Forum :: Lounge :: Long Term Viability of Endless Online Private Servers

I've mirrored this to my box.net account (since it makes it easier to read it online). Covers a few issues and resolutions in the way we're developing and making private servers. It appears long at around 4 pages, but it's actually quite a quick read. Could be interesting to quite a few of you.

http://www.box.net/shared/pxlyrqp7qe (1.2mb PDF)

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EOSERV.net Academy Of Trolls, Satirists & Sarcastics
5.5 Years Former Site Administrator / Moderation Team / Member (Retired)

This topic is very helpful. It helps point out that a lot of EOSERV servers are doing things messy. Atlas is the only server that tried something near to this, and they weren't doing bad at it. I suggest private servers use this.

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http://www.addipop.com

It's not geared directly toward the private servers, although private server owners and operators should have a read of it. 

What it actually states is a case for developers that are really serious about this stuff to not forget there's more to the game than just the servers, and if they actually want people to play and continue playing this stuff then "come play ma server" just isn't going to cut it anymore, and it's not something that's going to get any better with time.

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EOSERV.net Academy Of Trolls, Satirists & Sarcastics
5.5 Years Former Site Administrator / Moderation Team / Member (Retired)

In all honesty I can't fault anything in that document. While we're all just 'painting' on  top of something that has so many faults it's not going to take off unless we really do something about the old 'robin reliant' we're working with.

http://sites.google.com/site/rubanspangler/ReliantRobin.jpg

Just to clarify some are making graphics better than others but we're all working pretty hard on improving server side features and graphics, whilst the old client contains so many bugs and laggy stuff it is un-deniable that soon we will hit a brick wall.

For people that have been working a long time on these major updates to the way we see the game and the way we play, the need to 'fix' the old client or make a brand new one is becoming inevitable and mandatory.

I just hope someone does something about this, but a successful client is bound to be closed-source, and I wouldn't blame the creator if it was, some people honestly don't deserve it. But open-source would also provide room for more improvement / experimentation.

Very interesting read.

Edit: To clarify some more we're all limited to the client's limits. We can only use a certain 'size' of sprite sheet and therefor all the same or similar sized sprites. We cannot change the way the game reads music or how long certain sound effects can loop. We can't change the way accountsregister, or how the login / character creation process works. We can't change the way the client reads maps. There's probably an infinite way to hack these things but all we're gonna do is add 'bulk' to it, the ugly amount of resources the client uses on the said computer.

We're all limited in the original client. No amount of features, graphics, maps, commands or hacks can change this.

Edit2: this has provided a very interesting conversation with a friend lol.

Another thing that has been misused or unused and underachieved is the shadow graphics, they are sort of implemented but if they were fully utilized with a new client they day/night effects would be easy to implement, along with animated shadows (wind / trees / sprites) and even moving lights (disco / lighthouse). This is yet another deficiency in the original client. 

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Web developer, currently looking for graphic artists / designers.

I think the best way to go about climbing over the wall is to get a few of the decent programmers here and actually start creating on, you guys don't have to wait for Sausage or anyone else to do it for you. Theres plenty of decent programmers here, just someone start, hand it on, until it gets finished and you have a full opensource[or within a small group] client, and essentially full Iso-Engine.

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420Иﻜ0o
"The Lord is a shoving leopard."

Nice read.

I actually know of a project to recreate eo's client, though as far as i know the production is stopped and only a single programmer is working on it.

If I was a programmer, i'd be remaking the client in a heartbeat. I'd be preferably using Allegro for graphics handling, not sure how i'd go with the networking but it would have to be something that's relatively easy to be ported across.

That said, i'm no programmer and I can't see that changing any time soon unfortunately. Writing a client is something that's well outside of my skill set and I still haven't the time or will to pick up on it. However since a lot of you are keen on it, the linked document will be of assistance.

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EOSERV.net Academy Of Trolls, Satirists & Sarcastics
5.5 Years Former Site Administrator / Moderation Team / Member (Retired)