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Questions on MMOrpg creation

D

dealaka

Guest
I'm currently waiting to have some time before copywriting my rpg material and then get it edited. I'm a avid rpg fan who's been working on this book/system for the last three years and want to think a bit about the future. My dream is to eventually have it made into an online game available for purchase (such as Everquest or even Gemstone). Lots of people playing with much of the system run automatically.

Any help from someone in the actual industry would be really helpful. I'm not planning for the immediate future, but would like to get a rough idea about how long I need to plan in advance. So here's my questions;

1.) How much cost is involved in actually maintaining/building content for an online game? I imagine several million, but I'm not really sure. I'm well aware it takes workers, computers, artists, legal costs, advertising costs, and other elements. These elements probably add up pretty fast.

2.) If I do get funding for my online game, do I get enough funding for a month? Two months? A year? It kinda sucks if I do get it built and can't pay salaries. Maybe it's not my issue, but it would help with a business plan.

3.) For a decent sized set of servers (say 3000 people), what are the costs of maintaining servers and the technology involved? I know it probably depends on the costs of the computer, the programming, and other hardware elements, but any guesses?

4.) Should the price of the product be based on a static funding element, or on an evolutionary curve? What I mean is this. Should the price of the game at release be dependant on the costs to maintain the product, and new people who join increase the funding? (not making much money) or Should the price of the game be dependant on setting a goal of people who we're going to get to play and once we meet that amount it's extra funding?

so;

Plan A - We release it for 3000 people and the pricing covers the costs to develop and maintain (online subscription). When we get a new 500 people to join we up the salaries to employees and equipment to upgrade.

Plan B - We release it and the pricing covers the costs of maintence (a few months) and development. To meet that goal we need say need an active membership of 5000 people, until we meet that goal there's no extra salaries or equipment upgrades. Once that 5000 is met, any extra money is immediately added to salaries and equipment upgrades. So it's longer to grow but much more stable. This plan allows for us to support several months of operation before we get into crunch time.

Plan A is cheaper for members since we're counting on future prospects, where Plan B is more expensive but we don't have to worry if we have a off-month now and then.

I suppose any gamer would say Plan A, the path most MMOrpgs take.

5.) How stable is the online market? Does it seem the bubble is going to burst? Are their just too many games for people playing? Are numbers of roleplayers just decreasing? If it's a struggling life I may have to think real hard. If it seems that there's plenty of online gamers it might be a bit easier.
 

Destriarch

Sane Studios
I don't know a huge amount about the details behind a MMORPG, but I do know that you're looking at a whole bucketload of money there. These days it generally takes between two and three years to develop a fully-fledged game. With a MMORPG the makers usually go on building it after its release, so you should budget for at least three years and any leftover cash can go on rent for the servers instead.

n.b. suggest making it a free download and charging per month of play, or at least giving away X months of play equal to the cost of the software with it. I hate the idea of buying a game that you have to pay for twice.

Ash
 

Eldoria

Registered User
Hi there,

I am not in the industry, but I read a news report not too long ago (maybe about 6 months ago) about the growth of games available in that market (MMOGs). According to the article, the 'average cost' (although I would imagine it varies greatly) for their development is between 10-25 million dollars.

Again, please keep in mind that there are well over 100 such games 'in development', and the reporters undoubtedly got their figures from some of the bigger development firms... not the smaller, lower ambition programs. I would imagine that it is possible to develop a suitable online game that you can charge for for significantly less money.

William
 

RCBricker33

Registered User
dealaka said:
I'm currently waiting to have some time before copywriting my rpg material and then get it edited. I'm a avid rpg fan who's been working on this book/system for the last three years and want to think a bit about the future. My dream is to eventually have it made into an online game available for purchase (such as Everquest or even Gemstone). Lots of people playing with much of the system run automatically.

Any help from someone in the actual industry would be really helpful. I'm not planning for the immediate future, but would like to get a rough idea about how long I need to plan in advance. So here's my questions;

1.) How much cost is involved in actually maintaining/building content for an online game? I imagine several million, but I'm not really sure. I'm well aware it takes workers, computers, artists, legal costs, advertising costs, and other elements. These elements probably add up pretty fast.

2.) If I do get funding for my online game, do I get enough funding for a month? Two months? A year? It kinda sucks if I do get it built and can't pay salaries. Maybe it's not my issue, but it would help with a business plan.

3.) For a decent sized set of servers (say 3000 people), what are the costs of maintaining servers and the technology involved? I know it probably depends on the costs of the computer, the programming, and other hardware elements, but any guesses?

4.) Should the price of the product be based on a static funding element, or on an evolutionary curve? What I mean is this. Should the price of the game at release be dependant on the costs to maintain the product, and new people who join increase the funding? (not making much money) or Should the price of the game be dependant on setting a goal of people who we're going to get to play and once we meet that amount it's extra funding?

so;

Plan A - We release it for 3000 people and the pricing covers the costs to develop and maintain (online subscription). When we get a new 500 people to join we up the salaries to employees and equipment to upgrade.

Plan B - We release it and the pricing covers the costs of maintence (a few months) and development. To meet that goal we need say need an active membership of 5000 people, until we meet that goal there's no extra salaries or equipment upgrades. Once that 5000 is met, any extra money is immediately added to salaries and equipment upgrades. So it's longer to grow but much more stable. This plan allows for us to support several months of operation before we get into crunch time.

Plan A is cheaper for members since we're counting on future prospects, where Plan B is more expensive but we don't have to worry if we have a off-month now and then.

I suppose any gamer would say Plan A, the path most MMOrpgs take.

