Projects :: EtherMMORPG

EtherMMORPG

How It All Began

This project was originally a project with a much smaller scale that was intended as a way for me to learn PHP (or an excuse to do so, if you rather). I started it in early 2003 with a few prototypes and a big idea.

Original Plan

The original plan was to favor gameplay over graphics. The game was intended to be an MMORPG that could be played on any computer, anywhere. That includes cellphones, kiosks, and things of that sort. It was going to be similar in style to games such as Rogue and Nethack. It would have communications implements (personal messaging type stuff), player versus player with tournaments, random encounters, and be entirely web-based.

What Happened

The project ended up changing scope, a lot. Features were added, features were removed. In the time that passed from beginning to end, only about half of the game was implemented. Eventually, it was playable. I wasn't satisfied with most of the code though and ended up rewriting large portions of it. The current state of the codebase is that maybe 2/3rds of the code that was working (before the rewrite) is now working. The story behind the game ended up being written only a few months before I completely abandoned the project, and it was around that time that I actually started doing real game design for it. It was at that point that I knew that it could never work out.

Why It Died

I think it's pretty obvious from the above, but in case one has missed the point: this project died because it was only me working on it. Also, the scope was just way too large for me to handle. Life got in the way, the design wasn't finished before I started writing the game, and the design of the software wasn't set in stone before I began, and it changed too much too often.

What It Means and Where I Go From Here

Most people will view this project as a total failure. That is because, so far, I have painted it as such. To believe that it was would be foolish. This has been one of the greatest learning experiences that I have ever had. I learned how to program PHP, use MySQL?, use XMLHttpRequest?(), and I came up with a really good system for clans/guilds that actually make a difference in game (rather than just being a system of organization). While it may be seen as a waste of time, it was anything but.

From this experience, I can only recommend that people never try to make an MMORPG unless they have at least 100 other full-time people and venture capital to burn. That being said, maybe everyone who wants to make games should attempt to program an MMO by themself so that they can get it out of their system when they're young (^_^).

What to Do If One Wants to Play With It

FALSE: There might be an installation of it running on my personal test server Mrs. Entropy: Unnanny.
The password for the test user might also be test.

At this time, there is no installation of it running anywhere.