Me and my team are looking to start work on a MMORPG game… I know that Flash has this server by Smartfox… are there alternatives which we can look into for server games? As in it does not have to be Flash… can be other engines but there is some network support within…
Isn’t runescape Java or something?
if you use flash with xml socket connections, it plays really well with a server, but first you gotta find a host that will allow it.
host it yourself, easy enough and i think he means not using the flash client,
why not use C++, or VB
Defective, I have recently bought my own server. And I would like to try this out. Is there any tutorials (:P) on using/making xml sockets?
And the same to you Bombsledder, Is there any good tutorials out there on making an good connection to flash/server with c++
I know where theres a sweet one, but it’s in a book. Well, if you want a REALLY good read, pickup ‘PHP5 for Flash’ by David Powers, it’s a FOE book. The best dynamic Flash book on the market in my opinion, everybody should own that book.
Thanks for the replies. 
Just a few more question…
Is the smartfox flash server fast enough to support say 2000 connections? Would Flash be a good medium for a MMORPG?
This depends on both your definition of an MMORPG, and the definition of what you’re trying to achieve. Personally, Flash is very, very inadequate to pull off a decent MMORPG, 'though you could easily make something with it that would work. If you wanted to make something like a Browser-based MMORPG (such as the awesome Kingdom of Loathing), you could use PHP/mySQL, and have Flash interfaces, etc.
If you want something that is comparable to WoW, or EQ, you would have to use C++, with a large understanding of graphics and such.
I suggest not thinking of Flash as being the tool to make something with - with a few exceptions, anything in Flash that is much more complicated than a simple Pong/platform/etc type game is rediculously hard to create compared to the end result. I would suggest using Flash to incorporate with other languages to create something of a hybrid. Use Flash to create the script used for having characters walk around, but use PHP and mySQL to store the data, and have certain parts of the game link to other smaller Flash movies, etc. GaiaOnline pulls this off pretty nicely - essentially it is a Browser MMORPG, only with a lot of extra graphics, and animations, and such.
Unfortunately, if you want to make an MMORPG entirely in Flash, it’s going to be a long, difficult uphill battle unless you find yourself a very good team to work with, and finding that is an even more difficult uphill battle.
I repeatedly suggest: start small! Start learning the basics with Flash, show off small test projects to see what you can do. Build on that, build up to a small, simple, stupid game like a shooter, or a platformer, or even a Breakout clone (;)). As you begin to master Flash’s ActionScript, you’ll be able to jump into other, more powerful languages more easily - which in turn opens up more opportunities for jobs, and work that is more in the programming field. It’s take me… hell… 16 years of continuous learning to get where I am today - programming a highly complex billing application to be used by a few thousand people - and I’m learning more every day. I’m still trying to get the ball moving on my RPG, and it just takes time, passion, and hard, hard work. I don’t want to discourage you, but I have to say that I find it highly, highly unlikely that you will complete an MMORPG in Flash - however, if you are seriously dedicated to learning how to program games, then there is no better place to start working towards that goal than Flash.
Good luck!
Seeing as you know quite alot about the subject. Would flash take to create an platform type of game, online. I think ive seen such games online.
Also do you think smartfox is a good way to start?
Platform games (in theory) are very simple. I have seen a multitude of decent platformers all over the place. Once you know how to make an object move and jump, and how to make surfaces and obsticals that your object can stand on and/or can’t pass through, you have a platformer. RPGs have quite a bit more complexity.
I only generally know anything about smartfox - I’ve never used, nor seen a reason to use it. I’m sure it’s a very nice piece of software, but I can’t tell you anything about it, sorry.
Ok, so it should be relatively easy to create an online platformer game?
Here is a tutorial XML sockets: http://gotoandplay.it/_articles/2003/12/xmlSocket.php?PHPSESSID=24c660ce58af8f52764a889be398c852
Here is a tutorial on sockets programming using C:
http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/output/htmlsingle/bgnet.html
I have never used SmartFox but read through its documentation to help me get ideas. It seems to be a very good choice if you do not want to create your own server.
the definition of mmorpg is “massive multiplayer online role playing game” so what your idea of a mmorpg should be a group of people playing a game where they can react with each other or help out for contest or other reason, if not your not making an mmorpg game 
There are lots of variations on a theme. MMO means there are lots of simultaneous players online at the same time. RPG means role-playing game, which is generally understood to be a game where you take the role of a character who starts out weak, and builds in experience over time through performing various tasks - this is not the only definition, and there are other names that fit this definition, like MUD, MOO, etc.
You could make a game that was an all-the-time online version of Doom, add a mechanic that says “Everytime you successfully hit a target, your damage increases by 0.01%”, and it could conceivably be classified as an MMORPG.
A lot of people consider Guild Wars to not be a True MMORPG, but instead an MORTS, not a whole lot different than Starcraft with Battle.net.
Other people would not consider GaiaOnline to be anything even remotely close to an MMORPG, however I consider it to be a very close relative of true RPGs, like WoW - it all depends on your perception.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Shockwave/Director yet.
thanks for the information, they are very useful.
Essentially right now we have a few ideas to approach… we are planning both 2D-MMORPG and 3D-MMORPG. The 3D-MMORPG is obviously going to be developed in C++, for the 2D one we are still deciding if Flash would be a good one to start since it has most of the methods written out which saves us some time. That said, we should probably try to develop the 2D one in C++ to iron out problems we will face along the way…
The 3D-MMORPG is a long term goal since we are very lacking in terms of the artists to draw out our conceptual art… so we will move on to develop the 2D one first…
Thanks again… and if there is any more links to share regarding such topics please post so that I can read through them…
dude, c++ isn’t that easy. It takes years to learn. Its nothing like actionscript.:tb:
C++ is not that hard to learn. You can grab a book and be able to create a simple game in a matter of weeks. I learned enough about it in about 7 weeks to make a side-scrolling space shooter (implementing some DirectX) game. It was simple, and silly, with not much flair, but it was only for an experement. ActionScript and C++ are also very similar.
lol for me C++ is easier than AS…by a long shot 
but its just cause im a big AS newb
you’ll need to see a speciallist then, lol (Joking)
