Training
A quick intro to RPG development
If you've ever wanted to create an RPG, you have come to the right place! Go through all my tutorials and I promise that you will end up having a simple, elegant, fully playable framework that can be used for a high-quality MORPG.
Before we begin, you should be warned that, due to the required amount of work, creating a MORPG on your own is almost impossible. Fortunately, there are several shortcuts that you can take to speed up the process; I'll discuss several things that should help you build your game faster in this article.
First, you need to be a decent programmer to do the job. RPGs aren't that difficult to code, but MORPG utilize a lot of network code, and that's pretty advanced stuff. So, if you know C# or C++ it's going to be quite easy for you to program multiplayer games as well. To make my tutorials as easy to understand as possible for beginners, I will use lite-C, a subset of the C language, for all the demos and projects on this site.
But what should you do if you don't know how to write a single line of code? Fortunately, there are several programming courses that you can take, and many of them are free. Here's an article that highlights several sites which offer lots of coding tutorials.
Strive to complete one of those "beginner to programming" courses. Then, decide if you are you willing to put in all the needed effort; MORPG programming requires a lot of dedication and work.
Let's assume that you know how to code, though. While some developers state that you should program an entire game from scratch, I don't like this idea at all! There are several game development engines on the market, and they will speed up game development A LOT!!!
So, choose a proven, time-tested game engine such as Unity, which is used by many of the top game development companies; I guarantee that you will save a lot of time.
Use graphics placeholders and existing resources (textures, sprites, 3D models, sound effects, music, etc.) to finish all your code as quickly as possible. Ensure that all the models have the required animation frames, placeholder textures have the proper sizes, and so on. You want to ensure that your first game prototype is fully functional and utilizes as many CPU and memory resources as the final version.
Now that all the code is in place, it's time to create all the art. You may be a skilled 2D/3D artist, but you can work less and finish your game much faster if you hire other people to create the needed game assets. Sites like Upwork can help you discover talented artists; here's a list with their top-rated 2D game art freelancers, for example.
It's time to repeat the same process for the needed sound effects and music. It is true that most people don't care if they will utilize sounds and music that have been used in a few more games. Not to mention that very few players will remember that they've heard the same sound effects in a game that they've played a few years ago, right? So, it may be wise save some money by purchasing the needed sound effects and music from sites such as Soundsnap.
This concludes our quick intro to RPG development. Since my articles will focus on creating the needed code for an MORPG, you should ensure that you've got all the needed graphics, sound effects and music for your game. Fortunately, you can do this easily, by purchasing them from a dedicated site or (if you want your game to have a unique feel) by hiring a 2D/3D artist and a sound effects/music composer. Good luck!
Need help with code for your MORPG? I can help!
