[Help Wanted] Forgotten Darkness MMORPG

mrkfc · Post by **mrkfc** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:50 pm

Team Name:
Rarehawk Games
(not a registered company)

Project name:
The Forgotten Darkness

Brief description:
We are aiming to make an MMORPG which is fun and playable for everyone, we have been plotting out ideas this week and we are still in the planning stages.
Our goal is to get the game working within 2-3 years. Realistically we are aiming to bring out a working demo within a year. It will be a fantasy based MMO and will have lots of unique features and things to explore. We want to make it stand out from the all the other MMO's out there.

Target aim:
We are going to make the game free to download once you have registered for an account on the official game website. We may make people pay a monthly subscription or have a cash shop, we are not certain yet.

Compensation:
Unfortunately we cannot offer compensation as the game will be Free to play until we introduce premium features, if we do introduce them then a share of any profits will be split out within the team but we cannot promise this any time soon.

Technology:
The game engine we are looking to use will be the Irrlicht engine.
We are going to also get a sound engine and some other things.
Programming: C++

And any software which you may have if you join the team.

Talent needed:
We are looking for people with any amount of experience but more experienced team members will be able to be head of departments in the team. i.e Head Programmer.
Here are the positions we are looking to fill:

2D Graphic Designer
3D Graphic Designer
C++ Programmer
Item Designer
Game Economy Chairman
Beta Testers
Audio Engineer and composer
Game World Designer
Story Writer
GUI Designer
Server Programmer
Map Designer

Team structure:
We currently have 16 team members:
2D Graphic Designer [1]
3D Graphic Designer/Modeller [3]
Client Programmers [3]
Web Developers [1]
Item Designer [0]
Game Economy Chairman [2]
Beta Testers [0]
Audio Engineer and composer [1]
Game World Designer [0]
Story Writer [3]
GUI Designer [0]
Server Programmer [2]
Map Designer [0]

Website:
http://www.forgotten-darkness.tk (Game Website)
http://www.tfddev.freeforums.org(Website/forum for team members only)

Contacts:
You can apply for a position in the team by going on the game website and posting on the forums or by adding me on IM. PM me if you want my hotmail email address so you can add me.

Previous Work by Team:
None

Additional Info:
Game introduction/about page:
Hello and welcome , to the all new up and coming MMORPG named ' The Forgotten Darkness' in this fantasy world you can live out your wildest dreams with all of your friends online. One simple download is all it takes for many years of fun for the rest of your life.
You will be swept away by a magical fantasy world in which you can indulge in an interesting adventure online with all of your friends. You can build your own home space, chat with friends , make a battle team or clan , complete quests for special rewards , train skills , make money and purchase that special piece of armour or decoration for your house, or even a sword to pierce the hearts of many- and it doesn't stop there , oh no but to enjoy this wonderful , peaceful world you will have to play it for yourself .
With regular updates and beta testings we hope the site will soon be able to be a real upcoming competator for all other MMORPG's worldwide and will be a real hit for many people , across all races, genders and ages . The site will undergo many regular updates as we are always looking to improve.
Good luck warrior, this is where it all begins - the journey starts now as you carry out and fulfil your wildest dreams in the magical peaceful world of the forgotten darkness with many other people worldwide so download now , and prepare to experience something like never before , my friend...

Races and Classes:
Races
The Protectors (Good)
Human - Humans build massive cities and invent amazing technologies,
their spoken language helps them to communicate.

Demijo - Very agile Feline creatures, they run around the land
hunting down their enemies.

Ursus - Forest dwelling bear-like creatures which are well natured
but they know how to defend themselves. They have massive strength.

Pixie - Small creatures which dwell in the country side, they posses
magical charms and can get away fast.

The Darkness Bearers (Evil)
Ogres - Strong tall creatures with human features. They can crush
enemies with their power.

Zombie - Evil humans which have been transformed into a creature of
the undead. They use evil sorcerry and build dark magical cities.

