If possible to implement with XNA, can anyone please show me code examples
or explain me how that such game works? (if possible explain me how to make a map editor)

Example of such game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCahIku1Vlw

(Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, I assume some of you already played it)

XNA is not really a game maker type program. It´s a programming language. Making an MMO is really, really, really, really difficult and judging by your question you are new to programming, so I don´t think you´ll be able to do this yet.

If you are serious about programming, start small. Very small. Like tetris or pacman or pong. The Education tab on the top of the page has links to tutorials and helpful websites to get you started. Good luck! ;)

Harald Maassen:

XNA is not really a game maker type program. It´s a programming language. Making an MMO is really, really, really, really difficult and judging by your question you are new to programming, so I don´t think you´ll be able to do this yet.

If you are serious about programming, start small. Very small. Like tetris or pacman or pong. The Education tab on the top of the page has links to tutorials and helpful websites to get you started. Good luck! ;)

Not really, I'm already experience with XNA and networking with C# and it is not so difficult, all I need to know
is how how games like this works. I know how to do the 2D part, all I need to know is how to make buildings
and a camera for this.

Those aren't 3D buildings. They're just tiles.

Jim Perry:

Those aren't 3D buildings. They're just tiles.

Mmm.. you know, actually I think those are really 3D buildings. I'm not 100% sure myself but in the previous pokemons they were tiled, in the new (pearl, diamond and platinum) they are actually 3D meshes.

At least that's how I see them, if they are tiled they are really well done!

I think that's done taking advantage of the DS' different screen type abilities.. like 3D + 2D, 3D + scrolling background, etc etc.

On XNA you would, I think, make a normal textured matrix and use as a texture a tileset (don't know if it's possible) and then place on it 3D meshes of all the elements you want to have in 3D. Then you make your sprites on billboards over the matrix and move them like you would with a normal 2D tile game. The camera is probably placed on top of the matrix at the correct angle (you can choose it as you wish honestly).

I'm not good with 3D stuff and terms, so I don't know if that can be done but, if I wanted to, that's probably how I would do it.

Morgawr:

Mmm.. you know, actually I think those are really 3D buildings. I'm not 100% sure myself but in the previous pokemons they were tiled, in the new (pearl, diamond and platinum) they are actually 3D meshes.

At least that's how I see them, if they are tiled they are really well done!

I think that's done taking advantage of the DS' different screen type abilities.. like 3D + 2D, 3D + scrolling background, etc etc.

On XNA you would, I think, make a normal textured matrix and use as a texture a tileset (don't know if it's possible) and then place on it 3D meshes of all the elements you want to have in 3D. Then you make your sprites on billboards over the matrix and move them like you would with a normal 2D tile game. The camera is probably placed on top of the matrix at the correct angle (you can choose it as you wish honestly).

I'm not good with 3D stuff and terms, so I don't know if that can be done but, if I wanted to, that's probably how I would do it.

Im new to programming but I agree. You should use 3D mesh and use billboards for the sprites.

ghost13:

Im new to programming but I agree. You should use 3D mesh and use billboards for the sprites.

Can you give me some code examples?

After looking at the youtube video you supplied, it definitely looked like it was based on a 2-layered tile-engine. But now, when looking closer, there is some perspective there that gives the impression of 3d.

Nevertheless, I still think it's actually based on a 2-layered tile-engine, but where the tiles are skewed and slightly rescaled to give an effect of 3d, rather than actually being based on 3d models and meshes. It should be a fun exercise to tweak a tile engine so that positioning of the tiles (and their sizes) depend on Y coordinate placement. I think this is how it's done in the game you're referring to.

I played that game, and I checked those buildings from couple of prespectives and It's definitely 3D models
Can you please explain me how to do that if you are experienced with 3D? The topic is going on and on, and I feel sticky about
it, so please anyone show me a piece of code?

Yeah those buildings are definitely 3d meshes, its pretty obvious.

