Hello,
I have an interest in developing a game like Mafia Wars, Vampire Wars, and Castle Age.
They can be found on FaceBook, and MySpace.

I have done some research on the net to find out how they are made, and I hear a lot about Python.
So I started to learn Python. I just need to make a demo to get it to a funding stage. So demo will be rough.
If you have seen any of the games I have mentioned the mechanics are pretty simple. I came here originally to find more code examples relating to Python, and stumbled on a topic about text based games. I see that PHP, HTML, Java, and CSS are suggested. So I am looking for some guidance on how to best achieve a quick prototype. I would think you can write the whole game in Python. The server side, and client side. I want to make this game to make money, and fantasy based games are a passion of mine. I am drawn to the art, and the immersion. I guess to sum up what I am looking for is this:

Can I make this game using only Python?


I anticipate that I might get some inquiries on helping to make this game. If I don't, I apologize in advance for my assumption.
If you are interested. I am looking for people seasoned in this industry already. People I would be looking for would be: Python programmers who are experienced in Web Frameworks, Sockets, Security, and databases. Payment can be royalty based, or project basis.
Depends on cost. If you are looking to be paid, I would expect a quote.

If you are a game designer send me a resume as well.

I am looking to make the prototype on a shoestring budget. The prototype would be basic. Something to show the game mechanics, and multiplayer functionality. I only need a prototype to prove to investor friends that this can be done. I went over the numbers with them, and they are interested. Games are not a field they are familiar with, but would have no problem in investing if they can see a prototype.
Once past the prototype, salaries, and further incentives will be discussed.

Who I am:
I am systems engineer. I have consulted to GE for over 10 years in medical diagnostic imaging. I have a love of games, and I see a need for better games on Face Book, and MySpace. I also see the potential to capitalize on the virality of these social sites to generate a nice income.
Send resumes to pathsofpower@gmail.com

Best Regards,

Eric

This post has been edited by idreamer75: 1 Nov, 2009 - 01:23 PM

I'm not sure you could do this with Python. This type of game would be better written with PHP. If you would like to understand how to write Web Based games using PHP you could check out this topic here on DIC.

http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/showtopic31698.htm

Just to be contrary, I am quite sure this could be done in Python. Or, more accurately, as much as can be done in PHP can be done in Python - neither PHP nor Python will be executed by the user's browser, so you're going to have to send HTML and CSS to the browser to tell it what to display and, if you want any active content (auto-updating status displays, buttons that light up when the mouse is over them, etc.), you'll need to use JavaScript to achieve that.

Without going into a full comparison of the two languages, Python is a more traditional language of the sort that you're probably used to from your days at GE, while PHP was designed primarily for rapid web development by placing PHP snippets directly into your HTML files to be executed by the server before sending the page to the client. The Python community has a reputation for well-structured, clean code, while the PHP community has a reputation for tangled messes of spaghetti with no clear distinction between logic and presentation. (To be fair, though, there are libraries and templating systems for PHP which help to avoid such messes and, as with any language, it's entirely possible to write spaghetti Python or elegant PHP. I suspect the differing reputations have at least as much to do with Python being more of a "real CS" language vs. PHP pitching itself as "so easy you don't even have to be a programmer" as anything else.)

Given these differences, I'd suggest Python as a viable long-term option, as it is specifically designed to help you to write clean code. You still might want to look at PHP in the short term for developing your prototype, though, since it's designed specifically for rapid development of web applications.

(And I'm tempted to try to get on-board with your project, as I'm another experienced programmer with a love of games, but I'm already doing something similar myself... (In Perl, since we're talking about language choices for such things.))

I actually play a couple of the Zynga games, but not on the social nets; on my iPhone.

The challenge of design for these games is not the front end user interface, but the backend that stores all the data for user profiles. Plus all the current in game elements, etc. If your goal is to simply make a stand alone version of the front end, that's not too difficult.

Or, rather, a stand alone version would take considerable work but any motivated programmer who knew what they were doing could pull it off. They're all rudimentary, scaled down, RPGs with no real animation elements.

If you want to make an MMO version, that requires much more work, database knowledge, and of course all the server resources to drive the thing.

The front end language you choose in either case is primarily driven by where you want your player client to live. Python is good for a client side app. While there are some python web server options, they're less common than the PHP offerings.

Why does everyone want to create a clone of Mafia Wars, Vampire Wars, World of Warcraft? Here's an interesting idea, COME UP WITH YOUR OWN ORIGINAL IDEAS INSTEAD OF TAKING SOMEONE ELSES HARD WORK AND PLANNING AND PUTTING YOUR NAME ON IT!!!

Some possibilities that come to mind:

• They honestly think they can do it better. (I won't attempt to estimate the odds of this belief being delusional.)
• It's easier to convince yourself that you can be successful if you're emulating someone else's success.
• If you're trying to generate hype or raise funding, it's easier to explain your ideas to someone else if you're emulating something they're familiar with. (If they were building EVE Online today, they'd have a much easier time getting people onboard by saying "it's like WOW in space" than by saying "it's a graphical front-end to a really complex set of spreadsheets modelling an interstellar economy", even though it's actually just about nothing like WOW.)
• It's easy to look at all the millions of players on these existing games and think, "If I could just get 1% of the market, I'd have tens of thousands of players and be rich!" without realizing just how hard it would be to even get 1% of that 1%.
• They mostly like the existing games, but just want a few things to be done differently, so they decide to create their own version which does it the way they want because they're more likely to succeed at doing that than they are at convincing the companies behind the existing games to change them.

You can make games like these with any programming language that can create server side applications
so java,python, php is ok for the job

Thanks for the responses. I have decided to go along and prototype in PHP. I have already started. The game I am making is akin to Mafia Wars in that its text based, and will have similar game play, but it will be different, and have many features MW doesn't have. My game is closer to what Castle Age is, but most are probably not familiar with that game. As to why I don't create something original? This game is an investment. I want to make money off it. I am not taking chances on something not proven. The game I promise you will be very much different than the typical MW/VW type games out there. Any ways, thanks everyone for answering my question.

Best Regards,

Eric