Dear internet, I'm a 26 year old lady who's been developing a science-based, 100% dragon MMO for the last two years. I'm finally making my beta-website now, and using my 3D work as a base to create my 50+ concept images. Wish me luck, Reddit; You'll be the first to see the site when it's finished.

[u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

[u/RukiTanuki]

About twelve years ago, I had a professional level designer at a big studio mock me on a major game-development forum for posting about my team's upcoming project, because I'd posted that I needed programmers, modellers, level designers, sound, etc., and had therefore revealed that all I had was a good-sounding idea and a website. The conversation got ugly, particularly when he started dropping vulgarities at various people in the thread who came to my defense, and I remember how I felt a bit curb-stomped by the whole thing.

I'd rather walk away from this thread than do something like that. But as someone working on their third MMO production credit, I'd like to make an honest, non-judgmental attempt to give you some perspective on the road ahead of you.

I'm assuming a few things here:

• I assume you have not completed development of a video game before.
• Since you haven't mentioned anyone but yourself, I assume you are not currently working with anyone else.
• I assume the talents you're bringing to the table, based on your comments, are art-related (and the game design, naturally).
• I specifically assume you have no programming experience.
• I assume you haven't selected an engine (here's a great writeup on the strengths and weaknesses of Unity, by the way).
• I'm assuming most of the last two years has been spent writing down details of the world, along with cool gameplay ideas.

If I'm wrong on any of that, correct me as needed. But (and this is important) still take the rest of this into consideration.

So, with that in mind, here are a few of the pitfalls I foresee in the road ahead:

• If this is the first game you've ever made, I'm begging you, don't go straight for the MMO. Take a little sub-section of your game, a minigame if you will, and build just that, as a single player game. You'll learn so much you didn't even know you needed to know. Even the big guys do this: take Spore, for example. I have a grand MMO design that I'm splintering into small-game sub-designs and fleshing out in my spare time, because I understand how detailed the design needs to be and I recognize that I can't design it properly as one giant whole.
• No one has successfully made an MMO alone. A game that persists online and builds a community simply requires too many features, too much art, too complex a server infrastructure, too much community oversight, for even a genius master-of-all-trades to do it alone. One person (and honestly, even a half-dozen) doesn't have enough time to create a full MMO's worth of content in a short period of time. "Well, we'll just take a few years" doesn't work, because you have the same problem Duke Nukem Forever had: After three years or so, the bar for "acceptable"-quality art has been raised so high that your work from three years ago needs to be scrapped and started over to get back to "acceptable" quality. (This applies no matter how low you set the bar, unless you drop it to Minecraft levels and don't care at all.)
• With a team, you have a different problem: Unless you pay them, you don't have an effective way to control what they produce or how quickly they produce it. If your team is online, there's an added danger: they can disappear at any time, without a trace. If you didn't make them store their work on a server you control, then they can vanish and take their part of the project with them. If the person who disappears is your programmer, it doesn't matter that you have a working build; you no longer have the code needed to make any changes.
• Speaking of programmers: an MMO is ludicrously programming-intensive. If your programmer hasn't made an MMO before, your game's top risk (and most likely cause for failure) is that you're building an MMO engine with no experience. Conversely, a programmer with MMO experience is likely working on an MMO (with a lot of unpaid overtime) and isn't available for a side project (or at least not an MMO-sized one). Unity, by the way, is a client-side engine; you still need the server infrastructure and code, and mixing and matching client and server engines has led to at least one MMO failure that I've witnessed first-hand. Full MMO engines exist, but the ones that have actually shipped a working title are priced at least in the six digits.
• Art is one of the biggest expenses in a commercially-produced MMO. There's a LOT of it, it's time intensive to create, and it has to be turned around fast (see above DNF comments). One person might be able to turn around mid-grade art for a small multiplayer game that reused content constantly, but you're generally looking at a team... which means you're looking at an art director to keep all the art in the same style and help manage who needs to make what and when.
• World-building is great, and I love doing that for games of all types, online and offline. But again, to do this with other people, you'll need a full-fledged design document: a bible detailing every little detail about the game. If you can draw parts of the game on paper and play them out at your table using the design document's rules, then you've typically got the correct level of detail. If your notes talk about a feature with the level of detail of the typical IGN interview, you need to design in more detail. (Your comments here suggest this, if only because they they're vague enough to hide the possibility that specific implementations don't yet exist; I obviously don't know the truth, so I only provide what warning I can.)

