Hey, its me again.

Ok I have the map editor basically done, I just need to get a full tileset of art done and then it will be uploaded to our site at http://www.SpiritsOfLuna.ca they server is one of my partners home computers so its really slow and stuff, but it is usually on. The first copy will be very 'beta' and won't be fully functional as we do not have any enemy art or AI programming done at this time, so the map maker would only be able to make maps... with nothing on them. Its really nice but kind of confusing to use at the beginning as there are a lot of controls, but I will include a Ream Me for them.

Thanks for listenning,

Ya, I like that system but I don't know if I will have the time to really do it nicely. Right now I ahve a 5 layer system (imap- my 'information mapping' which does the base layers,the bottum of a player's or enemies foot, the 'low object layer', the players body, the 'high object layer' and the effect layer, drawn in that order...). Its a really good idea and I hope if any 1 takes the project over from me will redo the art like that. (After I am done with it I will give it to the public to mod/ code.

Thx.

Good idea lol. Consider it done.

Hey,
I just finished writing the core for our map editor. Its looking sweet, and it is so efficient, moving the cursor off the screen loads the map on that side and stuff. It will make my level design team really happy.

Thanks for Listenning,
James Vaughan ~ project leader of "The Spirits of Luna"

our site is almsot up www.SpiritsOfLuna.ca

Sounds like a good idea, though it will be a lot of work. With that said, it should be worth every moment for its final build.

Good luck with that,
James Vaughan ~ Project leader of "The Spirits of Luna"

With the 5 major factions, you can choose to be good, evil or 'Justice', in the end allowing the story to change. Each of the factions have there own different life styles, 2 good, 1 Evil, 1 Justice and 1 Tecnology driven race. The good races are from sister contries and only differ slightly however there still is a difference, one is peace loving, the other is anti evil. To end the war you help the god you are with (unless you are peace loving, then you get an alternet path). The major battelling of the factions happens at the end where each are working against eachother to help their god to victory. If their god wins, the story line ends <so far>, but it is their victory. We may have different sur plot lines to extend the game but this first one will be the major one till we write some expansions.

Thanks for listening

James Vaughan ~ Project leader of 'The Spirits of Luna'

btw we now have our domain www.SpiritsOfLuna.ca its not active right now but we will get it fully updated soon.

Wow,
That is a great idea. I am thinking of having (5ish) major factions based on what job they start with. I have a basic story line worked out but this can still play in very well.

The Story Line:

Vespa (the planet's temp name) was created by the 3 gods of the moon, Luna. Good, Justice and Evil are the 3 traits of these gods. Good and Evil are locked in an eternal war with Justice keeping the in balance.

The massive amount of energy that this war created gathered into the planet and created life on Vespa. Eventually a link was created between Vespa and Luna, the Spirits' Towers, one on Luna and one on Vespa.

However in the modern day the tower on Vespa has losts its power because of the Great war. In the great war the orbs that spread the power throughout the world were taken. Now the planet is starting to die withought the energy of its creators.

Only once the orbs are returned will the planet be safe.

Part 2:
You learn that the tower on Luna itself has started to be destroyed due to the pent up energies from the Wars. Using the fully fixed tower on Vespa you must travel to Luna to stop the Eternal War between the Gods.

The story line is still being worked out. That is what really ceperates this from EQ and other MMRpg's. I think it mixes the best of an online game with a good ole fashioned RPG.

Thank you for listenning,

James Vaughan ~Project leader of 'The Spirits of Luna'

Ok, I have 1 advantage over the people who made EverQuest, I am designing the 'Quest' for less people. It is less of a MMORPG than a RPG with multiple people playing at the same time. That is why I can get a real story line built into the game.

Second of all It is not some childish dream, I am not looking for cash, I am not looking for fame. I just want the self pride that I was able to make such a thing work.

I never had the vision, oh look at EQ wow I could write something even better. I just started to write an RPG and my friend wanted to do some networking for a different project, we got together and merged the code to create the core of this game.

I find your comment quite insaulting to my team as we are not just a bunch of nut jobs looking for fame or other ritchs. The more people who start to write decent MMORPG's and other online games the better the community as a whole benfits as we become more educated.

"Even a failed attempt is better than no attempt at all."
~
James Vaughan, Project leader of "The Spirits of Luna".

The 320 was over the net, but very close.

