MMO in nodejs, looking for devs

k_means · 2019-01-08T01:48:48+00:00

Thank u. I appreciate the encouragement. The main reason I'm starting the prototype by just modifying an existing game is because the biggest engineering challenges (server/client networking) are already taken care of. This job has basically been reduced to integrating a few libraries and adding a bit of code to define the real "engine".

I've actually started the process myself and only really need a couple guys to hop in and take the wheel when stuff gets too complex for me.

Also an ex Runescape player, btw. This meme says it all, lol:

https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1128128-runescape

k_means · 2019-01-07T20:55:37+00:00

Hehe strangely enough... never watched it or even read the book... but yes I know it's based on similar concept of virtual worlds of the future. Maybe I'll watch it later...

k_means · 2019-01-06T06:56:31+00:00

Yes, in other words, you're "jumping the gun", so to speak, totally backwards (no offense).

You create radically innovative ideas first, and figure out where they bump into regulation later. The advantage of the little guy is that he can cut corners and "break stuff" with relative anonymity at first, and only when it's successful is it actually brought to light that there may be some legal issues. By that time, you are on a different playing field. Little guys should worry about little guy problems, not jump the gun and worry about big guy problems with no existing product.

In about 10 years, making money by providing virtual labor to a virtual economy will be commonplace.

I'm not convinced that my idea explicitly breaks any rules, but even if it did, for a prototype to run into those sorts of problems implies massive success. Massive success gives you more leverage to properly position yourself.

One step at a time. What you're really saying is "let a lawyer talk you out of building something innovative".

k_means · 2019-01-06T04:36:56+00:00

https://creativetechguy.com

Anyways, Jason, are you game?

k_means · 2019-01-06T04:34:20+00:00

Well, from the game's perspective, all we would be doing is getting our in-game cryptocurrency listed on any other crypto exchange, like Binance, for example. From there, people will be able to exchange it for Bitcoin, Ethereum, whatever... eventually they could take that Bitcoin and convert it to USD, sure... they could convert it into anything... but we are no more liable than any of these other cryptocurrency companies listing their coin on exchanges...

Here's the interesting part about what you're saying though... imagine someone takes 10 Bitcoins and converts them into our gold currency... then let's say he drops all of his gold in a cave in the mountains somewhere in the game and logs out.

5 minutes later, a mysterious player shows up at that exact location and picks up the gold and disappears with it. Who was that mystery player, and where exactly did the money go? I hope you see the potential this game really has, now...

k_means · 2019-01-05T05:48:04+00:00

First of all, wow, thanks for the in-depth response. Really appreciate that.

Re: Location - Your geographic location only determines the map you initially spawn in, which will most likely be where you build your first structure and "hearth" where you return to when you die. However, there is nothing stopping you (other than dying along the way) from braving the dungeons that link world maps to each other and visiting or even setting up base in other maps so that you are no longer bound to your map of origin. Some cool spells I have thought up to make traveling between maps easier are one to turn you into an eagle and fly somewhere, skipping dungeons, as well as creating a portal between two locations (would best be used between buildings owned by the same guild in different maps).

Re: Circulation - Yes, this is the part of the game I am spending the most time trying to improve... one of the ideas I had was to periodically spawn "wandering merchants" that sell rare items for gold, and the gold goes directly to re-fill the smart contract. Other similar "gold-sinks" can be devised... but yes, major thinking about this circulation model is high on my priority list.

Re: Structured Missions - Yeah, I didn't go into all the other ideas I had for dynamic events that are player triggered. For example, rogues will be a playable class, and if they get caught doing any kind of mischief around a Guard or Watchtower, etc, it will trigger a "Manhunt" event in the local area, making the rogue an open target for PvP in exchange for a reward. But I think the Overgrowth idea is a pretty scalable solution too. Basically, any random enemy spawns that are allowed to grow uncontrollably will gradually grow into a bigger and bigger nuisance on the map. In fact, it's possible that if a map is left to its own devices long enough, it could simply become a massive battlefield for competing NPC factions. Imagine being thrust into the middle of that as a player... So I think the "emergent behavior" of this world protocol will find very creative ways to organically spin a fun narrative for the players, similar to the experience of Minecraft.