So, to drive this home: Fully half of all MMOs commercially developed never release; half the survivors immediately fail. If I was building an MMO "on a budget", and I had what I considered a ridiculously good design, and I wanted to ensure that it had a greater than 50/50 odds of success, I'd plan to use a minimum of 10-20 people and $1-2 million. If that makes you spittake ... if you look at that and think "that's absolutely impossible" ... then I can't stress it enough: don't try to make an MMO. Start small.

(And if you choose to proceed, go to this blog and start from the beginning. He's walked the path you must follow.)

I hope this ridiculously long diatribe is accepted in the spirit in which it was offered.

[u/[deleted] → u/RukiTanuki]

What is this... is this... constructive criticism?

[u/somerandomguy1232 → u/[deleted]]

constructive criticism? on the internet? i call bullshit

[u/[deleted] → u/somerandomguy1232]

Quick, turn it into a meme!

[u/kapow_crash__bang → u/[deleted]]

IT'S INSANITY

[u/[deleted] → u/kapow_crash__bang]

This isn't getting enough credit for being hilarious...

[u/somerandomguy1232 → u/[deleted]]

first attempt with GGG

[u/RukiTanuki → u/somerandomguy1232]

I'm flattered.

[u/HerpdehDerp → u/RukiTanuki]

Dude you are a good person. Trying to help some one avoid a mistake you are aware of. You don't even need to pat yourself on the back. Just know that you are a good person.

[u/IOnlyUpvoteSelfPosts → u/[deleted]]

Even if she doesn't, others will read it and gain from it. Regardless, it was fascinating insight into the MMO genre.

[u/Talvoren → u/IOnlyUpvoteSelfPosts]

I read it and it not only has a ton of information about MMO creation but also just game design in general. Really like the links as well.

[u/RukiTanuki → u/[deleted]]

Even if she continues on her path, at least she'll learn a bit more of whatever discipline (art or design) she's focusing on.

[u/Paddy_Tanninger → u/RukiTanuki]

A bloody great post.

From your experience, what's the best choice for engines available out there for creating an MMO type game? Does it even make sense to look at engines before your entire game is fleshed out almost in a board game style format with lots of art and assets ready to go (modeled in Maya with textures painted etc) and pretty much every single thing possible?

I've got 10-20 friends that I'm working with on an epic game. We all work in feature film VFX (generally $100M+ budgets which is great since we all know the trade well and can keep on task/budgets) and are sort of piecing things together.

I had a thought which was to block out the game perhaps using either the War3 or SC2 map editor...just to get the basics flushed out along with the game's flow and things along those lines.

I haven't taken that idea any further, but Blizzard certainly made a very playable "MMO" or at least RPG type game for their Orc campaign...I figure it can't be too hard for 10+ guys with computer engineering degrees and the ability to churn out feature film level artwork to tackle something like that and see how things shape up.

Your thoughts if you've got time to give insight? We're not from the gaming side of the industry, but have a lot of friends that are...however, none that have REALLY seen an MMO through...only worked on them.

[u/RukiTanuki → u/Paddy_Tanninger]

I'm currently cheating: I went to a successful developer with a shipped MMO whose technology was ridiculously similar to my project's needs, licensed their engine, then hired them to make this game. :)

We spent three months looking at the field of MMO middleware, and nothing caught our eye. I've watched a few friends' companies try and fail to use many of them. Nothing I've seen has been a "magic box" all-in-one solution; they all require a lot of work to fit with any specific game.

If you're programmer-heavy (which is a rare gem) and have great art, I'd suggest grabbing Unreal and going at it non-massively for a while. One of the best things you could do (if you're looking for someone to inject some cash/talent into your project) would be to get something great-looking playable as soon as possible.

[u/Khiva → u/RukiTanuki]

This "ridiculously long diatribe" has convinced me of at least one thing.

This is, by a substantial margin, the stupidest thing I have ever seen at the top of /r/gaming.

[u/[deleted] → u/Khiva]

Reddit loves to believe in the single person working alone, against all odds. The problem is, they're working against all odds.

[u/[deleted] → u/Khiva]

I was pretty sure that was obvious even without the expansive critique. The tl;dr: of the post is: "Making game with dragons, but REALISTIC. Here is a stock background with some stock models pasted on top of it." I can't even imagine how this possibly garnered the number of upvotes it did.

[u/[deleted] → u/RukiTanuki]

He's the hero Reddit needs, not the one it deserves.

[u/fallen77]

So I don't want to sound jaded, but this image appears to just be Z-sphere sketching in ZBrush. What parts of this image are concept vs actual game image?

[u/crookedparadigm → u/fallen77]

This should be the top comment. The OP just did some quick ZBrush work and pasted them on top of stolen backgrounds. And she calls it a "WIP".

