Putting It All Together - Wizards and Warriors: Massively Multiplayer Online Game Creation - page 277

scripts provided with Realm Crafter, but to get the game you really want, you
have to make your own.

You should handle script building very much as part of the game design process.
First you should be identifying how your MMO is going to work as part of the
design, then you write the scripts. It is also useful to create prototype scripts for
the more complex features so you can see how they work before spending a lot
of time programming them.

Content Creation
When I talk about content creation, I mean 3D models, sounds, textures, and
other items used in the game. Content creation is a big task for anyone making a
game, but even more so if you are making an MMO. You will find as you are
making your MMO that you won t have all of the content in place all of the time.

For example, you may have created your terrain and have started putting down
the odd 3D model, but you may find that you don

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t have enough buildings or
content within the buildings to complete an area. The other problem is that
unless you have all of the content in place you don

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t know how the area will
perform. Most games use placeholder objects or textures while they make the
game and wait for their content to come online. They can get on with making
the game rather than having to delay their work while they wait for content to
appear. Content usually is delivered over a long period of time, and so it ' s a lot

more efficient to use placeholder content.

Note

Chapter 18 covers providers of third-party content such as 3D models and music.

Quest Creation
MMOs can contain hundreds of quests; some of these quests might be very
short, whereas others might be chained quests. Chained quests are all part of the
same quest, but typically require the players to go to another area, or meet
another character.

As you can imagine, making a few hundred quests and chained quests can take a
lot of time. When making quests, you should be utilizing the game design, story,
and character information you have generated previously.