James Vaughan

True,
Because I know this game will not EVER have the popularity of a game like everquest I want to make it more like a LAN game. So there would be servers for a group of friends... I would release servers so poeple can hold parties to play the game or stuff like that. So I could have a REAL story line because its not hosting 1000 people on a server, maybe just 8 to 10.... or less lol.
With the smaller feel I beilive that this may start a new trend in gamming. RPG's for LAN parties. It could replace StarCraft (not neccisarly MY game but a game on the same concept).

I understand that MMORPG's take a long time to write, but my proccesses have simplified it so that it is possible to make a desent one in 2D is about 6 months. My only rush is mainly the art. The artest in my team doesn't like to draw sprites.
My server is up and running, on a basic level, just have to run some diagnostics.... seams to give about 320 packets per second to 1 user. (There are delays so the server doesn't kill the computer it is on).

So far so good...

Thank you for listenning,

James Vaughan, 'The Spirits of Luna' project Leader

Well, ok here is what we have so far.

It is going to be a MMORPG with a new feature (for most MMORPG's) an actual story line  .

Its like a massive normal RPG that a bunch of friends can enjoy playing as I will give every thing away for people to make their own servers.

So its going to be a mix between a traditional RPG and an online one.

The fighting system is like secret of mana, so no 'random' battles, but the spell casting is done in real time with a special system.

Battle is governed by 2 variables, your stamina and the rate you recover it at. Attacking takes away stamina (you need 100% to attack).

Now, this system has all attacks (including magic) draw from stamina so we have our own special catch that make this really unique (as far as I know). Certain Magic spell can have a 'charge' time. That is, the longer you hold the casting button the more powerful the spell becomes, however it drains your stamina and if you run out the spell dispates.

This creates a more realistic "critcal hit" idea, focussing all of your power into a single shot.

One of the least devoloped things we have is a real plot so far. Any ideas to make a great plot are welcome, I have been reading some sites that suggest the strengs and drawbacks of certain plots and they all lead me to the conclusion that doing a mmorpg with a detailed plot will be insainly hard to say the least.

This is one reason that I want to try to keep the feel of a LAN party in mind. Just a bunch of friends enjoying a game together.

Things like EverQuest and other MMORPGs only really have the story about the world and lots of quests to get to the next level or to get a special item.

I want people to feal like they have read a really good book. Odd but true. I believe the best games allow teh player to become their character, not just use that characters name and run around killing things.

Now back to my progress,
I have changed the server into a UDP server (previously TCP/IP) I am now getting so much data to the clients and so fast I am glad I did. My new system is faster and more reliable and we are jsut cracking down on the last few bugs right now. The Client program is also up to speed with the new server code, which was a hassle as I had to restructure it with a thred to avoid lock ups...  

Now, ideas for how people could help 'The Spirits of Luna' project. Since this project is for my final ISU in my grade 12 year at school my biggest enemy is time and creating a massive and detailed plot is the definition of time itself  . So the biggest help would be ideas of what people really like in plots, or really anything else like your favorite text system or how to make something work faster.... (I will explain how in a moment)

Since I wish this code to be Open Source if you mail me at Phibred@hotmail.com I can find a way for you to get a copy of the game and server. We are in the middle of getting a new Domain previously www.nbjnetworks.ca but we might be moving to DreamCarver.ca or SpiritsOfLuna.ca, we will be posting the latest news and have all of the patches and code there once we have the new domain.

In short, I am looking for any help with any part of the proccess, if you ever really liked something or wished that some 1 would ever make it post or just send me mail or just add me (that is also my MSN messenger account). I will keep you updated on the code and the rest of the game and I will add you to the credits after we are done (temporarly I will add you to the development guid as I get your ideas).

Thanks for listenning and helping,
Yours truly,
James Vaughan, Project leader of The Spirits of Luna

Hey, its me again.

I am disapointed no 1 posted.... any way, heres the update.

I just got the first Server Client run through successfull in UDP. I am just converting some older TCP code right now. A primitive beta for connection should be done in about 1~2 weeks.

Hello,
I am doing a java online RPG,
if any one has any ideas please post below  .
My team has a odd job system based on objectives.
Its 2D using a simple tile based system.
Its working name is "The Spirits of Luna". I have noticed the want for a good online RPG for java so I thought I would try one. I am about to switch it over to a UDP packetting threaded system (it was on a linear tcp system that I designed but cause too much lag with a couple of users). We are in my Gama Alfa phase (no spires but some connection protocols are working).

If you are interested in the project or want to give an idea E-mail me or add me to MSN messenger at Phibred@hotmail.com