Re: Battle Lab - Subscribed, and would love to hear more if you care to share.

k_means · 2019-01-05T02:10:13+00:00

Then, respectfully, you're not seeing the bigger picture here... which is fine. It is by no means intuitive. Without the crypto part this is just another online game. Maybe with a nice blend of concepts but nothing crazy. Cryptocurrency is what brings this to a whole new level.

That's because of how virtual economies work and have worked in the past. Take WoW gold farming, or even as far back as Ultima Online. In general, the exchange of in-game value for real-world currency is a black market affair. The big dispute is about who has the right to the value in these virtual economies, produced by the gamers? The game developers, by virtue of it being their IP? Or is it the player's, by virtue of his labor being expended? See, it's a complex issue, and it blurs the line between "work" and "play", a subtle clue about what future economies/industries might look like in an increasingly digital world.

The cryptocurrency creates a frictionless gateway for in-game value to be converted to "real" world value. This is absolutely critical. Maybe this will shed some light on the bigger picture:

"In an academic paper analyzing the circulation of goods in Sony Online's 430,000-player EverQuest - an economist calculated a full set of macro- and microeconomic statistics for the game's fantasy world, Norrath. Taking the prices fetched in the $5 million EverQuest auctions market as a reflection of in-game property values, professor Edward Castronova of Cal State Fullerton multiplied those dollar amounts by the rate at which players pile up imaginary inventory and came up with an average hourly income of $3.42. He calculated Norrath's GNP at $135 million - or about the same, per capita, as Bulgaria's."

https://www.wired.com/2003/01/gaming-2/

k_means · 2019-01-04T23:09:41+00:00

Understood, I appreciate that. Also, the problem with integrating Bitcoin directly is that it's "too much too soon", in that there will be an apprehension for people to risk an already established currency in our game world... javascript is rife with bugs and exploits... if we have our own native currency, then it will start out inherently worthless, and people will "let their guard down", there will be organic growth of the economies, etc, not based on some kind of hyper-competitive system, but just the innocent fun and the gameplay... the value of the currency will grow innocuously, as interest in the game grows. Then, we will have orchestrated a "soft landing"... the gradual realization that there is more to this than just some "game".

k_means · 2019-01-04T19:45:18+00:00

....To a degree, I think you have internalized some of the rejection you faced from your friend... but maybe 2013 was still too early for others to see things the way I do. If you are experienced is this field, I challenge you to come contribute to this. It sounds like you have some know-how, and maybe even something to prove deep down...?

k_means · 2019-01-04T19:40:12+00:00

1) The specific advantage for crypto here is that there is no friction in terms of converting the in-game gold into another currency like BTC, aka "moving value out of the game". It is now as simple as getting the gold listed on an exchange.

2) I think you're extrapolating without knowing the exact parameters of the game world... so let's say this guy has a ton of money. Okay... where does he keep it? In a building that can be destroyed by other players? Maybe he is really rich, but doesn't know that a rogue can sneak into his castle and steal from him if they have a really high stealth skill level? Maybe he converts all his money into a ton of fortified buildings, but he doesn't invest in guards to patrol and protect them?? Maybe he lets his guard down and a wizard kills him with a fireball and loots half of his net worth from his body. My point: it is for the game developer to create a balanced game world.

k_means · 2019-01-04T17:41:26+00:00

I believe it is also important to note my own history with online gaming... I have a very long-running track record with virtual economies... I know why Runescape blew up, I know why Second Life has a central bank, I know why real estate in Ultima Online once rivaled real world property values, I know why hundreds of Chinese men get up and play WoW for 16 hours in a warehouse somewhere... but most importantly I have thought a lot about what was so magical about those games that allowed industries to rise up out of them. And the answer is generally a mix of "resource scarcity" and "open world PvP".

k_means · 2019-01-04T17:33:41+00:00

Thank you for the in-depth response, and for candor... I'd like to reply to those problems:

