All Posts by Nikkons017

Though I'm a programmer when developing the framework and network code for my mmo I've been running into a few snares when it comes to I/O. I'm trying to find innovative ways at reducing how much info is sent from server to the client for movements, actions, and other data (character equip etc..)

For character move ment you need need to keep track of characters on a 3d plane with 3 verticies or the

x,y and z axis's.

now character location in the game is  stored via the following design in a branch system

SolarSystem -> Planet -> Region -> Area -> Zone -> xyz

Now using this system its capable to severly reduce the I/O needed to be continually updated

SS/Planet/Region/Area/Zone only need to be updated once  unless the character zones other than that you only really have to update the xyz continously.

to transmit ss-zone it will take 5bytes of data (can pack data into bits) - > 5 bytes

then you have to transmit the xyz which = 3 btyes of data                          -> 3 bytes

so every update you will send 8 bytes of data for just character location which seems like too much because say we update 100 times a second which is common of fps games so one character would generate 800 bytes of data every second times x amount of players and you get over spam to your servers.

with only 10k people online server will have to deal with 10-16MB of data every second. But we can't really lower the update rate because even though you can't get perfect (exact) location and its more of running the updates through a movement prediction algorithum to guesstimate your characters location and I know that the more updates creates a path closer to the actual path your character takes on the server.

one way I think I could reduce the spam is to again only update the data except xyz which will cut down the load from 8bytes to 3bytes per update.

I am also thinking of not transmitting the y coordinate because the y is most always the same as your virtual floor. So you don't have to update the y because you can go off the y + buffer zone for your characters height on the plane and only have to send it when your character does something special like jump, fall, fly etc.

with this when your character is not doing anything special it will only send 2 bytes of data.

one solution to this could be bit packing - 00001111 + 00001111 = 11111111 (then split when get back to servers) but I don't  know how much processing stress this will cause or even if you will end up sending more data just to let the servers know what its actually processing.

and not to mention all this but we have to load

Character data

Character Actions

Character viewplane (shows where other characters are looking up/down etcc..)

Character direction

which still adds to the massive i/o already.

any thoughts on how to further reduce? or critiques on if said above is feasible on a massive scale ?

going for 100 updates per second and 10,000+ simultaneous users if not a lot more.

again this is all without knowing how much Large server farms with gigabit internet lines can take every second or its maximum load capacity.

    Hello to all gamers and developers a like. I would like to spend a little bit of time informing you on the current state of Project Rendition. In this document will be a brief explaination of some of the game design elements and then possible job opportunities that are currently available.
       
    The goal of this game is to create a fun game where it gives players the most freedoms possible.
   
    The intended target audience is everybody over the age of 12. This maybe gastly to some but it is geared more towards mmo veterans like myself who are not happy with the current state of mmo's and want something to recapture the same thrill and glory that we experienced a long time ago. This is a mature game in terms of the world (not in sexuality or gore) and doesn't cater to the lowest common denominator of people by sacrificing gameplay. This game puts gameplay first and foremost and it will always be that way.
   
    Project Release Platform: PC - Windows, Mac, Linux
   
    Compensation: No pay will be provided with this project until we get necessary funding for the project and go past the demo stage. From there we can work things out but that is down the road. This is strictly a game design for enthusiasts and fellow developers that want to change the state of mmo.
   
    Current State: Finishing up Game Design Elements and transitioning into more tangible elements. Later on we will take art assets and designs and begin building a demo mock up using the free enginge <Multiverse> to test out design elements.
   
