FPS and MMO sickness

Game Engine Game Engine Support and Discussion
#1

Frequently I read about (war) FPS and MMO sickness,
some (or many) developers become tired of seeing (war) FPS and MMO projects. :rolleyes:

But I would like to put this into (an other) perspective, by explaining the benefits.

FPS and MMO are very popular amongst gamers.
These two are probably the most played game types and both do have a certain difficulty level, in a huge part thanks to the many titles of proprietary competitors.
While the functionality required for these game types are adoptable to almost any type of game and the similarities with many other game genres is huge under the hood.

By creating a very popular game (project) you stimulate the popularity of BGE (and Open Source in general).
This will benefit every BGE developer, coder and artist alike. :eyebrowlift2:

If we as BGE community can proof that we can provide high end good quality games which can compete with the -triple A- titles of the proprietary developers out there, we are likely to gain the biggest growth in both community and development. :eyebrowlift:

Good high end quality FPS and MMO games will provide in depth high end functionality, which in turn can be translated into other genres. But on the side, they will attract a lot of gamers, more then any small niche market will. :cool:

So please when judging game projects or when providing feedback, do not feel the need to always express the urges you might feel towards specific game genres. But have an open mind and see the benefits it might bring to the BGE community. :slight_smile:

Giving too much negative feedback to a project because you get “sick” of an other game project in a genre you personally do not like or prefer, then consider to keep this for yourself. This will avoid to read mainly negative feedback on (otherwise) good projects. So unless it actually is requested as feedback, there aren’t a lot of good reasons to trash a project for it’s already chosen game genre… seen the project isn’t likely to change the genre anyway. :no:

If someone succeeds to create a successful MMO, we will have convincing proof that even the hardest network and server functionality is possible.
A good FPS might provide a good vehicle system, extensive AI functionality and combat techniques.
Which in turn can be adopted in Race-, Sports-, RPG- and fantasy games.

Although if the project doesn’t provide Open Licenses, in other words: shares the techniques,… we won’t benefit as much as a community as whole, so also please consider to give back to the community.
But still any growth and positive attention is good for us, any succeeding project is one we can all be proud of.
Together we stand strong! :smiley:

#2

All your Points are very strong.
But if even the Inventors of the FPS, id (which stood true to it eversince), get sick of it, one definitely can tell the Genre has been overdone. In Fact, I don’t care about FPS Games because there is that sheer Mass of them and they are always Way too similar (even though Exceptions can occur).
The Small Niche Games however are outstanding. Machinarium, World of Goo and Limbo are excellent Examples for how Small Niche Games can proof much better than the more common Game Types if only they are likable enough to also suit the Masses while still being Niche. But I guess it also need some good Promotion… (well, I found Machinarium by stumbling across the Title, Limbo by stumbling across a Let’s Play Video… cannot tell I knew of any Promotion…)

#3

FPS is just a genre. I think the design of an FPS game is quite simple. You do not even need a detailed character or heavy animations.
An FPS can be a good start for beginners as long as they concentrate on the basics.

MMO is as it says Massive Multiplayer Online. This is a special kind of multiplayer network game. Wich is a multiplayer game. This is not a genre. It is an (interaction) technique.

You can create a multiplayer game with split screen quite easily. You just need a little bit of Python code to establish the viewports. You can find this code here in the forums or just ask for it.

It is possible to create a multiplayer network game with the BGE. It was done a few times already. But the network part is not in the BGE. It is done via Python. If you want to create one you need a good BGE and a good Python knowledge (or somebody how does that for you).

The Massive part of MMO is the problem. This was discussed several times. I remember a very good post from somebody working in this area. He stated it is impossible to get the massive part without deep knowledge on game design, network design, hardware and without a quite large amount of money. I agree with him. His points sound logical and valid. There is a reason why casual network multiplayer games have a restriction on the number of players.

If you dream making an MMO you can

  • continue dreaming
  • forget the massive part
  • become rich and pay someone
  • be very clever and invent a technique that makes the massive part cheap and easy.

If you are dreaming of Battlefield 3 … just buy it, play it, have fun with it.

#4

Very true, any genre can grow and shrink both ways.
Also projects do not need to succeed or be complete/finalized to contribute to the community in wisdom and development.

About the massive part, which i mainly agree to stated comments, basically if anyone is willing to try to take upon such a daunting task, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, even though the majority hasn’t got a lot of faith in the end result.

It isn’t the end result but the intention that matters and can result in a memorable trip. Keeping things positive and motivated is likely to give better results and at least easier to follow along.

BTW we all build on previous failures and successes. :wink:

#5

Also, maybe advise and guidance is of a higher importance then anything else. Point in the right direction, but give them a chance to fail. Nothing bad comes out of someone who proofs anyone’s wrong, when it comes to achieving the assumed to be impossible. :slight_smile: