my friends (who are younger than me) said they want to make an mmo (to be honest i think we have a 1% chance at best of pulling it off) currently we are pretty much working with no buget and most of the people we have who will work on it are kids to teens we are still in the planning stage and i was wondering if anyone could give us some advice (like how to raise money what we should need (staff and programs)) to get it done
Well, I would like you to first of all realize you can not use Unity’s built in networking. You will have to go and make your own networking back end, and trust me when I say, this is a helluva lot of work. There are a few choices. But the best is probably Photon, or smart fox. They have good examples to get started. Since you are low on money try Smartfox since it is free till you have more than 20 players 
.
Good luck, and don’t expect to finish it.
well one of the people who is part of the project (who is younger than me and i am 19) knows how to set up a server so we may use our own server but i will look into your suggestions.
You will have to use your own server. I am talking about coding a network to use on that server so you can connect clients to your server. Unless you would like to restrict the amount of players to at max, with harsh unity coding, 100ish players, you will have to use something other than Unity’s networking.
I would actually recommend to take Photon for the backend.
SFS is nice but has no UDP and is thus not optimal for realtime and while MMOs might not be exactly action oriented they still have a lot going on with part of it normally required as soon as possible (Actor Positioning, responses to interactions especially in combat, …)
Also Photon has the benefit that it has the basics for network handling in an MMO environment present (syncing within range, fade in - out players that leave it) and its server is easy to program as you work with C# on it.
Also the smallest license is very affordable and should get you through the whole alpha testing time (ie the next 18-24months if you are in planning right now)
Since such a MMO game is loots of work, what speaks against lowering the goals a bit, and finish the RPG part as a single player variation first, and then have a second look for the MMO part of it? Maybe theres a better online solution available when youve finished the RPG part 
That is also what I would suggest. There are lots of things, such as inventory, quests, combat, etc, which will take a long, long time to develop. For now, keep it a single player game so you’re not paying for networking overhead.
Alternatively license BigWorld Indie. Thats $300 / year bugs for your team, you have the base around and can mess with it.
the only problem is that you can’t work with noob modellers anymore as you can only use maya and 3ds max for export to my knowledge
I think your going to find a lot of people who agree with this sentiment. Finish the RPG, story, weapons, character creation etc. And once you have a full playable RPG going, add the MMO/multiplayer elements. There are three reasons I would recommend this route.
-
Having a completed RPG to show off will let you get a playerbase going before the MMO comes out. Without at least a few hundred people playing day one, your MMO will sink to obscurity immediately. So unless you have a gigantic marketing budget, it would be best to release the RPG first, generate some interest in that, and then announce the MMO version.
-
Network programming is boring and difficult. As an amateur its hard to stay motivated on something so mundane. By the time you finish the RPG, you will be good enough at programming to take on the online element.
-
If you get to a point where you need to hire some more people ( programmers, artists, marketing people ), you will find it difficult to assemble a team if you do not have a portfolio to show them. If you have the finished RPG, you can at least show to potential partners that you are capable of completing a project ( which in this business, is more rare than you would think ). Bottom line, there are lots of people talking smack about their new revolutionary MMO thats going to turn the market on its head. If you have a completed RPG, it puts you miles ahead of them.
Good luck to you.
I’ll chip in here and agree with the others, complete the main game, and work towards your MMO on the back end. While there are many ways to implement an “MMO engine” they all share a common element… they’re d*mned hard to get right!
In most cases, you aren’t “setting up” a physical server per se… Yes you have to do that (many depending on load and platform), but, your developing server side software. COTS or pure custom, either way your work is cut out for you.
I will say, it shows great insight that you recognize “it can’t be that easy” when you hear it, and you know enough to look for insights from others. I’d say your chances are 10% higher to finish just based on that (some would give you 50%, but I’ll wait and see if the trend continues first 
).
Cheers,
Galen
Here’s a primer for you to stew on:
It uses Torque parts, not Unity, but you’ll get a good picture of the architecture, et al. Just substitute Unity for TGEA, and your favourite engine for TGEA server
Cheers,
Galen
i knew it the moment he suggested it that it wouldnt be that easy. in fact as soon as he suggested it i knew it would probably be imposible. for one thing we need money wich we have no source of income. we also dont have any good scripters i mean i can script but the best i could do is basic stuff. i have no understanding on how to use blender and we obviously dont have $3500 to spend on 3ds max. i dont have any artist and i have no clue how to make a character. also i would need to advertize this so i can get money off of this.
and getting the materials isnt all i would have to put it all together meaning coming up with quests and stuff wrighting it all up and making a script that plays them for probably hundrids of quests i have to make scripts for i have to build all the areas and make them stitch them together (luckly i at least have a script for that) i have to decide what the areas are going to be like and actualy make them with relativly good graphics i have to make sure i can make this work well so anyone can play it and there is probably a lot more i am missing.
my friends who suggested this are the ones who are probably not getting how hard this will be. at least the realize this will take a long time to do. actualy the only reson i am going along with this is a posible chance to start up a company but at the momnet i am trying to talk them out of this but they are pretty sure we can pull this off.
i am not confident that i will be able to pull this off. the best i have made is http://drazilaustin.com/platforms and i doubt any of my friends could do better since i am the best on the team. we are in way over our heads here so thanks for the help.