    We are currently working on putting in the meat of the game in terms of design and story line elements. This means backgrounds, histories and future predictions of Planets, People, Political Figures and their respective Nations. So far we have the 6 planets of Argen, Eros, Serris, Durrotras, Tritus and Gensis and each of there three major city names which are as follows:
   
    Argen - Style: Egyptian/Arabic MGF: Trading Hub (MFG: Main Game Function) - Gov: Dictatorship ruled by Emporess
        Major cities: June, July, Nirobi
       
    Eros - Style: Greco Roman MGF: Host to Colliseum - Gov: Monarchy ruled by czar and council
        Major cities: Atlantis, Abyss, Mercy
       
    Serris - Style: Viking MGF: Exploration/Discovery - Gov: Clan Structure
        Major cities: Arrakis, Halberg, Ryodan
       
    Durrotras - Style: Medieval MGF: War planet/Siege Warfare - Gov: Free-form
        Major cities: Drakenguard, Avion, York
       
    Tritus - Style: Sci-fi MGF: Social Hub - Gov: Democracy
        Major cities: Solas, Siren, Cinera
       
    Gensis - ?? Forgotten Planet
   
    These are six planets that we are building Gensis being the last one because players will not see it for a while, Its in the story line :)
   
    Here are some of the features we are building into the game:
   
        - New Form of Character Progression
        - Innovative Combat that involves Free-form attacks, Spellweaving, Gun-touting, melee slicing action that's balanced
        - In-depth revamp of old outdated crafting systems
        - Allows players to impact the world on both a macro and micro scale
        - Players actions actually matter!
        - Arena (Colliseum) that is not just for show
        - Social Hub where you can do more than just quest,grind,craft,pvp,pve
        - Quirky, yet very cool Bizarre type trading posts
        - Npc integration where some processes like gathering can be automated since its not the focus of the game.
        - 100% player made items including - houses, buildings, vehicles (land,sea,air), bases, and various other structures/items.
        - Dynamic free-forming economy where cities will be built and destroyed as time goes on then rebuilt again.
        - No power gap between new and veteran players
        - Grouping is now the easiest thing in the world
        - Have the standard LFG (Looking for Group), SFG (Search for Guild) systems so finding the right one is a cinch.
        - Eliminated the action of Ganking/Corpse Camping in a FFA PVP environment
       
   
    Now that you got your fair share of buzzwords and haven't really told you anything about the game here are some jobs that the Project is currently seeking to fill:
   
   
        Race Designer : Create and detail everything about differnt races for the game. This is a mix of both Sci-Fi and Fantasy Genre and needs more than the typical Elfs, Orcs and Halflings speaking of which I don't want in the game. Lets just use our imagination on this one. One note though, all races will have to be bi-ped in nature unless you can explain to me how we can build one that works. Describe who they are, how they got there, why they are here, where they are going and tons of other questions along with what they look like who they hate, why they hate them, who they love and why, and countless others. Human Race in some form is almost a given.
        Required: Submission of writing ability for character/race
        Need: 1-2
       
        World Designer : We have the main skeleton for planets and government and social structure and the general theme for each planet but what we don't have is a complete world. Here you will design various landcapes in between the cities, various locales, hidden temples, secret areas, villages and other small outposts and the like. This can also include designing traps, city scapes and the general feel for things. We want large vast worlds, but worlds that have life and aren't ghost towns. Its best to pick one world and focus on that but we will see how well your talents extend.
        Required: Submission of area description or artwork dipcting locale. Having the ability to draw is nice too but not required. Same goes for creating 3D Models in Max or Maya
        Need: 1-6
       
        City Designer : This is just like the world designer but focus's solely on creating major city layouts that will be used in the game. Various cities will be ground based, flying in the air, floating on water or underwater, in a volcano, hidden ice palaces and various things in between. Again we are looking for things we can combine in a portfolio with our game design document to pitch for the necessary investors. But a general sense on how cities will look, feel, and function is your goal here.
        Required: Submission of detailed description (need to be able to picture in my head from your words, or a detailed artwork showing off your design. Again the cities will be based off of the themes of the planets above and will be located in the game world on land, sea, underground, on and under water. Knowledge in Max or Maya is nice but not needed until later
        Need: 1-6
       