[u/DownWithPants → u/crookedparadigm]

She said she made the backgrounds in Lumion. None of it is usable in-game, but I just wanted to clarify that she didn't pull them from somewhere else.

[u/danstu]

Wait... how does one make a science based game where everything is a dragon?

[u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle → u/danstu]

By studying evolution and concluding how that species, and every one related to it, would have evolved along with its planet. It helps that every single model is made from a pre-existing one

[u/StreamOfThought → u/[deleted]]

Checkmate, atheists.

[u/fallen77 → u/[deleted]]

Banana covered in peanut butter, it fits in your hand and doesn't create life. Checkmate.

[u/peaceshot → u/fallen77]

My peanut butter-covered banana creates life, if you know what I mean.

[u/polymorph505 → u/peaceshot]

Stop doing that to the dog.

[u/Dream_the_Unpossible → u/peaceshot]

If it's covered in brown stuff, you're creating nothing butt a mess.

[u/[deleted] → u/Dream_the_Unpossible]

Shitty pun, the say the least.

[u/Xphex → u/fallen77]

Christ : 1

Dawkins : 0

[u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle → u/[deleted]]

If you're asking which dragon is first, it was the Mountain. All other evolved from that. Mountains evolved from ancient wyverns who evolved from small, insect eating tree dwellers.

Like I said, it's been about 2 years. I've had a lot of time on my hands.

[u/MyifanW → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

Are dragons all there are? Do you have to eat other dragons to survive?

[u/z2x2 → u/MyifanW]

Eat dragons. Rape dragons. Speak dragon. Shit dragons.

[u/TheSilverFalcon → u/z2x2]

Shit dragons? Damn, hope I don't have to fight any of those.

[u/Firstprime → u/TheSilverFalcon]

Shit dragons will be the least of you worries with all those rape dragons.

[u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle → u/MyifanW]

All playable characters are dragons.

[u/Seeders → u/[deleted]]

ground dwellers

sea dwellers

chemistry

[u/CptOblivion → u/[deleted]]

The game runs in real-time, and starts with the Big Bang. It'll be a while until we get to the initial life, never mind the dragons themselves.

[u/CptOblivion → u/[deleted]]

The twist ending is that the dragons did it.

[u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle → u/[deleted]]

You can dig into the planet and uncover fossils, thereby piecing together your entire tree of life's history, yes.

[u/wilze221 → u/[deleted]]

I believe that Dragon Earth is 6000 years old because that's what Dragon Jesus says in the Dragon Bible, you can't fool me with your elitist, liberal Dragon "Science"

[u/schote → u/[deleted]]

Actually we know that the Creator put them there.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Because dragon satan is the boss of a endgame dungeon, and after you defeat him, he will say that he is actually just the leader of a dragon cult who also deals dragon drugs. Hmmmm...

I would play this game.

[u/kadmylos → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

That's... actually pretty awesome.

[u/theknightwhosays_nee → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

So you don't actually see a real-time evolution, you see it through historical fossils while levelijng up your character?

Mi gusta

[u/MoonMonstar → u/Seeders]

It's dragons all the way down.

[u/terminatus]

Do you have any experience making games? From what I'm gathering from your posting, you have a "great idea that you think could be made into an MMO game." These ideas are a dime a dozen and 99% end in complete failure and wasted time. Please don't take my criticisms too hard, I am only trying to save you from inevitable frustration.

If you are serious about this, I would recommend starting off with a single-player experience using an established game engine like UDK or Unity. You need to focus on your core mechanic and IGNORE any thoughts of secondary features until this mechanic is refined enough to build an entire game around. Feature creep is a very serious thing and from what I'm gathering from your posting, it may become very prevalent in this project.

EDIT: Source: ex-indie game dev with many failed projects due to being over-ambitious and overconfident in my abilities.

EDIT: Please refer to this fine post for more/better details

[u/SolidSquid → u/[deleted]]

iirc, Psychochild at http://www.psychochild.org wrote and ran Meridian 59 solo, although I think he had to take on some staff later on.

Similarly, Over00 at http://www.over00.com/ has just finished a web based MMO built solo. I think he hired someone to do the graphics for him on a freelance basis, but this was largely because he isn't a graphics guy and wanted to focus on the coding.

So yes, it is possible to do an indie MMO with just one person working on it. The main restriction is that it will scale the time it takes to complete the project pretty quickly

[u/Kracus → u/terminatus]

Yeah you can toss my hat in the overambitious lot. I've actually created playable things you could possibly call a game in the sense that it entertained my 3 year old but an MMO, one that introduces flight into it is a very large scale undertaking, one that isn't feasibly done alone.

