Nick Parkinson: MMO development 101

This is Part III of a four-part dev journal series by Nick Parkinson, developer at Sigil currently working on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. He gives tips on how to design an MMO.

Where to start: First requirement to be able to design games is love. Yup, a love for games and for playing them is a must. Second is to try and make one. This can be done by writing a quest or a short story, also by creating mods for games. Content and gameplay ideas can be developed by these activities.

Get an education: The tricky thing is finding a school that offers a degree in game design. Mr. Parkinson suggests that a dev aspirant should take up something that can be essential to the gaming industry, like English degrees, creative writing, programming, or art. He also warns that a degree in game design doesn’t necessarily guarantee a job.

Find a job: Getting a job is the hardest part and nobody should be naive to think that breaks happen overnight. Dev tip? Be a beta tester and give smart feedback. Jeff Butler, Sigil’s President and co-executive producer got started that way. He was one of the first beta testers for EverQuest and ended up producing EQ expansions. Keep an eye on the corporate websites and watch out for job openings.

There are two main types of designers: content designers and system designers. But as the rookie, do not expect to be immediately assigned to a system. Content implementation, like writing dialogue for NPCs and quests, and such would probably be your first to-do lists.

Here are some parting reminders from Nick Parkinson:

Burnout can be a very real problem and youÂ’ll need to make sure, especially as someone whoÂ’s probably very eager to get in there and prove themselves, that you donÂ’t overdo it right away and burn yourself out creatively and physically.

This is Part III of a four-part dev journal series by Nick Parkinson, developer at Sigil currently working on Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. He gives tips on how to design an MMO.

Where to start: First requirement to be able to design games is love. Yup, a love for games and for playing them is a must. Second is to try and make one. This can be done by writing a quest or a short story, also by creating mods for games. Content and gameplay ideas can be developed by these activities.

Get an education: The tricky thing is finding a school that offers a degree in game design. Mr. Parkinson suggests that a dev aspirant should take up something that can be essential to the gaming industry, like English degrees, creative writing, programming, or art. He also warns that a degree in game design doesn’t necessarily guarantee a job.

Find a job: Getting a job is the hardest part and nobody should be naive to think that breaks happen overnight. Dev tip? Be a beta tester and give smart feedback. Jeff Butler, Sigil’s President and co-executive producer got started that way. He was one of the first beta testers for EverQuest and ended up producing EQ expansions. Keep an eye on the corporate websites and watch out for job openings.

There are two main types of designers: content designers and system designers. But as the rookie, do not expect to be immediately assigned to a system. Content implementation, like writing dialogue for NPCs and quests, and such would probably be your first to-do lists.

Here are some parting reminders from Nick Parkinson:

Burnout can be a very real problem and youÂ’ll need to make sure, especially as someone whoÂ’s probably very eager to get in there and prove themselves, that you donÂ’t overdo it right away and burn yourself out creatively and physically.