While an MMO is basically impossible in XNA (this seems to be a weekly question at this point on the forums, maybe we should make it a catagory with one sticky "No you cannot, here's why"), I have to say, the look is great and I think trying to copy that engine visually would be very doable in xna.  Unfortunately there aren't any quick fixes (excep maybe using a pre-existing 3d engine).  You're either going to have to use one of those, or learn how to write a 3d engine yourself.

First never say never. While an MMO would be impossible on the xbox just because you cannot have a server, I wouldn't say never to PC version.

Second, why does everyone always want to take on the most ambitious project they can imagine as their first? If you are in the dark about how to make a level editor for your project I would hazard a guess that you are pretty much further in the dark about how to create the project.

I would go and download all the examples, but for what interests you I would pay particular attention to the RPG game example. I would also go and buy Jim Perry's book RPG Programming using XNA Game Studio. It's on amazon and really well worth it if that is your cup of tea.

Good Luck

One day I will make a MMORPG on the xbox just to prove everybody wrong :)

Unless they change the number of players in a session you're going to find that impossible to do! 8|

Jim Perry:

Unless they change the number of players in a session you're going to find that impossible to do! 8|

I just need to rethink the concept, I could do something like the classic textbased homepage mmorpg's, and do like the peer to peer highscores to share the common info about the world. Shouldn't be to hard..

So how would I enter an area that already has 31 players in it?

It depends on if I can search new sessions at the same time as I am in one already. If a group gets to big it could be split up to two new with the closests player together - might work, not sure. In a more textbased (and very slow) game you could just jump in and out of sessions all the time to share you info, if it's turned based and you have about 15min to make your turn it shouldn't be any problem. Im convinced that it is possible to make a MMORPG - the question is how fast you can update it.

Jim Perry:

So how would I enter an area that already has 31 players in it?

Maybe he's talking about a NTMMORPG... (NT=Not That) :D

Cheers,
Pino

yeah im way off the subject, sorry. I guess Jim is pretty tired off deleting my posts all the time - hope he dont hate me to much..

Fabian Viking:

If a group gets to big it could be split up to two new with the closests player together - might work, not sure.

Then it's not really an MMO, it's just an MO. :)

OK, back on topic. ;)

[dang it - was sorting through my bookmarks to find the link and accidentally clicked instead of opening in new tab and lost my post!]

I've played that game before, and it definitely uses 3D. It's just too smooth when you are in a town (the building walls) or in a dungeons (the walls) to be some kind of 2D trickery.

My guess is that they use 3D billboards; the best evidence of that is when you are in a field or somewhere and there is a change in elevation. You can see the slanting effect, which looks like a quad with two vertices lower then the other two to get the slanted look.

Having said that, if you need tutorials on how to do this, I'd wager you're not quite ready to make an MMO. ;) Seriously, making an MMO is really, really, really hard, not to mention risky. Check out this article for a reality check.

Not to discourage you, but I would start with something much smaller before trying an MMO. It's not impossible but it's very difficult and will take a long time. I would suggest working on getting that 2D effect, making the core gameplay work, and then maybe making an online version with 2-4 players - then you could start thinking about the first two Ms. ;)

Fortunately, I have enough money to finance my project, and I'm capable of programming
the server and client, I think I passed the reality check and I'm ready to go all that I need to figure out is how to
program those 3D billboards. I'm experienced with 2D so making a Tiled Map Editor and a Tiled Map engine is not so difficult.

By the way, I'm not thinking of exporting the game to other platforms such as Xbox360 nor Zune.

Kono:

Fortunately, I have enough money to finance my project, and I'm capable of programming
the server and client, I think I passed the reality check and I'm ready to go all that I need to figure out is how to
program those 3D billboards. I'm experienced with 2D so making a Tiled Map Editor and a Tiled Map engine is not so difficult.

Well,

if money isn't your problem... good for you :) Here you find a Billboard sample, good as generic starting point i think.

Cheers,
Pino

OK on the xbox they limit the number of players to 31? 32? but what about the PC?

On the PC you can use whatever networking system you want (infact you have to since you do not have access to LIVE on the pc), so you are limited only by your imagination and bandwidth.