Ghoul - Small fast creatures which are hideously ugly and can
scare their prey.

Firewalker - Fire breathing creatures which can burn their opponents
and roast them alive.

Classes

Warrior - Warriors specialise in strength and defence.

Magician - Magicians can cast a variety of spells and can manipulate
things.

Sorcerror - Sorcerrors can cast evil magic to harm and disease things,
only playable by The Darkness Bearers.

Light Bearer - Warriors of the Light who fight against the darkness
and have the characteristics of warriors. They have healing powers.
Only playable by The Protectors.

Sharpshooter - Sharpshooters can wield guns and bows, they can pick
off their enemies from a distance with great accuracy.

Feedback:
ANY

We have a few 3D Models designed already here are some of them...
They are not yet textured but we will add the textures soon.

http://tfddev.freeforums.org/download/file.php?id=8

http://tfddev.freeforums.org/download/file.php?id=7

Bottom two wont load on here for some reason just click the links

[/img]

aanderse · Post by **aanderse** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:09 pm

mrkfc · Post by **mrkfc** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:18 pm

Was that some sort of troll.
I think you will find my team have programming knowledge, so I suggest you go and find something to do, because you clearly have too many spare hours if you have time to come on a topic like this and post that image.

Radikalizm · Post by **Radikalizm** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:55 pm

mrkfc wrote:Was that some sort of troll.
I think you will find my team have programming knowledge, so I suggest you go and find something to do, because you clearly have too many spare hours if you have time to come on a topic like this and post that image.

Well, not to offend you or anything, but you see a ridiculously huge amount of threads on any game development forum about a non-sponsored team with no earlier smaller completed projects wanting to make an MMORPG with about exactly the same goals als yours
It's so out of control that it has become a game developer stereotype (hence the comic in the previous post)

If you are really set upon building an MMORPG you should review some of your plans, I don't know whether you have a complete engine set up (I have a feeling that you don't) with all needed networking capabilities and with a decent client-server work spread (like running physics server-side so people can't mess with it on their clients for example), and of course all other needed systems for managing rich and huge worlds like you see in an mmorpg
I'm talking about advanced material systems, scripting systems, synchronization mechanisms, etc.

If you haven't completed you engine yet, a deadline of 1 year for a techdemo looks pretty impossible (don't underestimate engine programming), and 2-3 years with a small team of developers working on the game in their spare time is, in my eyes, not enough to get a clean and stable game out there

You may have an idea about which races/classes you want to implement, or which cool abilities or features you'd like to build, but you're forgetting that there were thousands of others before you who also had good ideas and concepts, but only a handful of them got their game into a more or less playable state, let alone finished it

Of course, nothing can stop you from trying, and it would be great if your team would be one of the few who actually completed an MMORPG, but the scale of such a project is just enormous and will probably lead to a lot of frustration..

And by the way, I'd think it'd be more impressive if you could show some clean concept art for your game instead of some simple non-textured offline rendered meshes

Just my 2 cents

EDIT
interesting read which definitely applies to this case: http://sol.gfxile.net/mmorpg.html

mrkfc · Post by **mrkfc** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 12:32 am

We have sorted out the network libraries and other vital things required for running the server. We are using enet and POCO. Our client programmers are currently building the basic system and making it communicate with the server. We have now got a 17th team member; another C++ client programmer. We are determined and committed to the project.
I just don't like it when people instantly stereo type or judge

sudi · Post by **sudi** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:05 am

mrkfc wrote:Was that some sort of troll.
I think you will find my team have programming knowledge, so I suggest you go and find something to do, because you clearly have too many spare hours if you have time to come on a topic like this and post that image.

actually reading your post looks more like a troll post...really. You are writing feature descriptions like a 13 year old....
anyways the models you posted are totally useless. they look like having 1000ends of polygons. maybe i am wrong and you just have such cool shaders and artists