        Arena Match Designer: Here you are responsible for creating various types of PVP matches that players can go through and experience. These will feature things such as 1-10 FFA, 1-10 vs 1-10 Death Matches, CTF, Survival/Invasion type games, Last Man Standing and other games coming from different genres of games that will work in a MMO environment. Here you will not only design game types but also map/stage design levels that players will fight in, along with ranking system, ladder match structure, and fitting in the necessary story line elements that goes along with the arena system and how it works. If PVP is your sweat and blood for your mmo experience this is for you.
        Required: Submission of sample arena map (description or sketch) with necessary rules, game types, and why it will be fun to play.
        Need: 1-6
       
        Story line Developer : Helps build onto the story line skeleton we have already developed and finds innovative ways to engage the player in more ways than just reading a whole bunch of text. Instead of actually telling them we need to find ways to show them what we want. To involve the player on a whole new level and develop sub stories (quests and such) that lead to various encounters and lead to the players feeling of accomplishment and achievement and progression. We have given you a world that is dynamic and every changing that uses the players to their full advantage now its times to take that and run with it. The sky is the limit.
        Required: Submission of a sample story (Game related preferred) or a detailed quest outline. What the player does, who and how they talked to quest giver, where they might go? Or anything pertaining to game lore (story).
        Need: 1-6
       
        Concept Artist : If you like to draw this is a game for you. We have tons of stuff you can draw, pretty much anything in the game kind of stuff to draw. Its just that much stuff. Here you can work on anything from character art, building, cities, landscapes, weapons, vehicles, bases, items, ships, worlds (space view) and various UI elements that need to be drawn better such as Bank Inventory, Personal Inventory, Auction House, Character Sheet, Skills Layout, LFG, SFG, Quest Sheet as well as Action Bar layouts (initial setup) how character info/ target info is displayed, how your PDA looks and so on. We are going for a more contemporary tech feel in this department.
        Required: Submission of artwork
        Need: 1-6
       
        Game Designers : Here you will work with me side by side fleshing how the many systems will interact with each other and how they can be improved upon or redesigned to reach our goal. Here you can pick a single game design area but you will most likely be discussing and designing various game elements ranging from combat to political structure and government systems. For this job your mind needs to be open to new ideas but with those ideas you have to explain how you came to your conclusion and why it works because i thought of this great ideas LAST NIGHT doesn't really cut it.
        Required: Potiential Game Design Element Mock up and description of how and why it works, or an idea that is well thought out. Just something to let me know that you are seriously thinking about your designs.
        Need: 1-4
       
       
    If you need any information pertaining to the game please contact me through Nikkons017@gmail.com or aim: Nikkons017 and I will be happy to give you what I have so far. Some things will be harder to produce than other since most of what I have is still in about 5 different notebooks and am currently trying to transition them to a digital format to create the design document. But I will try my best to get you the desired info. If what you would like to contribute to the game is not list above then shoot me and email with a description of what you have in mind. These are just general game jobs that I have listed.
   
   
        ~Nikkon
   
   
   

For the past month or so I have been thinking up a new type of progression system to fill in the gap left when you remove character levels.
This system is more of a blend of standard level up stats with eve's progression system.

Here is what I have so far:

To start you have Multiple tabs for your progression
| Character | Weapons | Profession | Corporation |  

under the Character tab you have attributes like:

+ Strength                           
+ Endurance/Stamina
+ Charisma
+ Intelligence
+ Perception
+ Agility
+ Luck
+ Running
+ Sneak
+ Toughness
+ and so on................

