What is a good game engine with solid network support?

Question

I do not want to beat around the bush so getting right into it no I'm really not one of those people asking how to make an mmorpg, haha (was about 6 years ago until someone told me to learn programming... which is now my passion).

So I've been following the indie game scene for years and the thing is I've never really looked into making a "mmorpg" seriously. I have bought a few engines (like realm crafter) but RC doesn't allow me the freedom I want (though it does have the editing tools I like and a really fun scripting language).

I'm very realistic and I would actually like to make the game from the ground up to learn (I've been dabbling with socket programming for a little bit) but I do not have 10 years of free time :P

So I'm seeking a game engine that has the following:

• A visual game editor (one of the things I want most when I create games is a visual way of seeing the world I'm building, thats why I still use the flash ide to make my flash games over one of the many AS3 engines)
• A very very solid networking setup that is easy to use and implement and is built in with the engine
• A built in scripting language
  would be nice to get simple tasks
  done fast but if the language the
  engine uses default is easy then it's not too big of a deal
• An active community is very important so it's easy to find and give help
• One thing I really want but dont NEED would be cross-platform support for the client

So in a nutshell I'm seeking what would be called in lame terms an "mmorpg maker" simply becuase I have a little under a year of nothing but free time and making an "mmorpg" is a life goal of mine. So really the most important thing is rapid development over most other things.

I actually know of about 6 engines I listed in my head from memory with said things (minus maybe cross-platform support or something else) but I really love to hear the feedback from the stackoverflow community and hear about maybe any new engine I don't know about!

(Remember development speed is key and it would be nice if it was 2D but 3D is fine.)

Answer 1

Maybe you are aware of this but devmaster.net has a pretty exhaustive database of game engines of every type. loads of user comments are valuable too. a really good resource... ..

I personally like the engines from garagegames and unity3d has some very good features and tools also (including running in web browsers and iphone support). The C4 engine also is highly regarded - but I don't know how strong it is currently in the networking area.

Answer 2

MMORPGs are the hardest game to make and the hardest to support and maintain so even making just one is a lot of hard work, never mind making a toolchain that is flexible enough for multiple MMOs and in a good enough state to ship to others. That's why things like RealmCrafter aren't good enough for what you want - because to be good enough to meet your requirements would probably take an immense investment.

You mention that you know of about 6 engines - which are they? I'd be surprised if there are another 5 that truly meet your specifications and are for MMOs.

Answer 3

I would go with Irrlicht