Elementals MMO

Project Title: Elementals

Overview:

Elementals is a prototype MMO game developed as part of a third-semester Ausbildung project, focused on demonstrating core networking concepts. The game offers a simple interactive environment where players control a female magician, explore a world filled with randomly spawned enemies, and experience basic multiplayer gameplay. The current version includes basic movement mechanics, enemy interaction, and multiplayer features with local and online options.

Gameplay:

In Elementals, players control a young female magician exploring a basic open world. The game currently includes movement using either mouse clicks or the WSAD/arrow keys, allowing the player to navigate the environment. Simple enemies, represented as cylindrical objects, spawn randomly across the map. When the player clicks on them, an attack routine is triggered, though combat mechanics are yet to be implemented.

The prototype is focused on demonstrating basic network interaction, with players able to move and interact with the world in a multiplayer environment. Future features, including advanced elemental magic, combat systems, and enemy AI, will be developed as time allows.

Network Fundamentals:

The project serves as a demonstration of basic multiplayer networking principles:

• Client-Server Architecture: The game is designed with a client-server structure, ensuring smooth multiplayer interaction. Players can experience the game either in local play or by connecting to a hosted remote server.
• Local Play and Online Client: There are two types of builds available for play:
  • Windows Local Play: This version allows players to run both the server and client on a local machine, enabling offline multiplayer and testing in a contained environment.
  • Windows Online Client: This build connects to a hosted remote server, allowing players to interact in an online world, providing a true multiplayer experience with remote hosting.
• Enemy Spawning and Interaction: Randomly spawned enemies (cylinders) demonstrate basic NPC behavior and interaction. Clicking on these enemies will trigger an attack routine (yet to be fully implemented), laying the foundation for combat mechanics.
• Multiplayer Synchronization: The client-server setup ensures that player actions, such as movement and enemy interaction, are synchronized across different instances of the game. This helps showcase how networked interactions are handled in a multiplayer game.

Available Downloads:

• Windows Local Play: Local server and client builds for testing multiplayer in a controlled environment on a single machine.
• Windows Online Client: A build that connects to a remote server, allowing players to interact in an online world.

As a prototype, Elementals serves as a foundation for exploring multiplayer network architecture and gameplay mechanics. It provides a platform for demonstrating the interaction between client-server systems, while offering potential for future expansions like combat, magic systems, and more complex enemy behaviors, depending on available development time.