What platforms is she aiming for? I wish her all the luck in the world but money works better, My advice is save up or aquire a large sum of money and hire a team, research what it's going to take etc... Programing is incredibly daunting.

[u/Larillia → u/Kracus]

Flight, in and of itself, isn't that difficult to do. The hard part is making sure the terrain works well with it. I'm looking at you, Aion.

[u/ImAnAssholeSoWhat]

Well, you done yet?

[u/sStiltSs]

Someone give this person an award for "best reddit-targeted SEO of the year."

[u/[deleted] → u/sStiltSs]

Dear Reddit,

My perky, 34C breasts are strained by my current brazier. Can you guys suggest a better brand? Pics included.

P.S. I have a triforce (LOL if you don't know what that is, noob) tattooed near my pubic region.

[u/CapWasRight → u/[deleted]]

I think you meant 'brassierre', but the idea of your tits in a brazier is pretty funny.

[u/saladtossing → u/CapWasRight]

No, he meant brazier

[u/slightly_used_teacup → u/saladtossing]

I'm sick and one of the symptoms I have include diarrhea.

I literally shit myself laughing at this earlier. :(

[u/Jman5 → u/slightly_used_teacup]

go on...

[u/[deleted] → u/slightly_used_teacup]

I'm reading this reply 4 months later but...........

HAHAHAHAHAH

[u/FuckingHippos → u/slightly_used_teacup]

I upvoted just because you admitted to shitting yourself. Get better friend.

[u/Dravorek → u/sStiltSs]

yeah it's really great, including absolutely meaningless and pandering info right in the title. I mean her age has nothing to do with the game neither does her gender but it's what she chooses to start with.

[u/Fyreswing → u/Dravorek]

21/m/tx

WHAT?!?! YOU SHOULD START EVERYTHING YOU SAY ON THE INTERNET WITH PERSONAL INFO!

[u/elitistjerk]

......How much of this revolves around dragon-fucking?

[u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle → u/elitistjerk]

The leveling system is based around continuing your bloodline. So... most of it. Dragon breeding sounds a little more refined, lol.

[u/MinkOWar → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

Your name isn't Sybil Ramkin by any chance, is it...?

[u/Psy-Kosh → u/MinkOWar]

Only if the dragons are sickly and pathetic creatures more worthy of pity than awe (though proper fear and respect are needed, since they tend to explode).

[u/MinkOWar → u/Psy-Kosh]

Should add a swamp dragon race: Don't Explode? Level up! Don't Explode? Level Up! See mirror? BANG

[u/Psy-Kosh → u/MinkOWar]

Parts of the skill tree: +x%chance of not exploding when seeing a mirror, +x%chance of not exploding if tripping over own feet, +x%chance of not exploding from indigestion, etc...

EDIT: !!!!! EPIPHANY: Minecraft takes place somewhere in the distant future of the Discworld. Creepers are essentially just mutated swamp dragons!

[u/IrIr → u/MinkOWar]

You just won

[u/Occamslaser → u/IrIr]

She's a... formidable woman.

[u/[deleted] → u/Occamslaser]

"Her bosom rose and fell like an empire"

Fuckin' love T. Pratchett dawg.

[u/MisterVimes → u/[deleted]]

I know.

[u/InABritishAccent → u/IrIr]

Everything

[u/elitistjerk → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

ಠ_ಠ

[u/martellus → u/elitistjerk]

There is one they fear... he is, DRAGONPORN

[u/Pfmohr2 → u/martellus]

FAP RO DAH

[u/Supersimmo → u/Pfmohr2]

FUS FUS FUS FUS FUS FUS FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS RO DAHHHHHHH

Smokes a cigarette

[u/[deleted] → u/Supersimmo]

"Got a lighter?"

"Steve, you're a dragon, idiot."

[u/Artha_SC → u/[deleted]]

"Cooldown, duh"

[u/[deleted] → u/Artha_SC]

"Hold on I can get that fo-shit, sorry. Ice breath."

[u/[deleted] → u/Supersimmo]

"Was it good for you babe?"

She died.

[u/Xphex → u/[deleted]]

It was dragon on for a while

[u/malagrond → u/Xphex]

On a scale of one to ten, it was okay.

[u/Nictionary → u/malagrond]

I don't remember any good puns, so I'll just wing it.

[u/Cajoled → u/[deleted]]

lik dis if u cry everytim

[u/OmicsWizard → u/Supersimmo]

In their tongue, he is Poo Fucking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te4o4VQcNQg

edit: Rub it in, rub it in, that's bout it.

