06-03-2009, 03:40 PM
It would be interesting to see a full breakdown of the cost of an MMO.
I mean, World War 2 Online couldn't have cost THAT much to develop, and they did their own engine. Granted they really don't have NPCs or AI (nothing mobile, anyway) but it's still an impressive game engine that does some stuff no other game engine does. And they're a small group.
Same for EVE. Granted they probably save a lot when the "map" is a big piece of black with a few planets dotted around, but they were a small company too.
And if you started small you wouldn't necessarily need a massive server farm or internet hookup. Maybe your initial rollout is only to 10,000 customers. That might be all you get anyway without an advertising campaign. Plus, like Darkfall, it would give you a chance to build up rather than trying to start big and then crashing down like most MMORPGs.
I guess the hard part would be getting that initial several-million and then bringing together the core team you need. You'd need some serious experts, especially if you needed a custom graphics engine. (If not, then part of your budget would go to lease an existing engine.)
I mean, World War 2 Online couldn't have cost THAT much to develop, and they did their own engine. Granted they really don't have NPCs or AI (nothing mobile, anyway) but it's still an impressive game engine that does some stuff no other game engine does. And they're a small group.
Same for EVE. Granted they probably save a lot when the "map" is a big piece of black with a few planets dotted around, but they were a small company too.
And if you started small you wouldn't necessarily need a massive server farm or internet hookup. Maybe your initial rollout is only to 10,000 customers. That might be all you get anyway without an advertising campaign. Plus, like Darkfall, it would give you a chance to build up rather than trying to start big and then crashing down like most MMORPGs.
I guess the hard part would be getting that initial several-million and then bringing together the core team you need. You'd need some serious experts, especially if you needed a custom graphics engine. (If not, then part of your budget would go to lease an existing engine.)