Posts Tagged ‘MMORPG’

Recently while perusing around the net looking at stuff to try to find a solution to a roadblock for a game I’m designing Ive found some interesting stuff I thought I would share with you.  The first one I would like to introduce to you is Stackless Python.

Stackless Python is what you want to use if you program in Python and you want to take advantage of multi-threading technology.  Take a look a the game Eve-Online for example, that game was built on Stackless Python and eventually they did some modifications and enhancements to a network layer with it(pretty sure it was network layer) and dubbed it StacklessIO,   this boosted the games performance to sweet ass levels…to date I have found no code examples of StacklessIO. Please share if you know any resources.  If you want to know more about Stackless Python check out the official website at www.stackless.com

here are some simple examples of Stackless (HTTPServer, RPC, MUD Server, Chat Server)

http://code.google.com/p/stacklessexamples/wiki/StacklessNetworking

The next thing I want to share with you is a small series of articles from IBM on Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) server architecture.  This series is a great resource on the foundations of MMO with easy to follow examples check em out:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ar-powerup1/

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ar-powerup2/

At this moment, there is a growing sliver of light growing in the world of sci-fi and space simulation massively multiplayer online games.  On one side of the fence you have Eve-Online, a distinct powerhouse in the genre of science fiction space flight games, and not to mention a difficult universe to traverse.  Eve-Online is renowned in the unforgivingness and player driven political solar systems.  Which gives it a lot of appeal, however, it’s a difficult game to overcome, with long training times and shifty corporate business’s.  And with Eve-Online setting the stage for other games in the genre, at this moment, thats about as good as it gets.

Until now.

If your into this scene of piloting craft through roid populated systems either mining or waiting for an unsuspecting victim to crush, then there is no doubt in our minds that you’ve heard of Jumpgate Evolution.

Jumpgate Evolution is one of the most promising games being developed at this time to compete against Eve-Online.  Graphically stunning, JGE throws players into a different approach to craft navigation and player interaction compared to others.  Offering a unique twitch based combat system, it will allow players to engage in dogfighting unlike the multi click orbit scheme of Eve-Online, bringing the player a more visually stunning and intense atmosphere while tackling an opponent.

I myself am looking quite forward to playing Jumpgate Evolution. I’ve already signed up for the beta, now I’m just waiting for the opportunity.  More will come on this most anticipated release.

So we have Vendetta-Online, great space combat sim MMO – spectacular when it comes to being in first person mode triangulating bots in a skirmish as fast as possible…but if there is one game out there that is fucking deep its EVE.  EVE takes you into space with really sweet in game capabilities such as character implants and just a wide array of ships, equipment, guns rockets, boosters, warp drives and even insuring your ship in case it explodes!  I’ve been playing around in-game and I’ve got to say, small ships to huge ships – and a REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG UNIVERSE.  Unlike VO each system your in is’nt made up of sectors its made up of Constellations, Solar systems, Planet/Star Orbits – I mean the damn game is deep, very deep.

EVE-Online is vast, and requires some patience.  The ingame economy is pretty decent, and there are a whole lot of ways to make money, but acquiring skills in certain areas of the game can take time, luckily you can skill up when your logged off.  That says alot when you want to skill up, but your out doing something else for a time.  Another feature that is pretty nice is auto pilot.  You choose a destination, wherever it may be, hit auto-pilot and it will travel to the system your looking to get there for you, which if you have to go eat or make something to eat is great beacuse by the time you get back all you need to do is warp to the station, asteroid belt, star base, accelerator gate, moon, planet, or person you need to.

Honestly I can’t really describe the level of detail this game has, its a must see for yourself and experience it yourself type of deal, the screenshots in this article were taken by me in game, just to give you a little look inside of it.  EVE also features a web browser that you can surf the web from.  Yes I did visit Flyninja, no it did’nt look like it does now, but thats because the game does have some settings when it comes to viewing web pages. Perhaps if i get more and more into the game I’ll do a section specifically for viewing on your mobile device and within the game, if it’s requested, I will do it, just for all of you.  So if you want to get into a really popular Space MMO get into EVE-Online, it’s a little bit more for a subscription than Vendetta-Online, but its’s well worth it’s weight.  They offer a 14 Day Free trial so you can try it out first.  If your running Linux they do have a supported version of the game, however I had some difficulties getting it to run correctly, so I set it up using Wine (you can also set it up nicely in Cadega). Head over to their website EVE-Online for more information, if you decide to jump in shoot me an email and we can shoot through the stars.

I game very lightly anymore, since the crash of my 360 and my withdraw from the World of Warcraft universe, I have been patiently waiting for something else to catch my eye, something else to get me to white knuckle a controller and get my adrenaline flowing.  Ladies and Gentlemen I have found two games which have been rocking my senses.

GRAND THEFT AUTO 4

The newest addition to the Grand Theft Auto series takes you into the mind of Niko Bellic, an eastern European that just flew in to Liberty City seeking riches.  Now aside from the character lineup, the graphics and gameplay in this game are just fucking awesome.  Get the missle launcher and let loose some RPG’s, go and check out the water!  Even the way the background comes into view as you approach another area of the city is pretty cool.  When it comes to gameplay, no more waiting for a loading screens when you goto your safe house or entering a building, that is superb.

Looking for something to do?  The new GTA4 offers a lot of things to do in Liberty City.  Head to a Cyber Cafe and browse the games Internet, screw around with your cell-phone…hell pick up some prostitutes then go see your girlfriend if you have one!  The game is immense, and is certainly a title worth itself.

I haven’t had the opportunity to play GTA IV in multiplayer mode just yet, but I’m sure it’s even funner…shit when is the MMO GTA going to come out?

VENDETTA-ONLINE

To get away from games that have huge production value, I want to introduce to you a game called Vendetta-Online or VO.  VO is a 3-D space combat MMORPG set within a huge universe that gives players the opportunity to emmerse themselves in a real-time, fast paced combat space flight simulation.  Players have the option to choose from one of a few different major factions in the game and build reputation with others, building their characters to be rich and upstanding tradesmen, powerful military combatants or even space pirates.

Each major faction governs a certain number of universes each made up of a large number of sectors. Some sectors make up asteroid belts, have planets or space stations in them, or even a star.  The space stations offer players a place to manage or buy their ships and equipment,  trade, and get missions.  Traveling through the galaxy fast is through wormholes and jump points set of in other sectors or far enough away from large objects. You can join a guild or even create one, the game is just damn fun.

Default graphics in the game are OK, however you can fiddle with the video and graphics of the game in the options menu, enabling you to experience some pretty nice environments. Highly detailed backdrops and objects are an essential in this game, and most newer computers should be able to handle the game efficiently and deliver the best it has.

Whats also really cool about this game is that it is fully supported for Windows, Mac OSX, Linux (x86 and AMD64).  This means a lot to me being a linux user, and setup was as easy as sh. To play head over to their website Vendetta-Online and download it for your chosen OS, you’ll get a free 8 hour trial period, after that subscription is pretty cheap at $10 a month.