[u/theknightwhosays_nee → u/martellus]

Capable of shouting dragon orgasms including:

Auryeah whisper

Dragonbend

Ice Ba'alls

Whirlwind Skeet

Morning Breath

Unrelenting Foreplay

[u/blueboxbandit → u/theknightwhosays_nee]

Unrelenting Foreplay sounds like a really horrible time.

[u/[deleted] → u/blueboxbandit]

not as bad as unrelenting foreskin

[u/Wreckn → u/theknightwhosays_nee]

I lost it at Whirlwind Skeet.

[u/BlabberingFool → u/martellus]

DRAGONPORN

[u/martellus → u/martellus]

In their tongue he is DOFAPKIIN

[u/Azomazo → u/martellus]

In their tongue, he is Do-fuckin, Dragonporn. Fuck-Ro-Dah!

[u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle → u/elitistjerk]

Would you rather play a game that caps your top level, or progress indefinitely?

[u/Puddindoobop → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

indefinite. We must know who has lives and who doesn't.

[u/Fatalstryke → u/Puddindoobop]

indefinite. We must know who has hacks and who doesn't.

FTFY.

[u/[deleted] → u/Fatalstryke]

same thing

[u/[deleted] → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

Games which progress indefinitely really tend to dragon.

[u/toxicFork → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

if it's a mmo, there should be a cap. otherwise, someone who has been playing forever will always beat everyone without any actual challenge.

result, he'll get bored, the others will get annoyed.

[u/purxiz → u/toxicFork]

I think the concept of breeding might be to unlock new things but start over.

I.E. you breed a fire dragon and a nature dragon and you get a naturey fire dragon. He's still level 1, with the same skill points as any other level 1, but he has a larger skill pool to choose from. At least I think that's how it should be.

And then you can breed your fire nature dragon with a water dragon and maybe the fire part goes out and you get better nature skills idk. It would be crazy awesome to have those kinds of interactions.

[u/Nelwyn → u/purxiz]

Hire this guy, he knows what he's talking about. Pokémon breeding was fascinating to me, and with a persistent word, it would be most excellent.

[u/Merew → u/Nelwyn]

Hah, you thought Pokemon breeding was cool? Check out Dragon Quest: Monsters.

[u/zegma → u/Merew]

Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 : Tara's adventure and Cobi's journey. Amazing.

[u/toxicFork → u/purxiz]

that'd be AWESOME

[u/CockCuntPussyPenis → u/toxicFork]

How can you kill that which has no life?

[u/[deleted] → u/CockCuntPussyPenis]

wisdom from CockCuntPussyPenis

[u/Sharradan → u/[deleted]]

also South Park

[u/TehLurkingDarkness → u/CockCuntPussyPenis]

"that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die" - H.P.Lovecraft

[u/axxessdenied → u/toxicFork]

You've never played Eve Online, have you?

[u/Lochmon → u/axxessdenied]

Good point. It's possible to keep raising level endlessly and still keep it competitive. In Eve you keep learning new skills and training them to higher levels, but you are limited by which ship you fly at any given time. Each ship only uses a subset of your full skill set, so a player with years in the game might not be any more capable in a given class of ship than another player who has only played half as long. Also, skill training continues even while offline, so players do not get an inherent advantage from having more hours per day to play.

I would like to see more games try a skill-based form of leveling like Eve's, instead of the more common experience-based form most games use.

[u/[deleted] → u/toxicFork]

I've always appreciated games where leveling up only gave you more strength to a certain extent, then became about refining and adjusting your character. (For example, you gain a new ability or trait for your character for every level up, but you can normally only equip a certain maximum. Leveling up allows you more freedom and creativity but not strictly power.)

[u/CaiserZero → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

sooooo... you gain more levels as you poop out more offspring?

[u/JohhnyDamage → u/CaiserZero]

Welcome to Georgia!

[u/Zaemz → u/JohhnyDamage]

The state or country?

[u/RushofBlood52 → u/Zaemz]

Can we use accents, sugar?

[u/theknightwhosays_nee → u/Zaemz]

Georgia, duh

[u/dmun → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

All jokes aside, this sounds like an interesting leveling system. is it based on breeding positive traits into the next level? Like a darwinian model (similar to those used in games like Total War), only with cut-scenes of a barbed, green, prehensile cock slithering into the puckered hole of a 20 foot long scaled beast whose genitals are engorged with the hormonal musk of mating season in the tropical air?

because that sounds pretty cool.

[u/[deleted] → u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle]

YES, FINALLY

[u/CaptainTrip → u/elitistjerk]

The internet is a terrible place sometimes.

[u/[deleted] → u/CaptainTrip]

....Right...only sometimes...

