Me and my team (my team has 16 people) are looking to buy Hero Engine platform. This will cost us [for the starting fee] $300,000 dollars. So as you know most people can't buy this all in 1 go, and so we thought that if people donated to us [and once our mmorpg is up and running] then we could give them a free membership for helping us out.

So we have decided in about 2 months we will come out with a plan to accept donations for any amount and we will also [if over $10] give a membership for life.

But why would you donate to us if you have no proof the we are just scamming you? Well we are working on the legal things so once we accept then you can give and know that we're no spending it on x-box's.

About the game: Well we are no sure about every aspect that is going to be put into it, but it will be a mid-evil based game with vary different thing put in to like, you have to eat every 3 hours your on to keep alive even if your not fighting. And this game
The game will be huge battle between 3 different nations or what have it. And basically all out war against 2 other teams. The object will probably be that once 1 teams castle or nation type thing is taken over then that nation join the 1 who won over them and helps them destroy the other nation.
Once 1 nation kills both of the other nations it starts over.
While all this is going on you also can do a lot of other things like quests, mini games like Archy and tribe/clan wars type thing.

We will release a financial plan in about 1 to 2 months so there will be more info in that.

This in still in the process stage of braining storming so things will change about it a little or a lot
Please feel free to E-mail questions to: gameswereus@gmail.com
or post on the forum =Þ

Cheers, Ben =€

Sorry, but the days of a few friends getting together and developing a good video game are over.  It takes a lot more than $300000 and a few people to make a game these days.  The fact that you didn't add in the cost of a server and dedicated T1 just shows that you aren't ready to do this.

No, its not just a few friends... they all have been able to program for a while now, and $300,000 is just the starting cost, we will have to buy a sever and other things and we will need investors after a bit to.

Probably a better idea:

http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/grimfall/042008/1586_By-the-People-for-the-People

I'll take this in mind.

Having a game on your own? It's quite interesting to develop such, why not sell the right of the game after you've develop it. It will be very expensive if you'll push through with those plans. But, its not my lost it yours. So good luck on whatever happens to your plans.

Don't agree with this. Suppose there are 30, 000 people who donated to you, each with $10, then you would have to give these great 30, 000 people all life membership, just note that how big this number would be and how would you have any benefits from you game?

Originally posted by Notyolne

Don't agree with this. Suppose there are 30, 000 people who donated to you, each with $10, then you would have to give these great 30, 000 people all life membership, just note that how big this number would be and how would you have any benefits from you game?

And you would need to factor in the cost of marketing otherwise you probably won't even get this many people that know about what you are doing.

Just sell that game, but make it sure that you'll get your shares. Try to ask partnership with some companies who can be interested with the game. Don't hassle yourself too much, and on how does the economy stands in the U.S. It is not on the right period of time. Give more a year or so and make sure that U.S. is already rising again.

Originally posted by sheepwool

No, its not just a few friends... they all have been able to program for a while now, and $300,000 is just the starting cost, we will have to buy a sever and other things and we will need investors after a bit to.

LOL,  /\ The above does not inspire confidence.

 If you are actualy serious about this, go out and get a job with one of the major companies doing single player games for a while and build up a resume so you can at least say "I have X years experience in the game industry, and have worked on A, B, and C from concept to release.  "They all have been able to program for a while now," just doesn't cut it.  Anyone idiot can learn to program, developing software requires a lot more.

I've seen from your profile that you're only 13 years old. I don't mean to sound condescending but unfortunately you aren't likely to get $10 let alone $300,000 for a project being headed-up by a teenager. And I mean that with the greatest respect.

A word of advice: If you're into making games, and specifically MMO's, then I would suggest trying something on a much smaller level. I used to design games in my teens and I can tell you it's a hell of a lot harder than it looks, even to produce something like a multiplayer flash game played across the internet.

The sheer amount of money, time, resources, people, knowledge and testing needed to get an MMORPG up and running is simply immense. I really don't mean to burst your bubble, I just think you need to be more realistic about what you want to achieve.

Originally posted by Zayne3145

I've seen from your profile that you're only 13 years old. I don't mean to sound condescending but unfortunately you aren't likely to get $10 let alone $300,000 for a project being headed-up by a teenager. And I mean that with the greatest respect.

A word of advice: If you're into making games, and specifically MMO's, then I would suggest trying something on a much smaller level. I used to design games in my teens and I can tell you it's a hell of a lot harder than it looks, even to produce something like a multiplayer flash game played across the internet.

The sheer amount of money, time, resources, people, knowledge and testing needed to get an MMORPG up and running is simply immense. I really don't mean to burst your bubble, I just think you need to be more realistic about what you want to achieve.

LOL, I didn't even think to look at the profile.

To the OP, ignore my last post, obviously you won't be getting an industry job.

