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Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by aaronjb on Friday March 11, 2016 @08:54AM (#11266581)
Hey everyone, dev here. Just got wind of this thread on twitter. Happy to answer any questions. If you're interested you can find out more here:

https://itch.io/t/9883/mymmo-design-your-own-mmo-city-builde...

https://twitter.com/aaronjbaptiste

https://www.twitch.tv/the_alchomist/profile/highlights

https://www.reddit.com/r/mymmo

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by kawsper on Friday March 11, 2016 @10:25AM (#11267088)
Have you considered to crowd-fund the development?

It looks really promising, and it feels like one of those ideas that could become popular.

(I like how you placed Notch's Minecraft character in the doorframe of the image as part of the 'If you're names not on the list you're not coming in'-update :))

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by aaronjb on Friday March 11, 2016 @11:26AM (#11267533)
I think it's an option, but i'd like to get it playable (and fun!) first.

Roleplaying and creativity is pretty high on my list. For example I'm working on a Quest Design system where you can hook together anything in the world to create a quest.

A simple example:

You create a Wizard NPC with an input of (4) (Boars tusks) (which you link to the Boar's monster area). Once completed it unlocks the (Gate) next to him, allowing the player to access the tower full of loot. The inputs and outputs would be completely flexible and could lead to some pretty funny situations. Careful balancing would be needed so players aren't walking halfway across the map just for a shoddy Wooden sword reward.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by pjungwir on Friday March 11, 2016 @01:04PM (#11268312)
If you want a couple old-school examples of this for inspiration, take a look at Adventure Construction Set and the scripting language from ZZT. As a kid I made all kind of stories with both of those.
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by Navarr on Saturday March 12, 2016 @12:50PM (#11273716)
Do it like, Patreon. You're "making games" and people fund you basically spending time to dev.

Probably much more sustainable than say Indiegogo or Kickstarter.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by nefitty on Friday March 11, 2016 @01:34PM (#11268552)
I would be very happy to mark this project as my first foray into the crowd funding world. I have some experience running campaigns, but have yet to contribute to one. This game looks like what I dreamt of creating back in the heydays of Game Maker 4.
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by anonbanker on Friday March 11, 2016 @11:37AM (#11267611)
I showed this game to my partners, all Tycoon fans. They were salivating over this. Even in early stages, this is something we all want to play really bad.

It isn't every day you get on HN. Hurry up and release something. Provide the usual warnings (this is beta, this sucks right now, things break, etc), but release something. One of the reasons Minecraft was successful was the "release early, release often" philosophy they took. You'll get users, and user input, quickly, should you follow the same path.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by aaronjb on Friday March 11, 2016 @12:14PM (#11267897)
I feel ya bro. The pre-alpha build will be released early, just need something complete enough to get meaningful feedback on.
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by anonbanker on Friday March 11, 2016 @12:55PM (#11268240)
When I was in high school, I wanted to be a graphic artist. I completely understand thinking it's not good enough yet. Part of you is in this product, and it's always coming from a vulnerable place, no matter how good you are at taking criticism.

You've been working on this since at least september of 2015. it's good enough right now. Even if you up and change huge chunks of code later, it's good enough right now. I feel like a douche saying this, but How many more times do you think you'll be on HN?

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by tty7 on Friday March 11, 2016 @01:33PM (#11268548)
Please, getting on HN is not the 'be-all and end-all'
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by anonbanker on Friday March 11, 2016 @01:35PM (#11268570)
You make it sound so easy. When was the last time either of us had a project featured on HN?
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by Falcon9 on Friday March 11, 2016 @08:53PM (#11270904)
I, for one, hope that when this is released I'll find out about it here!
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by Jemmeh on Friday March 11, 2016 @03:26PM (#11269248)
On the other hand I've seen things get released -too- early, everyone decides, "Boy this sucks." and they never come back.

Sometimes things really aren't done enough yet.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by xzi on Friday March 11, 2016 @10:11AM (#11267016)
No questions. Just wanted to say I'm glad you made this. A few years ago, I was playing Roller Coaster Tycoon and World of Warcraft a little too often. Had the idea to merge the two, since WoW is basically an amusement park. I mapped the project out but never put anything together.

Anyways, I'm thrilled you made it happen.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by stcredzero on Friday March 11, 2016 @01:13PM (#11268385)
WoW is basically an amusement park

It's part amusement park and part resort casino. A lot of what they do is put up pretty visuals while they massage your brain with variable schedule of reward.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by samstave on Friday March 11, 2016 @11:35AM (#11267594)
Share your thought-maps for that merger? I cant picture "wow is basically an amusement park" in my head...

