Choosing technologies for new project

[dannyrg]

Hello guys,

Our company is currently evaluating technologies for development of a social game, aimed at Facebook. (This is a large scale project, with direct access to a captive market of several million potential users, so we're talking large-scale, high-quality, scale-out type approach here)

From a technical standpoint, this game needs to do the same things that games such as FrontierVille, Social City, Millioner City and so on, do.
In our game, however, there will also be a multiplayer element (in various forms).

For the backend, we believe SmartFox is the way to go.
Now remains the questions of what libraries/sdk's etc to use for the general framework and client development.

Our tech guys have compiled a list of several technologies that are relevant, but I'd like to get some experienced opinions as to which is better for the purpose and which, perhaps, would complement one another and could prove to be a package.

we're thinking of:
1. PureMVC
2. Pushbutton engine
3. as3isolib
4. OpenSpace

While our tech guys need to figure out what's what and which of these can do what better and so on, I'd like to get both gotoAndPlay()'s opinion as well as any community opinions.

I'm looking for an overall solution that will:

1. Have a reasonable learning curve (we have as3 and java people)
2. Require a relatively lower development time (both initial and ongoing for new features)
3. Be able to provide the functionalities (or framework that allows coding of these functionalities) similar to those of the games mentioned above

I'd like to get recommendations as to which of the above would make sense for this type of game, which techs would work together and what each component would bring to the table etc.
For example, it seems that OpenSpace is a pretty good framework for games that are isometric-map based. But I can't tell exactly how complex it would be to implement the type of gameplay the above games have. And I don't know if it would require purchasing the source code license to be able to implement such capabilities, or if implementation would can be easily done without the sources.
Or for example, would it make sense (or is it even feasible) to integrate OpenSpace under Pushbutton and if so, what can I gain from that?
Same question goes for pureMVC, since we think it could be a good framework for creating a flexible architecture to allow for rapid development of new features etc.

From what I gather, openspace may be a closed environment which may not allow integration of the other elements described above. If that's the case, what would be the merits of using OpenSpace vs. for example a combination of pureMVC, Pushbutton and as3isolib.

I'd appreciate some in-depth help here, as we have to make our decisions within the next 2-3 weeks and get to work.

Thanks,

Dan

[Sandeep]

Hey Dannyrg,

- PureMVC
It is an microarchitecture framework to develop the application using as3 which is following Model, View and Controller as basic design pattern.

- Pushbutton engine
It is an game engine which is used as 2D game development. It is very powerful game engine can be used along with other game engine on the top of other game engine. Like Push button engine can be used on the top of OpenSpace to extend more functionality of game.

- as3isolib
It is an open source ISOMETRIC game engine which has number of algorithms like A*, Path finder build in functionality. It offers tile based game development.

- OpenSpace
It is a commercial ISOMETRIC game engine. It is used by Zygna like FarmVille, CityVille and others. It is totally depended on Smartfox server.

[Bax]

For example, it seems that OpenSpace is a pretty good framework for games that are isometric-map based. But I can't tell exactly how complex it would be to implement the type of gameplay the above games have. And I don't know if it would require purchasing the source code license to be able to implement such capabilities, or if implementation would can be easily done without the sources.

I believe this is the main question that you need to answer before everything else, because if OpenSpace doesn't fit your needs then you will be forced to look for something else.
The answer is not easy to provide, because it really depends on what you need to achieve. I'm not too familiar with the games you mentioned, so I'm not able to make comparisons. We usually recommend developers to read the documentation carefully and spend some time prototyping with the evaluation version, to make sure that OpenSpace is the way to go before buying.
Honestly, OpenSpace was not designed with complex games in mind (like RTS games for example), unless you get the source code and make your own additions and changes. This has a cost of course, but it will take a lot less time than creating your own engine with the same features of OpenSpace.
For example The Settlers game you will find in the OpenSpace showcase was created by making some changes to the OpenSpace engine.