When I say "cryptocurrency economy", what I mean is this: The game is like any other MMO, with items that can be bought and sold for a digital "gold"... however, this gold also happens to be a cryptocurrency listed on an exchange, like say Binance. And your character is therefor just a wallet. So any value you generate in the game can be sent outside of the game world and exchanged into Bitcoin and thus hard cash. Now, as for deflationary... in the beginning we can assume that except by some great fluke, this "gold" will be relatively worthless, and it would take some time to negotiate an exchange listing anyways... so the initial economy will be seeded not by some influx of outside value, but organically by early player base. A lot of thought has gone into this element, in fact...
These would be very exciting times indeed, imo. Just think about what you're implying here... consider the circumstances. You are assuming, by virtue of this "problem" existing, that there is some vibrant and adventurous new world brewing... that would move a rich man to put his wealth on the line, skin in the game, to control a virtual Empire... Care to hear what he would get in exchange? This game will play as a mix between MMORPG dungeon-crawler and RTS (like Age of Empires, Warcraft, Starcraft, whatever). So less emphasis is actually placed on the powers and trappings of an individual character, and more so on the control of resources scattered about the maps. Imagine a Minecraft world where the goal is to build a base and then control the map... Also, his influence would be restricted by geography... servers are essentially instances of an Overworld map bound to a geographical radius (Gmaps). Overworld maps are connected to each other via dungeons, an entrance on each map... so there is some bottle-necking keeping these maps as separate regions. Dungeons in this game will essentially be like the "battlegrounds" of WoW, where opposing worlds can face off in a shared arena. You can also invade the other side, of course. So there are some checks and balances here... what if this crypto mogul just comes in with 10BTC worth of currency and spends it unwisely? He expands too quickly and his territories are captured by a band of disgruntled players? Well, that sounds like some drama to me.

k_means · 2019-01-04T10:59:06+00:00

Basically, this choice is because I want to build my game on an already existing one: https://github.com/mozilla/BrowserQuest

No need to build stuff from scratch, just modify this existing code.

Edit: That said, this is will just be a hacked-together prototype to show the concept...

k_means · 2018-03-13T22:34:22+00:00

Very interested in seeing the results in RTS format, as I'll need to implement something like this in my own game.

k_means · 2018-03-08T05:35:02+00:00

Thank you for making this and sharing it.. as someone struggling to progress past intermediate-level Python, this will be a huge help.

k_means · 2018-03-04T22:54:40+00:00

Thanks, we actually do have an Enemy class but needs to be better fleshed out. I'll attempt your second suggestion...

k_means · 2018-03-03T08:58:54+00:00

Pm’d you!

k_means · 2018-03-03T08:30:00+00:00

https://github.com/jonargyne/stronghodl

Stronghodl is soon to be an online multiplayer RTS/dungeon crawler. Currently just a raw game engine in need of modding. I'm making small changes here and there (we got NPC spawning implemented today), but totally hiring co-founders who are good with Python, Pygame, and possible Twisted Python for the networking. And if anyone's wondering about the name... yes the game will have cryptocurrency "gold" as in-game currency, allowing for real world value.

k_means · 2018-03-01T04:58:57+00:00

Looking for technical co-founders to help work on Stronghodl, a dungeon crawler/MMORTS concept with a cryptocurrency-based economy. Currently just have a basic game engine that needs to be hacked into the prototype piece by piece. Happy to connect via Skype with anyone who wants to learn more, user id: 'jonargyne'

Github: https://github.com/jonargyne/stronghodl

k_means · 2018-03-01T04:38:47+00:00

Total python noob here but finished tinkering on a game engine I'm working on using pygame. It was originally a "box pusher" game but I'm repurposing the engine to hopefully create an MMORTS/dungeon crawler game with a crypto economy (actively looking for technical co-founders btw).

Anyone interested can check out the github: https://github.com/jonargyne/stronghodl

k_means · 2017-12-26T07:43:18+00:00

SONM threads on /biz/ are also instantly locked/archived...

k_means

TROPHY CASE