Go here instead:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Development_Kit

Microsoft has made it fairly easy to develope basic XBOX games.  Also, you might think about getting NWN2 or Oblivion  and building your own scenarios.  Or any other game that includes a good level editor,

@ OP

Sorry m8, but unless you can provide proof and on paper legally signed and legit paperwork that your "game" will go live and stay live then you won't get a penny out of me and most likely a lot of others. I'm sorry but this is just how reality works m8, as it stands with just your "advertisement" i doubt any sane person in todays world economy would invest. Your best bet is to take your ideas to a proper company and try to make a presentation about your ideas, if they like it you might get a chance at making the game, otherwise it's just a dream (that many people share) which won't come true.

It really does suck to have your dreams thrown and tossed about. Don't give up -BUT- take baby steps.

Today, with a savy team that still lives in their mom/dad's flat and a free supply of cheetoes can actually begin development of a game with no investment at all other than their own time. That being said - download your development tools for free. Even Microsoft has all of their development packages 100% free. Albiet limited, the stuff that is missing is more enterprise/integration level support - you shouldn't have an issue.

For the game engine, even if you use a 3rd party engine, you will have to do a lot of "massaging" to get it configured and hooked into your app for exactly what you want. The Direct X SDKs are also 100% free (always have been) - so you could write your own.

Here is what I suggest:

• First - realize that this is a business. Even if your intentions are to create something that adds to the genre - if it doesn't have a solid business model - you will not ony fail, but realize that there are consequences for not following the rules.
• Establish some sort of business structure. Whether it is a partnership/corporation/LLC - establish it now and describe the business as what it is. "An online entertainment service provider". Setting up a corporation/LLC now days is very cheap. There are many websites (like legalzoom.com) that can accomplish this. They also give startup kits that give you a schedule for all of the legal filings that you will need to make over the next 2 years. If you are in fact a minor, it is okay. You will simply need to have your parents/legal guardians as the stock holders and you would become an unpaid volunteer.
• Establish a project document that outlines the entire project in detail. You should take a look around on Google to see how other developers do this, but to be honest - regardless of what anyone tells you - it is different in any company. Do it the way that best suits you and allows you to convey your ideas to others that are both technical and non-technical. This will actually end up being a bunch of different documents and you will be constantly updating these.
• Place roles within your organization. Programming is only a SMALL portion of development. Once you have a good understanding of what needs to be done from the project documentation you will need to start placing people into roles. This will include:
  • R&D for the tasks that you aren't quite sure how to accomplish yet
  • Product development that will map out each of the microscopic tasks for the entire team
  • Server programmers will need to be highly effecient at both relational and OOB database design and client/server communication
  • Client programmers that are knowledgable of DirectX and it's limitations
  • Artists that are profficient in both conception drawings and transitioning their concepts to a wireframe object - which can be done in 3D Studio max or simular 3d app.
  • Sound Composer - not just for ingame music but also for all of the effects. This person will need decent experience in sound engineering as he will need to understand how to dampen or amplify sound in a recording environment and which microphones to use for which purpose. I would try to find someone with their own old school 4-track that can be taken on the road.
  • Community Manager/Web Developer - These are actually two seporate roles, but it's better when these are one and the same for a small company. This person would not be just responsible for the web site, but also relaying information to and from the forums as well as keeping them constructive.
  • CEO/Production Manager/Simple Accountant/Promoter/Person of all Hats - This is the ring leader. It doesn't necessarily need to be the owner. But, you do want someone that has some business experience running the show. This person would be responsible for all of the company filings, making sure that communication is going well between the different developers, do minor accounting or atleast prep and collect the necessary paperwork for the accountant (USE QUICKBOOKS OR SIMULAR SOFTWARE). I say promoter and not marketing - because you will not want to market an independant game like this until you are actually in beta. Also, this person needs to be able to fill in any position or get someone that is able to fill in any position at the last minute. Your entire team will change over the course of it's 2-4 year development cycle.

You should avoid promoting your game as something that will be groundbreaking. It won't. It will simplay make you become a bit more non-believable. Be humble.

You should avoid asking for money up front. It will never happen unless it is your own or you have a tangable product already.

Keep your ideas realistic. I would suggest making a higher resolution UO like clone with your own style and depth of combat and skills. This will cut the development time in half without the need for major 3d object modeling and polycount weighting.

Ask questions from the right people. Don't ask a programmer art questions and if you ask programming questions, be specific (without giving your source code) and ask in a specialized forum.

Finally, be sure to look at the entire project weekly. This will allow you to make sure that you are on track and you are meeting your goals set in the project documentation. Also, be sure to have a company meeting about it weekly and not from a development standpoint, but more of a "here is what we have done" standpoint. It will remind you and your team of what you have accomplished and build moral for why you want to move forward. When it gets into late alpha and in-house beta, I would suggest weekly play sessions of everyone on the server.

Firstly, please believe yourself in doing anything. And once you decided to do it, do it well. I'm so agree with the one who posted before me, and wish it would be a great help to you, also a good result you can get.

This thread is also located HERE.  Any moderators around that can merge the two threads?