The next thing is you are calling irrlicht a game engine...which is totally wrong. Irrlicht is only for rendering 3d and 2d. nothing more nothing less. there are no game mechanics or anything.
Then you said you want to use enet for network. I hope you did your research right and you know about the scalability of it. bc it was actuall designed for fps games with a small number of players.

anyways enough looking forward to seeing first screenshots and a playable alpha

fritzgryphon · Post by **fritzgryphon** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 1:33 am

You explain that you are a few weeks into planning, have no idea about the project's future, or if it will even be commercial or not, but that you're looking for free, skilled help. The help wanted list is so vast that it's questionable what -you- will be doing. You claim 16 team members already, but they apparently haven't made anything yet. Then link to a website with nothing on it, and show untextured models of generic weapons and farm implements lacking any style unique to this game. You want it to stand out from the other MMOs out there, but then describe a feature list that mirrors other MMOs, or even exceeds their scope. And only 2-3 years to be an industry leader!

You don't even bother to spell check your elevator pitch. This is one of the better MMO declarations I've seen. The mean critics have already done this before, and they are bitter about giving up their own uberprojects long ago. The faster you move on to more practical projects, the better.

macron12388 · Post by **macron12388** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:23 am

Sorry, but it hurts less when you fall, when we don't let you climb so high.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eslYlbe3gw

mrkfc · Post by **mrkfc** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:19 am

Looks like I have a lot of people to prove wrong.
I will post updates as we progress through the project

macron12388 · Post by **macron12388** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:48 am

mrkfc wrote:Looks like I have a lot of people to prove wrong.
I will post updates as we progress through the project

In all seriousness: Good Luck

Andreas · Post by **Andreas** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 9:46 am

Hi mrkfc,

don't take the responses in this thread personal.

It's just that we see those "project announcements" once in a while, e.g.:

2005 - http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... ght=mmorpg

2006 - http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... ght=mmorpg

2009 - http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... ght=mmorpg

In general the irrlicht community is friendly and helpful.

fritzgryphon · Post by **fritzgryphon** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 5:33 pm

2008 http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/ ... ninja+star

Reading through this one, and the milestones blog is educational. It seemed promising, but the guy ended up yelling at his team members to finish stuff, and I guess the project faded away. You can't rely on others if you're not paying, and you will have a full time job idiot-proofing the design and harassing your team for work.

Reading about other projects and post-mortems is helpful.

Mag-got · Post by **Mag-got** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 6:28 pm

mrkfc, if you want to prove that your project isn't going down, tell some of your previous projects

And also, what is your job in the team? What do you do?

digijohnny · Post by **digijohnny** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:13 pm

P.S i thought this thread was to post 'Real Works Completed',

but i really wouldn't mind sitting
in on one of you group smoking sessions

Irrlicht...its not an engine....ITS A FACTORY.

Irrlicht+openAL+Enet +1 man + 1 year = these two projects

....http://www.digijohnny.com/MAF18QC.....
http://www.digijohnny.com/myrocketpod

EDIT.....
oops misspelled my own link ....
heres the correct one
http://www.digijohnny.com/MAF18CQ

devsh · Post by **devsh** » Fri Jan 07, 2011 7:43 pm

Reading through this one, and the milestones blog is educational. It seemed promising, but the guy ended up yelling at his team members to finish stuff, and I guess the project faded away. You can't rely on others if you're not paying, and you will have a full time job idiot-proofing the design and harassing your team for work.

How true, it wasnt promising. It was a piece of poop, I learned programming in C++ 3 weeks before posting it, I didnt know poop about shaders and I started making the game totally the wrong way starting with details.

However I would attempt it again if I relived my life, because it gave me SOOOO much. It was a f0ck-0ff learning curve, but thanks to it I am on top of all graphics talk. I produced !!!some!!! of the most advanced shaders and added one next-gen feature to irrlicht, I think I may not be respected or revered but my high tech demos are (sorry for being narcistic). Also the project has disillusioned me about my leadership skills, I am never ever being a project lead EVER!!!