Recently I have gained interest in the browser based game known as grepolis. I've always wanted to design my own game. I know html, php, java (limited). The browser game grepolis has attracted my attention. The game I plan on designing will be very similar to grepolis. My biggest problem; however, is I've never done anything quite like this before. Although I've watched the browser based MMO and RTS guides on this site, they do not cover a type of game like grepolis. I was wondering what game engine, technology, videos, other resources, ect. would be best to analyze for undertaking this task?
The type of game I want to design is similiar to grepolis type games, except it takes place in a futuristic, post apocalyptic environment.
Moreover... if anyone would be interested in helping... let me know. I believe the world wide web needs a futuristic post apocalyptic MMO RTS, and I hope to design it.
I want to create a MMORTS, but where to start?
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Jackolantern
- Posts: 10891
- Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:00 pm
Re: I want to create a MMORTS, but where to start?
Probably your best bet would be to start with learning some Javascript. There are some basic tutorials here, but most of the JS-related stuff is focused on specific uses and not learning the basic language itself, so I suggest checking around online for some tutorials on the Javascript language. Don't worry too much about the browser-specific stuff for now, just learn the language.
Then check out Halls' Impact/Node.js tutorial series. Node and Socket.io are the best platform right now for making online multiplayer HTML5 games, and ImpactJS is the best HTML5 game engine out there. While his tutorials are focused on laying the foundation for a traditional MMO, pretty much all of it will still apply to an MMO RTS. Such things as structuring the server, basic communication, handling player data, client-side development in Impact, etc. will all be quite similar.
Then check out Halls' Impact/Node.js tutorial series. Node and Socket.io are the best platform right now for making online multiplayer HTML5 games, and ImpactJS is the best HTML5 game engine out there. While his tutorials are focused on laying the foundation for a traditional MMO, pretty much all of it will still apply to an MMO RTS. Such things as structuring the server, basic communication, handling player data, client-side development in Impact, etc. will all be quite similar.
The indelible lord of tl;dr
Re: I want to create a MMORTS, but where to start?
Thank you very much... though I do have one quick question....
are games like grepolis html5 based (html5 is not in the web browsers extension, so its hard to tell)? I thought they where primarily javascript/php based games.
are games like grepolis html5 based (html5 is not in the web browsers extension, so its hard to tell)? I thought they where primarily javascript/php based games.
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Jackolantern
- Posts: 10891
- Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:00 pm
Re: I want to create a MMORTS, but where to start?
A "javascript/PHP" game could be one and the same as an HTML5 game, or it may not be.
Most online web games have 2 distinct parts: First is a client-side technology for animation, visual effects, and displaying data retrieved from the server. You can't really have any real game logic on the client-side since it is easy to spoof and cheat. Second, you have a server-side technology for managing the state of the game, managing the connections to the clients, querying a database, etc. The server-side is the most varied, with anything from .NET, Java, Ruby, Python, Node.js, and many other smaller contenders all running the server program. The client-side is much more limited. You either use Javascript or a browser plugin (such as Flash, Silverlight or Java Applets). "HTML5" is kind of a nebulous term, because in all actuality, HTML5 really just refers to the additions to the HTML5 language to make the page's content more semantic. But of course more things get added under the "HTML5" banner because it is hot these days, such as the Javascript techniques to manage Canvas animation, Geolocation, Local Storage, WebSockets, and others. In reality, most of these are separate standards.
So I guess that was kind of a round-about way of saying that HTML5, the way most people interpret it, is about the enhancements in the browser for web apps. A lot of it actually has to do with Javascript. When most people refer to "HTML5", they mean the kinds of apps that you used to need Flash or Silverlight for, but now being done with Javascript and HTML. The back-end server is really not important to the definition of HTML5. Gregopolis could have been made in HTML5 or Flash, and still used a PHP, Java or another server technology with either one because an online game needs both.
I checked out Gregopolis about a year ago just to see what it was made with, and I think it is HTML5 if I remember right. The server-side is likely either Node.js or Java. The easiest way to tell is something is a browser-plugin or HTML5 is to right-click it. The right-click menu will say either Flash, Silverlight, or neither (in which case it is likely HTML5).
Most online web games have 2 distinct parts: First is a client-side technology for animation, visual effects, and displaying data retrieved from the server. You can't really have any real game logic on the client-side since it is easy to spoof and cheat. Second, you have a server-side technology for managing the state of the game, managing the connections to the clients, querying a database, etc. The server-side is the most varied, with anything from .NET, Java, Ruby, Python, Node.js, and many other smaller contenders all running the server program. The client-side is much more limited. You either use Javascript or a browser plugin (such as Flash, Silverlight or Java Applets). "HTML5" is kind of a nebulous term, because in all actuality, HTML5 really just refers to the additions to the HTML5 language to make the page's content more semantic. But of course more things get added under the "HTML5" banner because it is hot these days, such as the Javascript techniques to manage Canvas animation, Geolocation, Local Storage, WebSockets, and others. In reality, most of these are separate standards.
So I guess that was kind of a round-about way of saying that HTML5, the way most people interpret it, is about the enhancements in the browser for web apps. A lot of it actually has to do with Javascript. When most people refer to "HTML5", they mean the kinds of apps that you used to need Flash or Silverlight for, but now being done with Javascript and HTML. The back-end server is really not important to the definition of HTML5. Gregopolis could have been made in HTML5 or Flash, and still used a PHP, Java or another server technology with either one because an online game needs both.
I checked out Gregopolis about a year ago just to see what it was made with, and I think it is HTML5 if I remember right. The server-side is likely either Node.js or Java. The easiest way to tell is something is a browser-plugin or HTML5 is to right-click it. The right-click menu will say either Flash, Silverlight, or neither (in which case it is likely HTML5).
The indelible lord of tl;dr