MMORPG Engine
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 2:08 am
So, I have this idea for a grand, fantasy themed MMORPG, but I'm having trouble deciding on an engine that would be best suited to my needs - I'm actually praying that an engine CAN meet all of my needs! I'll probably give details about the game itself in other threads as time goes on, so I'll just highlight the main capabilities which I need to know I can manage with a given engine. Please note that I am essentially a newbie with game engines. I have used Unity3D once in the past on a game project in college, but my exposure was shallow. In the lists below, by "mutable" I mean dynamically changeable during gameplay via scripting.
Must have:
I have looked closest at HeroEngine and Unity3D for development. I'm a .NET web developer, so C# and Javascript are right up my alley as far as scripting is concerned for Unity3D, but the HE is already custom tailored to making MMORPGs; I am led to believe it would already have easy ways to do my players' most common tasks such as GUI with hovertips, character paperdolls, etc. I simply do not know its limitations due to a lack of free trials and information. I have also looked at an engine called Maratis3D specifically because I could get the source code and mutate the engine if needs be.
Do you know of any engines which can match all, most, or at least some of my needs? Do you know if HeroEngine, Unity3D, or Maratis3D could do all of these things given enough time and effort?
Must have:
- Ability to altar animation speeds dynamically (i.e. this model has a running animation loop that lasts 2 seconds, but I want to run it at 1.3 seconds for character X, and 2.6 seconds for character Y).
- Scripts attachable to any object that isn't terrain - including buildings!
- Ability to dynamically generate an area based on parameters provided such as textures, area size, etc. - Add-ons or ability to create through sufficient scripting would suffice. This is specific to dungeon creation, not world.
- Mutable physics, most notably gravity
- Mutable NPC paths - changing boundaries of territories
- Ability to dynamically generate an area based on parameters provided such as textures, area size, etc. - Add-ons or ability to create through sufficient scripting would suffice. This is specific to world creation, not a dungeon. It would not have to run quickly, and I'm fine with hearing ideas about ways to generate the necessary structure outside of an engine, and then be able to import it into the project.
- Ability to optimize dynamically generated meshes. Specifically, the ability to create a single mesh for a weapon out of weapon piece meshes.
I have looked closest at HeroEngine and Unity3D for development. I'm a .NET web developer, so C# and Javascript are right up my alley as far as scripting is concerned for Unity3D, but the HE is already custom tailored to making MMORPGs; I am led to believe it would already have easy ways to do my players' most common tasks such as GUI with hovertips, character paperdolls, etc. I simply do not know its limitations due to a lack of free trials and information. I have also looked at an engine called Maratis3D specifically because I could get the source code and mutate the engine if needs be.
Do you know of any engines which can match all, most, or at least some of my needs? Do you know if HeroEngine, Unity3D, or Maratis3D could do all of these things given enough time and effort?