Welcome on my website about my project called for now Project SoA. I have probably full name for it already decided,
but it is not important right now. On these blog pages and wiki pages I takes record of my progression, thoughts,
obstacles and challenges I faces or overcome on my way of making a MMORPG.
Why MMORPG you may say?
Well that's because in my gaming history I really love RPGs and mostly MMORPG's, but there was only one - Lineage II which made a real impact on me. But that game is dead for really long time. Not from player population, but from changes over time in design, monetization methods, community and for now really deprecated design.
You cannot create a MMORPG as a solo dev
Yeah, that is true and I also doesn't wanna achieve that. I just love my job as a software developer. I really do, making always some side projects after my paid contracts. I started digging in game development around 2018 as a part of my side projects. Playing with Unreal Engine 4 and learning new interesting things. But I need some destination with these things so I decide to working on something I have in my mind for years, my best take on what MMORPG should looks like. Around May 2021 I started working on it Game design document, systems, lore on paper, all based on my already created thoughts in my mind from years before. And code base won't wait much longer, I take everything I have and started writing game server solution for basic TCP/UDP communication.
So what you wanna achieve?
I love playing MMORPG's and I love making and designing software. I just combine it, and I think it may be interesting for others to watch. That's also reason why you may be at this page. Because this is a diary of this journey which will be probably really long.
So what is Project SoA about
I use my favorite games in mind if making a game design document. I already mind Lineage 2 which kinda serve as a one of cornerstone. I also love Gothic series (I && II+NotR only ofc.) from Piranha Bytes, Civilization's, Valheim, OpenTTD, AoE, K&M, Stronghold series and much more, all of these have some kind of impact. I also love theme of Roman Empire so I inspire by that in lore and game systems.
Design pillars may be defined as a:
- Open-world living, breathing virtual world - with meaningful conflict between players and/or environment
- Long-term progression - horizontal & vertical
- Rich profession tree
- Strong Economy features - player companies, resources & goods caravans
- Factions - player can be part of several different communities
- Politics - player can shape world they lived in
I know these pillars may be wage, but they are important for other reason. Every feature should be made with mind of these pillars, should support them and if doesn't fit there, then it should not be there.
That is a way too big scope
Yeah kind of, but you cannot create a game without whole idea of what it should look like on end. This scope may come with consequences and compromises. So what compromises I already know to be there:
- no graphics first - I go with kinda 'stylized' graphics with simple shapes. If Valheim show us something we should
know, in most games
gameplay > graphics, it also shown that games may look beautiful with their own way. - marketplace usage - I am not a 3d artist guy nor animator nor musician - I am a programmer, i create software, so I may use some marketplace assets if they fit to game, because if I should make them myself I will waste my time and it will looks awfully. So they may be placeholders and be replaced in future. I have no problem with it, they are there for reason to be used in game or prototypes and that is exactly what I'm currently making a proof of concept/prototype. They may be replaced by some future good soul who have these skills but that won't be me
- procedural generation utilization - i cannot handcraft whole world, not even a small part of it. So I working on procedural techniques which works fine with my ideas about world building for players. These may looks bad or non-interesting in first iterations but I am sure they get better as more iterations will happen on them
- prototype world - I currently working on small part of world which is expected to work as trial/tutorial island in future. It may shows overall experience on low-level, mid-level and top-level character. Also there should be introduction for simpler game system for player like leveling, fighting mobs, learning skills, gathering, fighting raid-bosses, crafting, augmenting, etc...
I also currently not expecting finish this. I wanna create a prototype for SoA and start building a community around this project. And then we will see.
If you wanna ask anything or have any form of feedback or you are just interested , consider joining our community on Discord.