Next is for weapons which I will go into more detail and breakdown of the skills

Weapons
    - GUN
        - Pistol
            - Desert Eagle
                Breath Control            [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]         |    Round Modification [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
                Recoil Control             [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]            |    Extended Clip        [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
                Scope Mod                 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]         |    Targeting Mod        [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
                Chamber Mod             [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]         |     Magazine Mod        [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
                Gun Fire Mod            [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]         |    Reload Speed        [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
                Unjam Speed            [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]         |    Trigger Pull Speed  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
                Dual Wielding           [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]         |    (DW) Accuracy      [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
                (DW) Multi-Targeting [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]         |     Etc.. etc...etc....
            + USP
            + Glock Family
            + Tangfolio
            + Walter ppk
            + Beretta 92
        - Sniper Rifles
            + Barch M82A1
            + Dragonov
            + AW50
            + PSG-1
            + SteyrAMR
            + Boeing
            + Browning
        - Rocket Launchers
            + M72 LAW
            + Stinger
            + Javelin
            + C90
        - Grenade Launchers
            + M79
            + Gl-AL
        - Assault Rifles
            + G11
            + XM8
            + F2000
            + M16
            + M4
            + HK G3
            + Tar-21
            + Galil
            + CX Storm
            + L85A1
            + AK-47
            + AR 15
        + Shotguns
        + Heavy Machine Guns
        + Sub-Machine Guns
    - MELEE
        + Sword
        + Axe
        + Polearm
        + Staff
        + Maces
        + Daggers
        + Fist Weapons
       
    - SPELL
        + Fire
        + Wind
        + Water
        + Earth
        + Light
        + Dark
        + Plasma
    - Ranged
        + Bow
        + Crossbow
        + Thrown
        + Wand
   
    These are just some examples to get you familiar with the overall progression system, What I listed above is mostly real weapons but the game will feature many more "made up weapons" for your enjoyment.

    For the [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] in every skill it will go off a point based system
   
    So Rank 1 = 10pts
         Rank 2 = 30pts            this is calculated by (Rank-1* 2) + 10 = Next Rank pt
         Rank 3 = 70 pts                so to get Rank 2 you get (10pts*2) = 20pts + 10 = 30pts
          Rank 4 = 150pts
         Rank 5 = 310pts

    Based on these numbers to fully max out a skill you will need to have 570 points invested in each skill, So how do you get those points you ask?

Well there is an active and a passive system in this game. So first let me explain the passive system to you guys.

So the passive system is simply this, from the first time you login to the game every 5 mins you get 1 skill point.

So no matter what you do, you will always be getting 1 point every 5 mins wether you are online or offline. This helps close the huge gap between the hardcore and the more casual players who can still feel as if they are advancing in the game even with their limited time schedules.

By using the 1 point @ 5 Minutes to the above skill points above it would take you 2850 minutes or 47.5 hours or 1.98 days of doing nothing to max out a skill.

And for those of you who think it won't last long enough for players to burn through i'll give you this calculation

avg of 7 skills per weapon x 2 days to max out each skill = 14 days per weapon * 100 Weapons = 1400 Days = 3.8356 YEARS!!!!!!! to max out 100 Weapons.


obviously there are more than 7 skills per weapon so it will take the player even longer if that was there goal.


If you just had this system in place you basically get what EVE online has done but without having to switch skills in between but the effect is one in the same. The problem with this system is that because you are advancing no matter what you do, you leave little incentive for the player to actually play the game. This is the one big problem I've had with Eve because if your bored of running missions or mining, you end up just logging in to change a skill over to keep progressing then shut off the game and find something better to do.

This is why I have incorporated the Active Progression System

This is the same system from the old days where you actually have to use the skill/weapon to earn skill points. Again this will be similar to the passive system where you will earn 1 points for every 2-5minutes of skill use. So Now when you are playing if you play you now can earn 2 points every 5 minutes in your quest to progress through your skills.


When you start the game you will not have to start from 0. Since that would be annoying and kind of frustrating if you had to restart a character. Instead you will be given a pool of 1000-5000 points to spend however you want right from the get go. This is to encourage uniqueness in the players even further and to allow the player to pick the necessary skills that match his or her play style and allow them to enjoy the game further.

The part I'm debating right now would be for the active skill system of where do your points go? Should they be put into the general pool of points so you can spend them on any skill, or should they go in a smaller category like only able to use for guns if your ranking up with a uzi? I'll let you guys decide that but I would like to know your opinions good or bad and what you think about it?

