Unity MMORPG Project

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DrImmortality
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Joined: 27 Jul 2020, 08:14

Unity MMORPG Project

Postby DrImmortality » 27 Jul 2020, 08:31

Hello everyone :)

I have recently decided to start a long-term MMORPG project with educational and entertaining purposes mainly (monetization is not my primary drive and my main goal is fun and giving back to the community of the game). As I dive deeper into the subject it becomes clearer to me that there are more problems in the way than expected. But enough intro talk :)

The networking side is the most tricky one in terms of performance, security, and flexibility. I have read many forum threads and watched quite a few videos and stumbled upon this Server. Since I am going to be creating the game using Unity (ECS/DOTS) and SmartFoxServer supports them, I wanted to ask the community here a couple of questions.

Is SmartFoxServer the way to go in my case? Given the project actually gets released, I wouldn't expect more than 1000 players on a server.

Since I am self-funding the whole project (at least for the foreseeable future of 2-3 years) I am planning to publish on Steam or using cloud service like Amazon. Is this compatible with what Fox does? I know this is very long term planning, but I want to learn how to do things the right way and have a solid base.

If it is, then do you have any suggestions on where to start from? I saw that there is a free version of Fox for Unity (up to CCU), is this a viable option to test the game as well? I do not want to wait 3 years to find some fundamental problems in my game.

Do you have any tips where I can learn more about the Server installation and management process (Youtube Creators, Forums, etc)?

And lastly, what should I keep in mind/watch out for or in other words: do not screw this up!.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for your answers!

P.S. I am not sure whether that is the appropriate forum section to ask this question, so feel free to move it to the right one, Moderators.
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Lapo
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Re: Unity MMORPG Project

Postby Lapo » 27 Jul 2020, 09:28

Hi,
DrImmortality wrote:Is SmartFoxServer the way to go in my case? Given the project actually gets released, I wouldn't expect more than 1000 players on a server.

Since I am self-funding the whole project (at least for the foreseeable future of 2-3 years) I am planning to publish on Steam or using cloud service like Amazon. Is this compatible with what Fox does?

Well, Steam and Amazon offer different services, it seems like a bit like an apple/oranges comparison.
What I mean is that Amazon offers cloud-based hosting services and a plethora of other cloud-related tools. Steam, on the other hand, is an online game distribution/store platform.

Typically you'll need both: you will publish the game on Steam and host your multiplayer services in a cloud environment such as AWS.
In terms of being compatible with SmartFoxServer, yes there is no problem. SFS2X can be deployed everywhere and as a matter of fact we use AWS a lot for stress testing SmartFoxServer, and we have also lots of customer using AWS for their Smartfox-based games.

Also, we'll be soon rolling out our own cloud-based platform, based on SFS2X and running in Amazon's cloud. Maybe by the time your project will need hosting you'll be able to check it out.

I know this is very long term planning, but I want to learn how to do things the right way and have a solid base.

Makes perfect sense.

If it is, then do you have any suggestions on where to start from? I saw that there is a free version of Fox for Unity (up to CCU), is this a viable option to test the game as well? I do not want to wait 3 years to find some fundamental problems in my game.

The free 100 CCU version has no time limits, so you can get started right now and prototype your game, test the server features and see if it's the right tool for your project (which I think it is, given your descritpion).

Do you have any tips where I can learn more about the Server installation and management process (Youtube Creators, Forums, etc)?

You find the "Getting Started" tutorials in our documentation website:
http://docs2x.smartfoxserver.com/Gettin ... stallation

Also we recommend checking the Unity Example pack, which comes with a series of increasingly complex examples (from basic to advanced):
https://www.smartfoxserver.com/download#p=examples

And the relative tutorials:
http://docs2x.smartfoxserver.com/Exampl ... troduction

Last but not least the YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/smartfoxserver
(some of these were created several years ago but are still perfectly valid)

You can also find tons more videos on YT done by other creators.

And lastly, what should I keep in mind/watch out for or in other words: do not screw this up!.

Well, at the beginning there's always a phase of trial and error so I wouldn't worry too much about screwing up, at least a little bit :D
In any case if you follow the tutorials in the order they are presented you will learn the proper way to do things and you shouldn't find yourself lost.

Finally there's also this article:
https://smartfoxserver.com/blog/top-10- ... he-plague/
which I would recommend to read when you're done with the tutorials. Reading it right now it may be too early, but when you're a bit more familiar with the platform it will help you avoid common mistakes.

If there's anything else, let me know.
Cheers
Lapo
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gotoAndPlay()
...addicted to flash games
DrImmortality
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Joined: 27 Jul 2020, 08:14

Re: Unity MMORPG Project

Postby DrImmortality » 27 Jul 2020, 12:21

Hello, first thanks for the rapid and extremely valuable response. This will help me get started.

Lapo wrote:Well, Steam and Amazon offer different services, it seems like a bit like an apple/oranges comparison.


Yeah, I guess I am kind of confused about Steam specifically because I recently read somewhere that they are offering their/Valve servers to other developers to use (including their DDoS protection systems). Now, I admit I am new to this but I think it means basically the following thing: offering server/hardware to rent, where your server could run. Correct me if I am wrong.

Lapo wrote:Well, at the beginning there's always a phase of trial and error so I wouldn't worry too much about screwing up, at least a little bit


Yes, trials and errors are given..pretty much with every new endeavor. What I mean is getting some fundamentals wrong and more importantly learning things the wrong way.

Lapo wrote:Also, we'll be soon rolling out our own cloud-based platform, based on SFS2X and running in Amazon's cloud. Maybe by the time your project will need hosting you'll be able to check it out.
I will make sure to keep an eye out for it.

Thanks for all the useful links! Now I have somewhere to start from.
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Lapo
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Re: Unity MMORPG Project

Postby Lapo » 27 Jul 2020, 12:43

DrImmortality wrote:Hello, first thanks for the rapid and extremely valuable response. This will help me get started.
Yeah, I guess I am kind of confused about Steam specifically because I recently read somewhere that they are offering their/Valve servers to other developers to use (including their DDoS protection systems). Now, I admit I am new to this but I think it means basically the following thing: offering server/hardware to rent, where your server could run. Correct me if I am wrong.

I am not deeply familiar with what Steam is offering. I know they have APIs for game-devs to integrate their services, but I have never heard about actual server renting.
If I am not mistaken with Steamworks servers must be either hosted by you (the game developer) or the community (i.e. the players).

Cheers
Lapo

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gotoAndPlay()

...addicted to flash games
netstabber
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Re: Unity MMORPG Project

Postby netstabber » 29 Jul 2020, 08:36

‘Since I am going to be creating the game using Unity (ECS/DOTS) and SmartFoxServer supports them’
Are you sure? sfs can use unity (ECS/DOTS) such as unity project Tiny For moblie h5?

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