enables you to incorporate the resulting models into your virtual world.

In your Multiverse game, the design, art and programming come together to make a successful MMOG experience. Remember, throughout your development that the first and most important rule of game development is player empathy.

Influential thinkers

• The Laws of Virtual World Design - Raph Koster
• The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat - Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer

Game design documents

If you want to design an MMOG, one of the first places to start is your game design document (GDD). The GDD defines the vision of the game and communicates it to team members as well as other interested parties (for example, potential investors). The GDD describes the overall vision of the game, but not its implementation details. It should explain the high- and medium level ideas behind the game without getting bogged down in unnecessary details. Some may want to create multiple design documents, such as a "concept design document, " a "game proposal," and a "technical design document".

For more information, see Creating an MMOG Design Document.

More information on game design docs:

• Pag On Games: How to Write a Game Design Doc
• Thread on the IGDA forums with links to a set of design document templates.

More on game design

• MMO Design Guidelines by Multiverse developer Sysdevja
• Story And Concept Design by Multiverse technical art director John Hessler

Related Multiverse developer forum posts:

• Getting Started Planning: What docs should you create?
• Design Docs

Books

MMOG-specific books

• Developing Online Games: An Insider's Guide by Jessica Mulligan, Bridgette Patrovsky

• Designing Virtual Worlds by Richard Bartle . The book's website: Designing Virtual Worlds: the website.

• Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster . The book's website: www.theoryoffun.com.

• Massively Multiplayer Game Development by Thor Alexander

General game-design books

• Swords and Circuitry: A Designer's Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games by Neal Hallford

• Chris Crawford on Interactive Storytelling by Chris Crawford

• Chris Crawford on Game Design by Chris Crawford

Web sites

For general background on MMOGs, see the extensive set of Wikipedia articles on MMORPGs.

Information on game and MMOG design:

• GameDev.net: General Game Design
• Gamasutra - The Art & Business of Making Games
• Terra Nova: Exploring Virtual Worlds
• International Game Developer's Association
• Open Directory - Games: Video Games: Massive Multiplayer Online
• White Paper on the Persistant World Game Market and design
• Andy Bayless' list of game development resources (includes MMOs to FPS to RPGs).
• Article about selling game design ideas

Game development experiences and lessons learned

• A Beginner's Guide to Creating a MMORPG by Radu Privantu, lead programmer and project leader for Eternal Lands. This article describes some technical aspects of creating an MMORPG, many of which do not apply to developing games for the Multiverse platform. Nevertheless, there may be some useful information.
• Eternal Lands MMORPG Postmortem: Mistakes and Lessons - A five-part series on lessons learned from building the Eternal Lands MMORPG.

Game industry news and markets

• MMORPG.COM - Online game news and information.
• MMOGCHART.COM - Tracks the growth of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs).
• OGaming.com - News and information on online gaming.

Blogs, commentary, and research

• Bloginati: The MMO Blog Portal - an aggregation of recent posts by massively multiplayer online game devs. It is intended to give you a place to quickly scan for recent MMO commentary by those of us who build the virtual worlds we all play within.
• Raph Koster's website - personal website of Raph Koster, best known as one of the lead designers of Ultima Online, and creative director for Star Wars Galaxies. See especially Raph's "Laws of Online World Design"
• The Daedalus Gateway - Nick Yee's MMORPG player survey and related research.

Multiverse forum posts

• Good game design book for a newbie

Military specifications and references

A listing of resources for military equipment, vehicles, tactics, to help provide accuracy or as a guideline for their assets.

• Federation of American Scientists: Military Analysis Network This link provides a listing of detailed analysis of US and World Military Assests. Equipment time frame is from the end of WW2 to Present.
• Defense Industries for the Army Contains detailed explainations of weapon system projects and their specifications for the World's Armies. Equipment time frame is Present to Bleeding Edge Technology.