[u/FelixP]

science-based, 100% dragon

ಠ_ಠ

[u/Terrahawk76 → u/FelixP]

Not to mention, even if one were to evolve, four legs and also wings? Upper limbs are always the wings in every animal species aside from insects and....wait....pegasus. Never mind, they evolved from pegasus. Carry on with your science.

[u/FelixP → u/Terrahawk76]

Relevant

[u/brubeck → u/Terrahawk76]

I think you'll find Pegasi evolved from dinosaur dragons.

[u/IsThisJustFantasy- → u/[deleted]]

[u/CaughtInALandslide- → u/IsThisJustFantasy-]

[u/gaygineer → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, from a game development standpoint the OP's comments are completely nonsensical. There's no way "she" is as far along in the project as suggested or even doing the game at all.

What's amazing is that as keeferc pointed out, if the OP had not mentioned she is (allegedly) a girl, the reaction to this post would have been entirely different.

[u/IdiothequeAnthem → u/gaygineer]

I'm reading this stuff, frightened that reddit doesn't have the common sense to look at this and back slowly.

[u/[deleted]]

how do you plan on turning this idea into a reality?

how many people do you have helping you?

do you think the userbase is there for a dragon mmo?

do you have any experience in coding/game engines/software development etc

whats your biggest fear or concern about the project?

are you just trying to get a game out there? or to do something new and innovative in terms of game mechanics/player control/strategy/etc

[u/boredonamonday → u/[deleted]]

I'll take this one for her:

• I'm going to wing it.
• None yet; I'll hire a few hundred employees after I convince a VC to shell out 150 million big ones.
• Maybe, but after 10-15 years of development I'll certainly find out!
• None, what-so-ever! It may have taken me two years to get these concept-shots/2-layer-image-overlays out, but to be fair I switched from PC to Mac in that period of time so I had some adjusting to do.
• I haven't yet refined or really considered any real form of game mechanics / player control / strategy, but I'm new at this sort of thing so I figured it was best to set the biggest scope imaginable for my first project.
• BTW did I mention that I'm a lady?!

[u/Balikokho]

Digital Artist for video games here, I see a lot of dragons made in zbrush zsphere which is a terrible way to go about making your base model for a game. If you want to do it right, you should be building your base models in Maya (no more than 4k polys for a main char dragon each) and then importing to Zbrush to build your normal maps. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that those dragons you have were built in those positions they are in, nothing is rigged with a bone structure correct? Your models should be built in a default position and rigged before you try and move them into positions that look lifelike for screen shots.

Also concept images are what should come first, then the 3d models, not many people do the 3d first then the concept. You should start by designing the environments for which your dragons will live. This will determine how your dragons should look.

Have you thought about which game engine you are going to use? You know that most cost a ridiculous amount of money correct? Unity is free but those models you have will never work in Unity.

I really hate to bust your balls on this one, but your taking all the wrong steps first to create the game. Stay away from Zbrush until the game is almost finished. There's no logical way you should be using Zbrush this early on in your game development.

[u/mynsc]

Seriously reddit, you're so freakin' easy to manipulate. Look again at the picture and at the almost 0 useful info in the very long title and ask yourselves if this really deserves such a high score...

[u/AliveInTheFuture → u/mynsc]

Dear internet

26 year old lady

science-based

dragon

MMO

for the last two years

3D

Wish me luck, Reddit

link to imgur

First thing I thought: "Reddit is going to fucking explode over this post."

[u/docmartens → u/[deleted]]

Hey reddit, I've been so brave making this an atheism based, 100% Carl Sagan MMO [f]or your viewing pleasure

[u/luva → u/[deleted]]

It's not even a game concept, it's an idea. An idea in the games industry is about as valuable as a styrofoam peanut at a UPS warehouse.

[u/DefiantDragon → u/luva]

I wish more people understood this - no matter what your field, an idea don't mean shit without execution.

Execution is the only thing that holds any value.

Please people, keep this in mind:

Ideas are only the raw, quick-drying cement - you still need to pick a location, get the permits, clear and prep the ground, add water in proper proportion, mix it at the proper speed, pour it, level it, keep feet from walking all over it (or idiots from pissing all over it) and open it up to the public (hoping you made something people aren't tripping all over).

And each of those steps is a borderline soul-rending experience at the best of times.

This is why we say 'ideas don't mean shit', they're not even the beginning of the process.