Best you can do is that you group with your friends and find out where the strengths are and then the people learn more into that direction. its near granted that some have artistic talent (or lack any logical thinking which is a must have to get anywhere on the programming side).
for the art side you will find many tutorials normally be it for textures or models
on the programming side you will find base tutorials but higher level tutorials don’t exist and will require quite some research and potentially investing in programming books
My advice would be playing a MMO as your chances most probybly are less than 1% getting any money out of this. Forget about i,t unless it’s not for curiosity and the sheer fun working on this.
You even could consider playing a RPG about making a MMO, which depending on how good you guys are at RPGs could be quite some fun. You get the fun of making a MMO plus you’ll finish it.
The best probably would be if you’re talking things through with your friends and thinking of a few small alternatives. At same time you should do a reality check in terms of what you guys are capable of (talent, time). Put some further efforts into those gaming ideas you like the most, finaly choose a winner, again put some further effort into the design or play around with some prototyping whilst reducing all the ideas to the core ones and then start doing some work on it.
After some time you’ll realise who’s serious about it more than just a few days, who can deliver and who can’t. Maybe you want to redesign your game according to this new information as well but you should have a chance getting a game done this way. The smaller your idea and the game is, the bigger the chances are, getting it done.
Never stop dreaming big, you can do anything you want in life and dreams do come true. I’m walking proof of that, however, it’s a story for a different time.
Don’t let anything I say put you down but what your about to read may seem heavy.
You must be ready to work hard and for nothing at all.
I currently work with a start up social MMO company. We’ve been at it for over a year and a half now. The game is coming together, we have servers with amazon server cloud and investors.
The reality of it is this:
The eight of us (started with 11, 3 couldn’t pull their weight and we dropped um’) have been working 40-50 hours a week since the beginning. We have had up to four interns at a time working with us. Our investment capital so far is in mid-upper hundred-thousands. Most of which we use to pay our bills and feed out wives and husbands. the rest goes to advertising, the servers etc.
The game right now is 75% complete. Battle system is 2 weeks from complete, and player content is 2 months from complete. But that only puts us at 80-85% complete. We are then in open beta. Another 4-6 months and the game is officially released. It will have taken a little over two years to do this.
It isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen over night. You need to be ready for a year’s work before you have a decent alpha MMO. At least 2-4 months of that is going to be planning and doc writing.
If you want to raise capital you need investors and I’m sorry but no one will invest in such unproven tallent. I wouldn’t even go so far as to invest a bag of sour patch kids in a nineteen year-old.
So what did we learn?
Do it for fun, you won’t make money at this. In fact do a multiplayer RPG you can network with friends.
But if you still want to do an MMO – Courage
When it comes to the finances, and startup capital, the best advice… earn it. Make your game with what you have. Given your age and your partners ages, you should consider, with money comes responsibility. You (at least) are old enough to be held accountable. In all businesses what you’re asking for is called “angel investors”, risk takers who are willing to gamble their money on unproven businesses or ideas. These days there are few, and they demand very high concessions (they, at the very least want something for their money if the venture fails).
For people in your position (age and experience wise) the only investors who would take the plunge are likely family. My advice… don’t take it even if they offer it. Go get the money yourself if you want to invest (ie. a job, etc…). If you do end up with some money, do yourself a favour, go get an experienced business person(ideally an entrepreneur with 6-10 yrs under their belt, as close to game development business as possible) to manage it for you (don’t try and manage your friends yourself).
Here’s some good “rules of thumb” to keep in mind:
-
don’t gamble what you can’t loose (banks take your house, loan sharks take your legs, venture capitalists like a little bit of both plus your soul )
-
if you take money, expect to give up large chunks of control and ownership
-
do everything you can to really define the risks up front, and resist the urge to downplay risk. This can lead to charges of fraud.
-
use your head. Don’t get tunnel vision on the brass ring, and forget common sense. If your elderly grandmother decides to help, don’t wipe out her retirement fund in the event you can’t deliver. (back to advice, you collectively don’t know enough right now to even guess at your changes of success (1% may be high), so go get some real experienced eyes to examine your project, and remember even then, the biggest and best fail, it’s just a matter of how often… )
[insert any other adages that speak of caution and common sense]
Don’t get me wrong, being young or inexperienced isn’t a crime. Being irresponsible can be… that’s why people don’t invest in very young people’s businesses. The Dot-Com bubble collapse is a good recent example of mass greed overriding good business investment sense.
Not very positive I know. But like I said first, if you need money, earn it. Then decide if you are willing to risk your money.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Galen
Why would you say that? Is there a particular reason Unity’s network features are subpar? I’m curious since I’m considering Unity to create a sort of MMO in the future.
You still can make an MMO with Unity. But doing it with Unity’s built in networking is not reccommended. I am not completely sure why.
Start small.
There’s nothing wrong with big goals. Big goals are great.
But you will need to crawl before you can walk. Walk before you can run. Run before you can do a running jump. Do a running jump before you can slam dunk. Slam dunk before you could do a 360 slam dunk. Do a 360 slam dunk before you could do a 360 windmill slam dunk.
Yeah… an MMO is like that.
Right now, resource-wise, you have no legs but a lot of heart. Without legs you won’t be doing that 360 windmill slam dunk. No matter how much heart you have.
And good strong legs will be reluctant to join your team until you have proven to them that you can finish what you start.
So, at first start and FINISH something that is more about heart than legs.