I want to create a browser based MMO similar to "monopoly city streets." Is there a good framework available for this kind of thing?
+1
A:
Generally speaking, browser based 'MMOs' have little in common on the technical level with MMOs and are usually just websites with a recreational element. As such, your options are much the same as they are for any website, with the added caveat that you probably want a richer client than Javascript can offer. Flash and Silverlight are your two main contenders there and there are various libraries and frameworks available for them.
One option I know about that is geared directly towards larger online games is SmartFoxServer, which comes highly recommended. This is better suited to games that require a real-time element, although in practice such games are rarer than you think.
Kylotan
2009-12-16 10:49:36
"browser based 'MMOs' have little in common on the technical level with MMOs and are usually just websites with a recreational element."I wouldn't agree, at all, having worked on plenty browser and not."with the added caveat that you probably want a richer client than Javascript can offer."I've plenty of experience developing applications of varying scales in Javascript. Aside from scaling beautifully in a way Flash doesn't (think DarkBASIC to DirectX!), Javascript has hardware-accelerated programmable pipeline 3D rendering support in modern browsers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebGL
Rushyo
2009-12-16 19:40:05
If you wouldn't agree, why not expand on that in your answer? Most browser-based MMOs are using relatively simple and infrequent HTTP requests to sync with a web server, typically persisting small changes to the database after each request. This is quite different from the typical MMO approach that has a dedicated TCP or UDP server and a continuous stream of data in both directions, and tends to persist larger lumps of state less frequently.As for WebGL, it's hardly supported by a wide enough user base to be worth using in a commercial product just yet!
Kylotan
2009-12-17 10:26:18
A:
Monopoly City Streets is itself built upon two publically available APIs [1], one of which is suited nicely to real-time game development although neither is comprehensive nor designed for 'non technical' use.
MMO is a catchall term that can refer to a great deal of different technical approaches and the differing hazards and skills required to attempt them. Effectively it refers to scale, rather than the actual style of game. Whilst a framework might deal with a very specific type of game concept, it's unlikely to be what you had in mind.
Certainly to my knowledge there is no layman's MMO framework for any of the common mapping APIs.
Rushyo
2009-12-16 19:48:12
+1
A:
The short answer: no.
The long answer:
Back in 2003 or so, I was using Game Maker extensively. I would frequent the Game Maker Community very often, and every now and then a question would pop up in the Novice Questions & Answers section: "How I make MMORPG?".
There is no framework for making a browser-based MMORPG because the subject is vast. RuneScape is an MMORPG, and it's Java-based. But so is Kingdom of Loathing, and it's based on PHP (turn-based).
Also, you will need a design that is better than "Our game is going to be like X."
knight666
2009-12-17 22:33:25