   [web] New Massively Multiplayer Browser Game, Technical Advice Needed
  Dear Game Developers,My friend and I are about to launch a new "Massively Multiplayer Browser Game" to be released in June/July 2009. It will be a fantasy-style turn-based military strategy game akin to Warhammer or Heroes of Might and Magic.Right now, we are writing the business plan and are stuck with the technical requirements of the game. My friend has a background in business studies and I in media technology. Unfortunately, I do not know much about programming, in particular not about web development.From our research we learnt that PHP + MySQL is a powerful combination for browser games, yet we do not know exactly what the limitations are. This is where you guys hopefully come into play.In the course of the next days we have to agree on a programming/scripting language in which our game will be coded. Here is a list of the core requirements for the game play and other features:Game play:-The game is turn-based and game play is, in its fundamentals, similar to the award winning browser game "Weewar" (www.weewar.com)-Each turn lasts a maximum of 3 minutes, featuring a timer next to the battle field-Every match is played on a 960x720 pixel battle field that is made up of 24 (width) x 18 (height) quadrants-Every game starts with the formation phase in which the players place their units one after another in a limited zone of the battle field-The formation phase must support dragging and dropping of units onto the quadrants of the battle field-The military units should have some minimalistic animation when they attack, are attacked and when they are idle-Moving the military units across the battle field does not involve animation, i.e. a unit is moved/"beamed" directly to the target location and does not walk there-There have to be various Mouse-Over effects like:o highlighting the quadrants of a battle field where the mouse cursor  is currently placedoSwitching the mouse cursor symbol depending on where it is placed (e.g. switching it to a sword symbol when it is placed above an enemy unit within the attack range)-The action radius of a selected unit must be displayed by coloring the quadrants within reach and shadowing all others-The prototype features 1v1 and 2v2 games-There will be a ladder system for the 1v1 games-The ladder games are initiated very similar to Battle.net games, i.e. players can not choose their opponents freely, but rather are assigned to a ladder game automatically. More precisely, a player only has to click on the link "Play Ladder Game" on the website and is then automatically forwarded to a game lobby with a opponent that the system has searched previously based on some -as of now unknown- criteriaThe "Army Composer":-Players have to create an army before entering a game. Therefore, we need to implement an "Army Composer" which lets players assemble an army for various sizes, like 1000, 2000 or 3000 points (each military unit has a point value).-The "Army Composer" is an online module accessible via a link on the website and not an offline software module for download-The "Army Composer" must support dragging and dropping of military units-The "Army Composer" must provide the opportunity for automatically creating an army. This is especially helpful for beginners who quickly want to get started, but do not know how a good and balanced army should look like-You'd probably want to download the demo version of the Armybuilder 3.1 at Wolflair.com (http://www.wolflair.com/rightframe.php?context=army_builder&page=downloads) to get a better idea of what we want to implement in our website.I believe these are the core requirements which primarily determine what programming language is most appropriate for the game.Do you think PHP + MySQL is sufficient for our purposes?If not, what do you consider the best programming/scripting language for our game?Please note that we try to avoid the need for a plugin, like Flash or Java. We would only reconsider our standpoint if you tell us that there is no way around using one.If you post technical advice in this thread, please ensure that you make qualified statements. It would be best if you had some experience with programming browser-based games.We might also be interested in recruiting a technical advisor for the development of our game since this project will become very huge.We are excited to read your suggestions. Your help is much appreciated!Best regards,Amir & Julian   
Quote:Original post by JulianTI believe these are the core requirements which primarily determine what programming language is most appropriate for the game.Do you think PHP + MySQL is sufficient for our purposes?No; you will need a client side language too.I can't tell if weewar.com uses Flash or &#106avascript, but one of those will be necessary for the type of interface you want. I suspect you can implement it entirely in &#106avascript.   ;  You have no programmer, and you're going to release it in two months?   ;  I'm pretty sure weewar is built using straight &#106avascript, since you can play on your iphone (which doesn't support flash at the moment).I'm also a bit concerned that you're planning to release in 2 months and no actual development has even begun. June/July 2010 is a bit more realistic.   ;  Yes, we are heading for a prototype to present it at various business plan competitions. We will submit a briefing on elance or rentacoder on Monday and after the auction ends, things can begin.Based on similar auctions, 2 months seems to be realistic when done by an expert programmer or team. Please correct me if I am wrong.   ;  I think that if you found the right person, with significant &#106avascript, PHP, and SQL skills, and were able to pay them enough to work full-time or near enough, you could do this in 2 months, yeah. However that is highly dependent on how flexible you are with the design. Often something you believe is simple turns out to be incredibly complex, and when time is short you need to make a quick decision to change the design to avoid getting stuck on such issues. If you insist on too much when it comes to the presentation side, you could fall into this trap.   ;  We do not have to finish the development in 2 months, but it would be good if we held something in our hands when looking for e.g. venture capital etc. Even it is just a prototype. I know 2 months are a pretty tight deadline, but it could work. If it doesn't we are still able to continue the project.Btw, since a programmer is obviously not a designer, is it possible/practicable to let him work with placeholder graphics that we provide and which can later be substituted by finer, more sophisticated graphics?Thx! :-)   ;  Well looking through the list so far I think it is pretty practical to use PHP+MySQL to do server side processing and &#106avascript along with maybe a framework like Prototype to simplify some of the cross-browser &#106avascript issues. You can then use addons like Scriptaculous to handle the fancy effects like drag and drop.If you guys provide a clear understanding of what you want at the end of the day and can give clear directions to a programmer then its possible.[Edited by - tariqwalji on April 16, 2009 2:39:12 PM];  This is an ambitious project.My advice would be to start with something much smaller.As for the language and database choice, PHP and MySql are just fine. There are other options that would work too, such as ASP.NET and SqlServer. They both accomplish the same thing though.For this type of game, you'll also need a way to interact with the user's browser. This will require using a Client-Side language (which in most cases is &#106avascript).   ;Quote:Original post by PhytoplanktonThis is an ambitious project.My advice would be to start with something much smaller.As for the language and database choice, PHP and MySql are just fine. There are other options that would work too, such as ASP.NET and SqlServer. They both accomplish the same thing though.For this type of game, you'll also need a way to interact with the user's browser. This will require using a Client-Side language (which in most cases is &#106avascript).First, let me say at this point that I appreciate all your help! It's a great relieve to get professional advise and to know we are not going in a completely wrong direction.@tariqwalji  We will do our very best to provide the programmer with all details he needs. Right now we are working on the exact project specifications, richly illustrated and in clear language. This will a comprehensive document that hopefully leaves only few questions unanswered.@Phytoplankton  As I said, we will have nothing to do with the programming as well as the game design. It's all going to be outsourced.Nonetheless, this is an ambitious project, but we are determined to make a living from it and work hard to make this game huge. This is not some hobbyist programmer's leisure time project, but rather a fullblown Massively Multiplayer Browser Game with some complex elements. We are aware of this fact and ready to face all problems down the road. It's our new fulltime job.@all Sorry for asking again, but this is an important question:"Since a programmer is obviously not a designer, is it possible/practicable to let him work with placeholder graphics that we provide and which can later be substituted by finer, more sophisticated graphics?"Btw, if anybody here is interested in this programming job, please let me know! You can also PM me.Thanks so much! :-)Julian