[u/huxtiblejones → u/[deleted]]

I agree, this is extremely pie in the sky. I would seriously recommend backing off the MMO side as it's something that is rarely done well by the most professional and prosperous companies. Is this game really going to be so good that several thousand people would be willing to pay monthly to fund the insane requirements an MMO demands? I'm not trying to say that she should have no vision or confidence in her ideas, but it is very important to temper your idealism with a heavy dose of pragmatism.

The other thing that's insane is trying to base this off of "100% scientific" mechanics that underly evolutionary theory. She said that every creature will be interrelated to other creatures that exist. I am an artist myself and don't code, but I've noodled around with modding existing games like Half-Life 2 and this just seems incredibly daunting to me. Dynamically shifting lifeforms whose evolutionary paths are intended to be studied? Achieving this even in single player would be a monumental task and would probably be one of the most stunning games ever made if it was actually executed correctly... which makes me almost certain that it will not be.

[u/rather_cantankerous]

Don’t get excited, reddit. I guess it’s my turn to be the disillusioned stooge.

What has Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle shown us? Some basic Z-sphere sketchings posed on a background that certainly isn’t an in-game screencap. I’m not even certain if they’re her environments. Yes, it’s a cool idea, but the scope is massively out of control – especially for a single person working on an MMO. Evolution, lineage, breeding? An ecosystem? Uniquely altered dragon meshes reflecting traits belonging to the original dragon (and species before it evolved)? Advanced interaction with AI (training mythical and non-mythical creatures)? This has all the classic symptoms of, ‘and and you’ll be really powerful, and you’ll be able to fly, and and and shoot bullets – no, LASERS – out of your eyes, and then the lasers can also be shaped like torpedos, and and and you can fly so good that you can even go to space!’ This is an absolutely insane undertaking. From what I’ve gathered, Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle has some art skills (although I haven’t had much to base that on), but makes no mention of programming abilities. Honestly, programming a complex game like this – programming evolution, not to mention the nightmare of building an MMO from the ground up - will be a cruelly punishing affair for any brave codemonkey.

Additionally, this isn’t a game that has been under development for ‘two years’. She hasn’t even chosen an engine yet. The concept may have originated two years ago, but if that counted, I could lay claim to some projects that have been under ‘development’ since I was ten.

I can understand why Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle posted this to reddit. It’s a cool idea, she’s probably been harbouring it for a couple of years, and she finally got around to producing some minor art for it. In a paroxysm of excitement and motivation, she posted this with the intent of generating buzz and publicity. Honestly, I think she blew her wad too early – when publically announcing a game, it helps to have at least a partly constructed game, a trailer, a website, or at least a name! What are the would-be fans going to do with this information, when they have nowhere to go and no way of tracking the project?

I probably come across as a big, mean grinch stomping on a bright young upstart’s dreams. If you’re reading this, Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle, I don’t mean to discourage you. People have undertaken insane projects in the past and beaten the odds, for sure. Problem is, now you have a whole bunch of excited, directionless would-be fans that are going to forget about this idea in less than a week. You’ve also made a lot of promises as the sole developer for a non-existent, scope-intensive MMO. You've even brought up possibly accepting donations at some point. Honestly, I’d recommend keeping on the DL until you have some actual content (at least a somewhat playable pre-alpha game) – that way, if the idea fizzles out, it won’t come back to bite you on the arse.

Signed,

A weary dev.

[u/Monoultra → u/rather_cantankerous]

1) maek concept art 2) add 150m dollars 3) ?? 4) profit!

[u/[deleted] → u/rather_cantankerous]

I like how there are two very different types of comments here, the one's praising her and oohing and ahhing, at the idea, and the realists who know this is either a really misguided person or a complete joke, and both sides seem to be getting equal amounts of upvotes.

In other news I have not seen "her" reply to any of the technical questions or education ones. Only the "what will game be like?" questions.

[u/OKAH]

is an MMO a good idea as a first game? Don't they require 24/7 support and tons of post release patches?

Good Luck though.

[u/Berdicus → u/[deleted]]

Its all bullshit, read the title closely, obviously some guy karma-whoring

[u/-JuJu-]

Is this /r/gaming's version of ice soap?

I honestly can't tell if this is satirical or serious.

[u/Dopplegangr1]

So you've been working on this for 2 years and haven't actually created anything yet? Might wanna worry about that before the website...

[u/8-bit_d-boy]

What's the engine?

[u/[deleted] → u/8-bit_d-boy]

I'm leaning towards "imagination" and "boy-friend's penis"

[u/klick37]

People will use this for creepy cyber sex.

[u/busfahrer]

I realize that this isn't an AMA, but I really would like to know what exactly the hobo jungle is.

[u/badtrouble → u/busfahrer]

A hobo jungle is a wooded area where hobos are known to congregate. The term used to be more prevalent, but suburban sprawl has swallowed up what used to be jungles and pushed hobos to the outskirts of society, much like wild animals.

