Developing an MMO:
key success factors
APPLY SERIOUS GAMES 2007
Introduction
What is an MMO?
Multiplayer
Persistent
Game client control
What is success?
Financially successful
Successful MMOs examples
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Lineage 1 and 2 (NCsoft)
Guild Wars series (Arena Net / NCsoft)
Everquest (SOE)
EVE Online (CCP)
Kartrider (Nexon)
Runescape (Jagex)
Technology
Experienced MMO developers are few, the technology isn’t common knowledge in the industry yet.
MMO are different from traditional game development:
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Tasks are shared between the client and the server
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Networking between clients and servers is key to the player experience
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Clients needs to be a lot more stable than for off line games
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Scalability is key
Can make or break your game – examples
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Anarchy Online launch
EVE server structure
Possible solution
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Experienced team
Proven middleware solution
Game Quality
The MMO landscape is filled with games cloning the most successful competitors. Innovating has a
proven track record of making it easier to be “successful”.
MMO are games that work with a long term strategy, you need the word of mouth to be efficient and
thus need to ensure the quality of the game isn’t questionable:
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A strong game design
An efficient content creation pipeline – quantity and quality
A strong art direction
Examples
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Game Design: EVE Online
Content : Lineage 2; World of Warcraft
Art : Dofus
Service Quality
Industry most common answer to “how to make a MMO” is “consider it as a service not as a game”.
Good service to the game is key even prior to launch.
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Community management
The Game start its life when it enters Beta. Good community management is essential for your
early marketing but also for your development and the quality of the game.
Example: Dark Age of Camelot early design changes
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Customer Support
The most important factor with Customer Support is to have it integrated in the design. MMOs
don’t always require a lot of Customer Support, but the one you provide needs to be of quality.
Example: Guild Wars low requirements
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Cross Platform accessibility
It includes everything related from websites to accessing the game itself. The more seamless and
painless it is, the better the game can achieve its potential
Example: WoW armoury; Runescape accessibility
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Business Model
Not all MMOs have to be subscription based. An excellent game can be ruined because the
business model isn’t adapted.
Example: Lineage 2 in Japan; MMOs in Korea
Conclusion
Key success factors:
• An excellent, scalable technology
• A polished, balanced game built for the future
• A top quality service to the users
Beyond those points, the most important success factor is
the team
QA
Questions?
Thomas BIDAUX – NCsoft Europe
Director of Development
Email – [email protected]
Linkedin – http://www.linkedin.com/in/tbidaux
The end
Thank you