I have the standard 1mb service and download around 700-1mb/s. There is another interesting thing about cable though which most companies don't tell you, they have designated connections to specific areas. So you live in an area and chances are they have one big main connection from which all the other ones branch out from. So even though you could theoretically get your 6mbps, if lots of other "customers" are using the service, wether it be cable tv or internet, your connection is split and there for running at a fraction of its speed.

you might also want to check into "internet optimizers" for your computer to clear up any network issues you might have from keeping you from achieving greater dl/ul speeds.  a great site to go to is

www.speedtest.net/

they also have links to "internet optimizers" programs for download

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EXPLORATION !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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sounds too much like what we already have a ton of.  I don't want another WoW clone #45. The settings are indifferent, the player models are indifferent. The style of gameplay is all that matters. Make the game play different from WoW's. And nobody on this forum is going to take your idea because we all know it is vaporware until we see something. But the best of luck to ya.

You really do complain a lot. If you have so many complaints about how developers are implementing their ideas, why don't you show them how and not just talk about it. It would be great to have a server for every different possible combination of game play but you simply can't do it. Plain and simple. Its about money and resources. If you are in the the minority of players "which you are" then you will get left holding the bag because its all about the number of subs now and not the quality of the game they produce. But by all means starting thinks of ways to help the cause instead of just complaining cause somebody made you unhappy. And quit using I, cause developers only care about "us".

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Well you are kind of leaving a lot of info out. How big is the audience you are aiming for going to be? Is the combat turn-based or live-action? Can you trade items with players? What ways are there to kill people? Is it a hack'n slash style of game? Are your missions like quests in other mmo's? and finally how do you implement all your said game design elements making them user friendly and easy to understand? What sort of character customization will it be? Will it be just styles of armor, or armor with clothes on top? can you paint your clothes/armor? All these questions you need to answer along with a ton more, because they all affect how you are going to design your game in the end.

Just some tips from another fellow game designer,

Nikkon

Well with this game still being in the concept stage, technology will get there by the time this game will be ready ;)

But if technology did allow a system like this to work, What would be the drawbacks? The positives? Would it be to hard for players to pick up and learn? Do I need to make it where a 5 year old can start casting spells? The whole objective for my game project is to make a "FUN" game rather than a "Profitable" one. My theory is that if you make a good game, people will play it, end of story. And a good game doesn't constitute it being a major IP either.

sorry for the misspelled words and bad grammar - Just trying to get ideas down to paper

                                    PROJECT: RENDITION
    (-------------------------------------------------------------------------------)
    Author: Jordan P. Sleeper (Nikkon)
   
    (-------------------------------------------------------------------------------)
    Combat System (spell only)
        The whole system is a little hard to describe but bear with me. To make things simple we have three types of combat in the game melee, gun, and technique/magic. Each of these types have a different way of fighting that helps balance the three of them out so they can all fight against each other with it being a toss up of whose going to win. Lets start with spell casting since this is where the original idea came from. When casting you will have your list of basic spell elements in a standard action bar located somewhere on the screen. To use a spell you will either hold the corresponding number pad button down and click your mouse or use your mouse to click the button on the screen. Depending on which button you use on your mouse to activate the spell is the hand that the spell will go on for your character. So click the left mouse button and the spell will go on your left hand. If you click both mouse buttons you will activate two spells of the same type on both hands. This type of activation allows the players to freely pick and swap spells to their hearts desire and provide the ability to mix and match spells and effects. For example, lets say that on one hand you have a fire spell, and the other you have a ice spell. Alone you have to ability to use both spells seperately, but what you could do is mix them together and shoot hot water at people or something along those lines. But I wanted to go further than that and allow players to truly be able to modify the base spells and come up with some unique combinations so I used what is called a focus meter. Think of the balance grinding meter from all the tony hawk skateboarding games. This works off the same concept but it has some differences. Both of your hands will have its own seperate meter for focus. This means that by using two spells you have to 'balance' those spells which is harder and that is the cost of using two at once besides the mana and energy costs. Each focus meter will range from 0 to 1000 but it won't have numbers on it, just ticks every 10-50 or so. When you activate a spell the meter will start in the middle and will look something like this:
       
        [--------------||----------------] || = where you are in the bar.
   
    if you let the || in the bar drop to 0 at any point during the spell the spell will be auto cancelle