5.) How stable is the online market? Does it seem the bubble is going to burst? Are their just too many games for people playing? Are numbers of roleplayers just decreasing? If it's a struggling life I may have to think real hard. If it seems that there's plenty of online gamers it might be a bit easier.
Hi there,

I am not in the industry. I am however, looking to develop my own games and I also have a Master's degrees in Business Administration - Management & a dual Master's degree in Marketing. I have done some research to date and I can offer you some advice. PM me if you are interested in more substantial advice.

To start, you need to do the research or hire a firm/individual who can do the market research. This needs to be done regardless of whether you decide to release your game as a MMO. You need a solid business plan for your RPG if you are going to be creating a company to sell the published RPG. I would probably concentrate on this protion of your idea before worrying about translating the work into a MMO environment.

Cost to enter the MMO environment is really dependent on your goal. Are you worried about making a huge profit? are you worried about just breaking even. Is this MMO simply a test launch to get experience so that you can concentrate on releasing other games? IF the first option is not the option you chose you should probably not release a MMO.

An MMO is a powerful first computer game to release. The Computer gaming market is Hit-driven. In other words the #1 release for a given genre is THE game to sell for that genre and all the others do not make up a significant amount of sales for that genre. As such most development houses and studios sink a lot of money into each game to make the best game possible.

If you plan on your game selling well you can not waste time trying to make a low budget version. You will need about $25 Million to make a game for the immediate future. If you are waiting a few years (like me) you will need $30 - $40 Million.

So concentrate on publishing your RPG (if you need capital or are expecting to sell this publication you will need a business plan and a strategic marketing plan at the very least), then if you are hell bent on the MMO I would suggest a lot of marketing research. Do not fall into the trap of preconceiving your MMO idea. You need to be flexible.

Good Luck

Rich
 

PEGShane

Registered User
Validated User
dealaka said:
1.) How much cost is involved in actually maintaining/building content for an online game? I imagine several million, but I'm not really sure. I'm well aware it takes workers, computers, artists, legal costs, advertising costs, and other elements. These elements probably add up pretty fast.

4 to 50 million dollars; 2-4 years time (depending on whether or not you have an engine)

2.) If I do get funding for my online game, do I get enough funding for a month? Two months? A year? It kinda sucks if I do get it built and can't pay salaries. Maybe it's not my issue, but it would help with a business plan.

2-4 years.

3.) For a decent sized set of servers (say 3000 people), what are the costs of maintaining servers and the technology involved? I know it probably depends on the costs of the computer, the programming, and other hardware elements, but any guesses?

This is all handled on the publisher end.

4.) Should the price of the product be based on a static funding element, or on an evolutionary curve? What I mean is this. Should the price of the game at release be dependant on the costs to maintain the product, and new people who join increase the funding? (not making much money) or Should the price of the game be dependant on setting a goal of people who we're going to get to play and once we meet that amount it's extra funding?

You're stuck with the same subscription price everyone else gets--$5 to $15 depending on how whiz-bang your game is.

My advice--go work for an MMO company, earn your chops, and in several *years* you might get the opportunity to pitch a game. There's a reason all the major RPG game companies *don't* have their own MMOs yet...

Shane Hensley
Lead Designer, Cryptic Studios
 

Darth Bathrobe

Large Herald at Large
Validated User
Speaking of which, Shane, when WILL we see Cryptic develop a Deadlands MMORPG ? ;)

And less jokingly, when if ever are we going to see the extant Deadlands Computer game?
 

elrayjones

Registered User
To give you a idea of what you are getting into to thake a look at PlaneShift
at http://www.planeshift.it/download_source.html. The source code to the game is all opensource however, all the artwork is owned my AtomicBlue http://www.atomicblue.org/. You can start out with art stripped codebase and develop your world from there.

3 Things you will need

Progrmmers: lets say 2 on two shifts @ $40k year low end ($65K high end) = $80k year

Artists: 3 at min. $40k year low end ($65K high end) = $120K year

Large Powerful Servers: IBM(The Best :) outside of SAP) Low demain to start = $6K month X 12 = $72K

$272,000.00 the first year just to get your feet wet with optimized opensoure code

never mind the other 253(just a guess) daily iusses.
 

Talstin

Registered User
PEGshane has some good advice to take into consideration very seriously, as does Elrayjones.

That being said, if you are trying to design an independent MMORPG, and it's your first time getting your feet wet in the genre, then I have an alternative that I always highly recommend instead of trying to compete against mainstream multi-million dollar budget companies:

It's called the Kaneva platform, and it's free to download and $0 purchase to use.
You can get most of the software and sourcing that you will need (such as python for coding and Blender for modeling, etc...) for free, or for cheaper than using larger products (such as 3D Studio Max), and building your own platform (or buying one/contracting one from another mainstream company) all while being a start-up company.

If you go with multi-million dollar funding and large size MMORPG to start with, you have to have business connections in the know of the industry to some level. As well, it is important to keep in mind that it is much harder to be the Owner of a developer company that is starting up, AND work on the MMORPG being developed as a Designer to any great detail.

Starting out small, and growing as you can (also known as Village Development) is not a bad place to start.

The Forums at Kaneva contain several helpful people, as well as resources for production. Most of the resources listed in the Forums are either free (or open source), or lower cost than their counterparts.

As well, there are pre-build packages available for game content so you can trim some production time down by simply modifying pre-builds.

I'd like to make sure that people are clear that I'm not here trying to advertise Kaneva. If I was aware of another Platform that offered this package, I would point at both. However, Kaneva is the only platform that I know of that offers it's use without purchase (they retain rights to earning %'s of earnings gained with their platform, however).

I don't know if this option will work for you, as Kaneva does have it's limitations that you wouldn't be bound to if you were to select any platform with funded money, or build one yourself. However, I thought that it was something that you might find helpful.

Talstin,
Conceptual Designer, Celestial Gaming
 
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