Each year new MMOs are released, with new graphics, new quests, new concepts but there’s one thing that stays the same over and over : the maximum amount of players on a same instance, on a same server.
From a hundred to a few thousands (2000 for Planetside 2), the basic limits of mmorpgs didn’t really evolve since Dark Age of Camelot.
Founders: Sons of Hyrmalion is a project that one could think impossible when looking at these figures and yet it is a reality.
Made from the start to be a massive mmorpg, we’ve worked on every single aspect of its gameplay while having a player’s point of view, but also in the game’s entirety because a coop game and a massive multiplayer one aren’t simply made in the same way.
We will detail the different aspects of the gameplay in other articles that will be published afterwards; we will here detail the technic aspect.
Conventionally, a MMORPG is hosted on a server which defines a zone and a number of players, and when that level is passed the players that can’t access the zone are deported to another server.
These server transitions can be under the form of loading screens (Guildwars 2) or some kind of buffer corridor (World of Warcraft).
Now, how Founders: Sons of Hyrmalion works:
A server working like a router distributes the work load between different servers whose designated zone will evolve in function of the load.
Here’s a presentation video of the technology we will use for F: SoH (PikkoServer developed by MuchDifferent).
Besides this multiplayer management engine we will use our own multiplayer engine, which works with Unity3D and will allow an optimal compatibility with most supports (Unity being a largely spread game engine which proved its efficiency).
In the next updates we will detail every aspect of the gameplay of Founders: Sons of Hyrmalion, we’ll especially talk about the city management system and the siege system.
