The Elusive PSP MMO. |
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One question, where is it? With the recent explosion of the MMO market, it strikes me as odd that not a single developer/publisher has as yet stepped forward and announced their intentions to bring the burgeoning genre to Sony's handheld wonder.
The first thing I thought after picking up and playing Daxter for a few minutes (apart from z0mG! Great Game!) was "wow, this looks a lot like World Of Warcraft". As I continued to make my way through the game I found myself wishing that I could get online and experience some sort of interactive community. Can you even begin to imagine how awesome it would be to play through a Monster Hunter Portable MMO!? How great would it be to be able to hop into Middle earth for a quick quest on the way to work, or perhaps simply purchase some new parts for that spaceship you're building?
If the PSP can give us games with graphics as good as this, surely it can't be a technical issue? Or can it? having said that, it should be noted that there's no way an MMO like World of Warcraft could be ported to the PSP, at least not in its current form. Traditionally MMO's have appeared on the PC, not just because of internet connectivity issues, but also because their control schemes are so complex they usually require the added control input that a keyboard and mouse provides. As such for an MMO to really work on the PSP it would have to be tailored specifically for the system.
As usual the homebrew community seems to be moving things forward, and filling the void left by the big guys. I sat down with James aka Psilocybeing on our very own QJ.net forums to talk about MMO's on the PSP and his very own PSP MMO homebrew project, Traveller.
Moi: What made you decide to start work on Traveller?
Psilocybeing: I've been playing MMORPGs for years now, and I always wondered what it was like to be behind the scenes of one, so I decided to start work on one of my very own. The desire to improve my general programming skills and understanding of physics engines also played a large part, as while I have been developing for years game development is something that I had never touched before. Learning new skills and implementing them into something playable, and of a high quality was a large driving force during development.
Moi: Is there a story behind Traveller? Can you expand on the kinds of things players will be able to do?
Psilocybeing: Currently there is no story as such behind Traveller, but my target is to create a world that is fraught with many challenges for the player, while keeping portability in mind. I want players to be able to jump into the pilot seat and instantly find something they can crack on with, be it missions, PVP combat, exploration, or anything else that will finally be added to the game.
The work on features at the moment is pretty much non-existent in code, but to be sure I have quite a good idea of the gaming experience I want to create. Currently all of my work has been on the actual gaming engine, the driving force behind the game. I have written it to be as modular as possible, so when I fully implement the net code all of the function calls required to reconstruct the world will be at my disposal, ready and waiting.
Moi: What technical challenges have you run into working with the PSP, particularly related to using its WLAN features?
Psilocybeing: Learning how to use the WLAN adapter on the PSP was a pretty easy step, in fact it was the first thing I learned how to do when developing for the PSP. Thanks to Danzels open source peldet Telnet/IRC client, ripping out the innards behind the networking was a pretty fast job. As with pretty much any other networking lib the data is retrieved using functions similar in form to that of file I/O, so net code is not a large issue at the moment. One challenge that I have yet to completely hammer out is the method behind syncing player locations, not only on the server, but on the other clients as well. As movement is seamless sending an update packet on every position change would be very uneconomical for bandwidth, so I'm going to have to implement some kind of prediction math to the server to take the required bandwidth down by a large chunk.
Moi: Based on what you've come to experience in your work on Traveller, why is it that you think publishers and developers haven't taken to the PSP as an ideal platform for the MMO as they have the PC?
Psilocybeing: I really cannot fathom why professional developers have not jumped at the chance to create a portable MMO for the PSP. All of the features we need are there, and due to the PSP being a console we have the exact guidelines that we can tailor our client to. While it may not be the fastest piece of kit on the market, it certainly has an extensive array of features and libs available to support a fully functional MMO.
The only thing I can think of is that information regarding an MMO has not been released to the public yet, maybe due to the amount of time that MMOs take to develop. I would predict that before this year is out we will see some official games that utilize the PSPs WLAN capabilities to their full extent.
Moi: How much longer do you estimate Traveller will be in development?
