Out of all of them, one of the most noticable for me was a game called Asheron's Call. It really was an amazing game, imo, and the technology behind it was great.

So my question is this. I am wanting to develop an MMORPG at some time. There are already existing server-side and client combos which are awesome. I really in particular, love the way AC works. I'm wanting to work on emulating the server, not for the intent of offering a free server, or playing a game on there, but simply to learn more about how coding something like this works, and basically, to create a firm piece of server software; learning from the pros and doing it for free at the same time.

I intend on using the existing client for a short time as we work on the server. However, once that is finished, I'd like to be able to create a new client that is fit with today's technology.

Is emulating a server illegal if your purpose isn't to use it to offer a free service, but rather to create your own product? Moreover, is this efficient? I'm a rather new programmer, and would it be easier to have a team creating entirely new software or eumalating existing stuff?

Also, can someone point me in the right direction so I can start learning how to emulate. Or, if this isn't the most effective way, can someone point me in the right direction to finding some good game engines?

Thanks for all and any help. God bless.

quote:

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Is emulating a server illegal if your purpose isn't to use it to offer a free service, but rather to create your own product? Moreover, is this efficient? I'm a rather new programmer, and would it be easier to have a team creating entirely new software or eumalating existing stuff?

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emulating anything (even for commercial purposes) isn't illegal at all, unless you are using copyrighted material in your emulation (like certian rom images etc), had to use reverse engineering techniques to achieve your emulation, or are copying techniques that are explicitly patented.

however unless this games client/server communicatin protocol is fully and openly documented, and also you are a master multithreaded network programmer, i'd suggest you starting down another path to your intended destination.

Karl

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Karl /GODCENTRIC
Visionary Media
the creative submitted to the divine.
Husband of my amazing wife Aleshia
Klumsy@xtra.co.nz

Emulating a commercial server is often a large undertaking. To see what some other people have done in this direction, check out:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/acemulator/

Also, people have done great stuff with emulating UO servers (and recently, even creating their own UO clients). This work has been going on for quite some time (I first heard about it 5 or 6 years ago):
http://sourceforge.net/projects/uox3/

Also:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/steamengine/

And many more. Do a search on Sourceforge to find many others.

I don't expect you to pick up or use any of these projects, but you may be interested in downloading their source code just to see all of what is involved, and if that is something in your scope.

In my personal experience, it's not difficult to create a game that supports several dozen players while being written in a simple language (like Visual Basic) and can handle graphics quite well.

Only when you try to go above the 100 simultaneous players (which is really hard to break -- it's hard to get that many people to play your game) do you need to really try and "emulate" what a game like WoW or AC or UO does.

My advice? Don't give up -- from personal experience I know that a person can write a MPORPG by themselves, but as far as making it *massively* multiplayer? That's something that can wait until you've written your first multiplayer RPG.

That's my two cents -- take it for what it's worth. I'm happy to talk to you more about your project and help you with any coding questions you might have.

Respectfully,
clint

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http://www.includingjudas.com/christiangame.html

this game looks pretty groundbreaking. atleast from what I see.
Streamed. No monthly fee. the game cliet is... 60 kb.

I want.

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Soterion Studios

I beta'd it too, and was pretty fun. looking forward to the next beta event, on the 18th.

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Soterion Studios

--D-SIPL

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If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that suggests you tried