Thanks

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by xzi on Friday March 11, 2016 @02:03PM (#11268727)
If you've played WoW, or an MMO like it, just think of it this way. All the experiences are mostly the same no matter how many times you do it. With slight variances based on your class, of course. You go and kill the monsters and finish the quests, and it's all completely predictable. You change nothing. You build nothing. It's all a pre-planned ride. With stuff like dungeons and raids, it's a pre-planned ride you can go on multiple times. With NPCs basically playing the same role as those people in parks wearing character suits.

And it's not just the rides. There's all sorts of prizes, souvenirs, and events designed to make you come back over and over again. There's a casino aspect to it too. Take the ride and you might get a fabulous prize at the end. Or more likely not, but you can always try again tomorrow.

So you can see how the MMO -> Theme Park Tycoon would work. Instead of rides, you designate zones, quests, & dungeons. Instead of hiring costumed people to dance around, you create NPCs. Instead of drink & toy vendors, you sell buff food, pets and mounts and gear. Instead of hiring janitors and security guards, you'd hire game masters (GMs) who would do the same clean-up & refereeing work.

Done properly, this would be an incredible experience. There's the tycoon part of it which would let you see how well you built your Skinner box and how much the Sims are getting addicted. And then there's the part which resembles many of the various gamemaking kits out there. RPGMaker comes to mind. The player can build an entire fantasy world. With multiplayer and the ability to import creations, the world can be built by a team. And then the player could open up the world using the built-in server and actually play in their creation with their friends.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by Retric on Friday March 11, 2016 @11:57AM (#11267759)
From a layout perspective I can kind of see it working.

  Rides <--> quest areas.
  Class trainers <--> Bathrooms.
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by mrcwinn on Friday March 11, 2016 @12:19PM (#11267950)
Really cool. What kinds of things are you using to make something like this? A particular game engine, language, etc?
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by aaronjb on Friday March 11, 2016 @02:16PM (#11268806)
Unity + a couple of Asset store plugins - SSAO, ColorfulFX.

It's written in C#.

The engine handles all the voxels internally, but some of the models like the characters and Jellos are created in Blender and Magicavoxel.

Photoshop for textures.

Visual Studio Code for the IDE.

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by mtrpcic on Friday March 11, 2016 @07:25PM (#11270602)
Out of curiosity, what is the current state of Unity games running on OSX/Linux environments? I recall that you could compile with Mono for cross-platform support, but I'm curious if the recent cross-platform support of much of the .NET CLR has made it easier (or more stable, etc.).
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by samstave on Friday March 11, 2016 @11:33AM (#11267582)
How did you get wind of this thread on twitter? (i.e. how does that work - I dont use twitter)
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by jlees on Friday March 11, 2016 @11:41AM (#11267656)
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by anonbanker on Friday March 11, 2016 @01:34PM (#11268559)
I pray this actually happens. Dwarf Fortress would be amazing hooked up to this engine.
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by aaronjb on Friday March 11, 2016 @02:19PM (#11268816)
I've only seen DF on YouTube, could someone explain how another game would hook into it? Any examples of other games doing this?
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by erichurkman on Friday March 11, 2016 @04:03PM (#11269508)
Dwarf Fortress, as an example, has Armok Vision [0] that uses DFHack [1] which reads the data structures directly from the Dwarf Fortress process to provide an API layer to other tools and scripts. Armok Vision provides a 3D visualization to the 2D of Dwarf Fortress (in a separate process, by reading memory through Dfhack). It's pretty rad.

There's also the 2.5D "Text will be Text" plugin that actually alters how Dwarf Fortress renders tiles, stacking 2D planes so you can see more than 1 Z layer at a time [2].

[0] http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=146473.660

[1] https://github.com/DFHack/dfhack

[2] https://github.com/mifki/df-twbt

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by mentos on Friday March 11, 2016 @06:33PM (#11270373)
I was a huge fan of Ultima Online as a kid and the emulation communities are what got me into programming. This has a lot of ideas I always wanted to implement, awesome stuff!

I'm actually working on a multiplayer map builder in a ww2 fps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XdLbRzsCDg (I hope this is ok to share I don't think they are in competing markets)

Curious to get your guys response to it!

Great work and good luck!

Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by neeel on Friday March 11, 2016 @09:55AM (#11266910)
I think this is a really good idea. Best of luck with it.
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by aaronjb on Friday March 11, 2016 @10:01AM (#11266945)
Thanks buddy!
Re:A SimCity inspired city builder where you design an MMO RPG by 3327 on Friday March 11, 2016 @07:01PM (#11270510)
are considering open source? I know 3 talented game devs looking for a project open or closed. this is right down their alley.