Good book(s) for MMORPG design & implementation?

Question

I am a long time professional C/C++ programmer (mostly embedded systems) and a hobbyist windows & php hacker.

Can anyone recommend a book(s) specifically aimed at designing and (hopefully) implementing an MMORPG?

I don't need general how to design or how to code books. Maybe a really good generic games book, but I am not interested in 1st person shooters, I want to know what it takes to implement an MMORPG.

Good books, maybe also good URLs.

Thanks

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just searching eBay and Amazon threw up a whole slew of books. Amazon's customer reviews give me an idea of how good they are, and the overview tells me what areas they cover

Answer 1

I don't know any book that walks you through the process; generally, if you need such a book, you aren't qualified to make one. I usually hate saying that because everybody has to start somewhere, but usually you need to make other games before making an MMO as they take all the complexities of existing games along with many of the issues facing web development and compound them all together.

However, there are two good books that give you a collection of design and programming ideas which you can use, providing you already have a decent grasp of game programming in place:

Massively Multiplayer Game Development

Massively Multiplayer Game Development 2

Answer 2

Here are several to get you started. As with any MMO development, you will also need skills such as programming, art, etc. - depending on your role in the development of the game.

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Massively Multiplayer Game Development and Massively Multiplayer Game Development 2

I own the first and have read the second via my school library. These are decent books as far as ideas go. They are basically collections of articles published in the past. But they are by no means complete tutorials on how to develop games.

Designing Virtual Worlds

I own this book as well. It is aimed more at MUDs (has a really cool history of MUDs in the first section) but the ideas in it are still solid and will get you thinking. It's still very non-technical though, and has next to nothing about implementation.

Programming an MMORPG in C# with XNA (still being written)

I'm tracking this project closely, although it's stalled lately so I hope progress is still being made. This looks like the kind of book that you and I really want, a book about the complete MMORPG development process.

Game Development Essentials: Online Game Development

I haven't looked at this book yet, but check out the reviews. It seems to be another good MMO development book.

Answer 3

I've been told Swords & Circuitry is very good.

Answer 4

I'm in nearly the same boat as you mawg. I attempted to look into mmo generation as a whole and have decided that, at least to me, they are very much a sum of their parts. It looks to me like the disciplines required to generate a workable game are full time jobs in their own right. Network and protocol code, data working, security, and that's just the guts. Art, graphics, and story are all wildly deep beasts.

Take it all with a grain of salt because I'm probably more novice that you but I have done the same kind of search and come to the conclusion to know the whole you have to study the parts individually.

D.