How to make an online game?

Hi I don't know if this is the right place to post this thread but can I ask? What tools do I need or programs to make a graphical online game? Please refer something free or cheap.

You need....

• The most ownage text editor ever, NOTEPAD
• The most ownage graphics program ever, PAINT
• The most ownage OS ever, WINDOWS
• The most ownage programming language ever, JAVA
• The most ownage personal asset ever, KNOWLEDGE

Now you ask, "how can I acquire these tools?"

Well... I expect you've got numbers 1 through 4 covered. Google the rest.

Disclaimer: These aren't really the most ownage tools. With time, you'll accumulate tools with far more potent potential to own--but you've got to start somewhere. Yes, even an HTML forum.

Doesn't have to be Java by itself though. There are Flash, Javascript or whatever the other programming languages are... :-)

Flash isn't a free tool... Personally I use TextMate and OS X. But hey, that's just me. I'm sure we could all name 15 free tools and languages; I was just trying to get the ball rolling. Uphill.

have you made ne simple online games? if so can you post them here

If you want to make a graphical online game and ask how to do it I need to know a few things first.

What kind of game will it be? Single-player, Multi-player, MMO? Real-time, Tick-based, Turn-based? Are you aiming for something like a 'Connect 4'-Applet for your website or a real-time multiplayer strategy game?

These choices will all heavily influence what technologies are viable for your project and therefore the knowledge you need to complete the project.

But for a few tools that are free:

• Text-editors: Weaverslave, Quanta, Notepad (yes seriously)
• Graphics Editor: GIMP, Paint (for simplest things... why not?)
• Server-stuff: Apache, PHP, mysql

just to name a few things.

I made my first online game right around the time "Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone" hit the shelves. Which would make me... 12? 13? No matter. It was titled "Harry Potter: Wizards' Duel", and programmed in client-side, IE exclusive Javascript (I've come a long way). My text editor of choice was the endurable cyan editor "Notepad". I didn't bog myself down with difficult decisions; I had yet to realize the superiority of every other text editors in existence. In spite of its many shortcomings, years of experience with MS's bare bones editor*1 toughened me up for the down and dirty code-fu to come.

My graphics program of choice of the time was Paint Shop Pro (likely version 7). The "dueling wizards" manifested themselves as robed stick figures with beige heads. In retrospect, these forms could have been concocted in Paint. There would have been no more fancy effects to distract me, either; get playing with those filters and you might as well call the entailing 4 wasted hours of your life dust in the wind. The game, too, is most regretably "dust in the wind"*2, or I'd gladly show it off for your benefit.

*1 "Bare Bones" is the company backing a remarkable feat of text editor engineering, by the by

*2 In lieu of this post's obvious lack of practical value (beyond the satisfaction accorded to one particular nostalgist,) I feel inclined to point out that I also enjoy the song dust in the wind. And long walks on the beach. And... Where the hell am I going with this?

I got ideas on multiplayer, tick-based, something like a community game where you can be a ruler or an adventurer/citizen belonging to a kingdom. What should I do??? I am a fool I cant understand most things coz I'm only 13 please make'em easier for me. TNX!

I don't want to sound too discouraging but there are hundreds of browser games already and at least a few dozens of them fit your description.

If you're 13, you typically learn HOW to make games. You don't make real games just yet. If you want to make a game anyway, go ahead.

The way you speak generally lends itself to the impression that you're a simple n00b k1dd13, by the way. And no one will take your big plans too seriously.

Learn about communication protocols, using sockets to update clients from a master map, that'd be key for what you're after.

XMLHttpRequest would be good to lookup details on the players in the game, but you'll need some strategy to minimise bandwidth usage.


You can push ascii characters about the screen, until you get the basic building blocks correct.

Determine the roles of the clients and the server in this relationship. If you give too much control to the client, you open opportunities for cheating (oh, and they will - Sony BMG is allegedly sought after ;p). Too much work on the server side, and you can seriously limit how many players per server.

Basically identify all the areas of the game you wish to develop, and then determine the technology required to address each of these issues ... you'd be well advised to this ahead of writing a single line of code, also think reusable code ... it'll be a pain in the *** initially, but it will speed up development long term

There has to be a plethora of tutorials on the subject out there. Google is your friend

Oh yea, AJAX is such an awesome tool to use. Unfortunately, like Java, Flash, etc., they all suffer from the bandwidth issues whether the server is busy or not, whether there's a interruption of communction on the Internet. Like a power surge/brownout or router convergence issues... :-) It would make someone want to throw the keyboard at the monitor.

What do I save the file as if I am using notepad