Resources - Wizards and Warriors: Massively Multiplayer Online Game Creation - page 299

player to navigate the UI successfully. UI Artists usually work closely with
designers to ensure that the game design is reflected to the player.
n Model Artist: A model is the graphical 3D content that makes up an
MMO. A model could be represented in game by many different things,
such as a building, an animal, a human, a table, or a piece of furniture
or household item. Some model artists might have particular skills, and
may only be able to create certain model types. This is one of the harder
skills to fill in the role of an independent MMO, but it is also time-
consuming. You will read about alternatives to this later in this
chapter.
n Website Designer: If you are making an MMO initially for your friends
to play together, you can almost immediately cross this off your list of
required skills. If you are making an MMO that people will pay for, this
is an essential part of your game. An MMO website needs to contain
information such as how to get started on the game, how to create an
account, the price (if any) of the game, and information about the game
world. You will also need basic introductions about how to complete the
main tasks in a game, such as how to trade, communicate, where
to store goods that you collect, and so on. It s surprising how little

information some MMOs give about playing the game, and are so
complex that all you see from new players are lots of questions in the
chat window asking how to complete what should be a simple task or
something that should be mentioned in the documentation. One of the
best approaches to documentation that I

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ve seen is for Ultima Online.
The guides are extensive and contain a lot of information to get a player
started quickly in the game. Unfortunately, many MMOs ever since that
game have not been as successful at following that example.

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Sound Designer: Creating an atmospheric game is something that can
make a game feel more realistic, scary, or accurate, depending on the
type of game. Horror games need good sound to make the player feel
that anything could happen around the next corner, whereas First
Person Shooters need to use realistic gunfire and loading sounds to
make the players feel they are right in the middle of the action.

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