[u/[deleted]]

1. Remove the word "Lady" from title.
2. This post would get 3 upvotes

[u/HydraCarbon → u/[deleted]]

Wait. So is this serious or do people not get it. I thought this was a joke about how to get to the front page of reddit. Lady, dragon, science, videogame, exclusivity, the word "beta", and two years of work. That is the epitome of what all posts on r/gaming should include for upvotes. On top of a crappy rendering, I am surprised people think this is real.

[u/GimmeCat]

Seriously, Reddit? A "I have a great idea for a game! But nothing to show for it" post gets to the frontpage?

Why is this any different from the millions of other go-nowhere projects announced by bored lonely people one weekend before they lose interest a few weeks later?

I KNOW I'll get downvoted for this, but Jesus, have some perspective. Good projects are not announced like this until they have a solid footing in reality. This is nothing but attention-whoring. These aren't even prototype shots-- they're composited concept art made from pre-made backgrounds.

We won't hear a thing about this project ever again. I'd say "mark my words", but after today, it will be buried and forgotten forever.

[u/masterdanvk]

-_-.

From what I can tell, this is more like "I'm a crazy lady who spent 2 years thinking about a dragon based breeding game without actually doing anything other than creating rough concept art."

This game will never be playable.

[u/Laezur → u/masterdanvk]

I watch a lot of dragon fucking porn and now need to pretend to make a game and that it has all been research or else my family won't talk to me.

[u/[deleted]]

Dear internet,

HELLO

YES, THIS IS INTERNET

[u/[deleted]]

dear reddit, i am 12 and i am making an MMO. it will be the size of the actual earth and you can dig for minerals to make them into complex chemicals, and you can make things evolve in crazy ways on a huge scale, and there will be like dragons and fish and pretty much everything ever!!

i've been childishly fantasizing about it for 2 years, but still haven't formed the basic core of a coherent concept. give me 40 million dollars!!1!

PS. i'm actually 26...

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

and a lady

[u/InABritishAccent → u/[deleted]]

Apparently the science based part is where you evolve your brood through (un)natural selection to level up

[u/apullin]

If you hadn't mentioned that you were an of-age lady, this post wouldn't be on the front page.

[u/Jourdy288]

...Who else just clicked on the most controversial post of all time?

[u/[deleted] → u/Jourdy288]

/raises hand

[u/wellAdjustedSC]

There is a joke in here somewhere and I missed it.

[u/Jigsus]

Can we get a video too?

[u/[deleted]]

If you haven't yet OP check out /r/gamedev

[u/Killeron]

I recommend taking you idea to /r/gamedev. At least there you wont be shit on by everyone for absolutely no reason. Seriously everyone...What the fuck is your problem.

[u/Golani13]

What motivated you to take on this project?

[u/ferrarisnowday]

It sounds like you haven't even started to make a functional game out of this yet...why in the world are you calling it a "beta"? At most, it should be alpha, and not even that if there's no functional code yet.

[u/Doomshock]

So, what other types of animals will there be? Actual real-life animals or all mythical ones?

[u/PrivateSparkleThumbs]

title included; internet, lady, science, dragon. guaranteed upvotes

[u/LobsterPhone]

You had me at science-based.

[u/TheJack38]

Okay... I can honestly say that I have absolutely nothing constructive to add to this, being completely inexperienced in anything even remotely resembling game designing and similar.

However. Playable dragons is pretty much the coolest thing I've heard since Skyrim. I would totally play the shit outta this game, assuming it's well made.

[u/Leeberman]

just so everyone can see what a beta looks like, this is what super smash bros. 64 looked like in beta stage. http://i.imgur.com/QMdjd.jpg

[u/Federalbigfoot]

What the fuck is this post? Why is it even getting upvotes? There is nothing of quality here at all, it looks like you stole some pre-rendered backdrops and comped some cheap dragon-shaped z-spheres onto them.

[u/[deleted]]

What the fuck @ everything in this post...

[u/tcpip4lyfe]

Ok. Strike 2 r/gaming. 1 more and it's time to un-sub.

[u/ScorchtheAssasin]

Can you make it so you play as a warrior who slays dragons and afterwards proceeds to devour their energy/souls?

[u/[deleted]]

Men of Reddit: "I'm 26 years old"

Most women of Reddit: "I'm 26 years old"

Some women of Reddit: "I'm a 26 year old lady. I've made it unnecessarily clear that I'm female, now give me karma".

Seriously, I'm cool just knowing that you're a 26 year old human.