Psilocybeing: I really couldn't say, Traveller is written in my spare time, and it is not the only project I'm working on at the moment. Currently I've been switching between four or so different projects. One being Traveller 2D, another being PME, another being getting to grips with PSPGL with the hopes of migrating Traveller from 2D rendering to full 3D rendering, lighting/shading/texturing and all. The fourth..well, you'll have to wait and see :)
Screens from Traveller
Thanks for the interview and the good work James, I know we all wish you the best of luck. If you'd like to keep track of Psilocybeing's progress on Traveller you can do so simply by hitting up his blog once in a while.
The way of the world is to avoid cost and yet homebrewers go out of their way to encounter it, whether for the joy of sharing, or the personal challenge it ends up benefiting the entire community and for that we're always grateful. In the case of the PSP in particular it seems the big guys are always trailing behind the lead of the homebrewers, so maybe some time soon, any day now we'll finally get a PSP MMO announcement. Don't hold your breath for it though ;)
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Comments [refresh]
Theres two thing we need for a real mmorpg to psp. A big memory stick for updates and a keyboard.
is this a spaceship MMO??? I'd like a more ground based game.........
Yeah, feasible on a console with a keyboard...not on psp unfortunately....
Um . . . doesn't "interaction" usually entail some sort of discussion between people? You could try to incorperate the headset somehow . . .
And props for the undertaking, but an MMO is described as "massively multiplayer". Where is the server space going to come from? Who's going to manage it? And more importantly: what if no one plays it? People are going to expect an experience akin to WoW, yet it just isn't going to happen on the PSP.
if this project looks like this then wow.
why is Daxter and Syphon Filter in the pictures?
Um... they're pretty? Actually I just got the feeling playing Daxter in particular that WOW would look kind of like that on PSP.
Don't feel like reading it all- is this an actual project, or just a story-type-thing?
Umm... you took the time to click on the comments tab, and then type your nonsense... but not to actually read the article... I wonder what your book reports looked like...
uhh arnt they coming out with a keyboard for the PSP?
Yah, that keyboard was scrapped... there was an article posted on this blog some months ago detailing that change... maybe someone here can point you to the exact link, but unfortunately, it looks like no keyboard until a 3rd party picks up the project.
this would be a good idea and maybe the only way to get me to play wow again plus you dont need a key board the buttons should suffice and on the other hand it would probally be like guild wars if this happend because i woul NOT pay monthly
The Third party keyboard was scrapped because Sony would not give the manufacturer the necessary info/drivers for it to work. I seriously expect Sony to release their own keyboard, especially since an email client is in the works for a future firmware upgrade.
I want Guild Wars!^^
I too want Guild Wars for my psp , I'm going to guild wars site and tell them to make a psp version , plz evryone who reads this support me , guild wars for psp is the best thing that could happen to the psp.
Very good article chris. You always seem to have the best ideas of what to write (very original and sweet)
Anyway...
I wouldn't mind a PSP MMO and the fact that its homebrew makes it ever sweeter. Kudos to you Psilocybeing...may the force be with you (i am only saying that because traveller looks like a spaceship game :P)
Take a look at what Sega did with Phantasy Star Online for the dreamcast. While a keyboard accessory was made available - the game had a list of necessary emotes that could be executed fairly simply from the controller.
I have a feeling if ANY sort of MMO was to be created for the PSP that it would be a hack-n-slash like Untold Legends or Diablo.
I always felt WOW has PSP quality graphics.
Don't forget this was already done with EQOA for the PS2. They worked it out to where the updates would always fit in a moderately sized block on the regular save unit for the PS2. Hell, even a keyboard was optional. There was an onscreen keyboard and hotkeys you could use for quick things like "follow me", "attack" etc. EQOA could very easily work on the PSP.
Certainly if you had a USB keyboard on the PS2 it was better, but I would gladly play a game like that on my PSP.
i think (someone) should make a port/ clone of maplestory for psp. its comin to the DS, why cant it come to psp? it is in 2d so it wouldnt be too hard to code. just an idea.
This is a fantastic idea, and I think its very do-able if something like on screen hot keys are used. It would be great to have an mmo on psp.
I'd play.Minor problems aside(keyboard )Ithink its a great idea,if you integrate mic. usage though maby we can get by wirhout the keyboard.
Nice article Chris, it was a pleasure to answer your questions :).
Questions regarding keyboard input and such, we need to remember we're dealing with a console here. It's not trying to be a fully fledged emulator of a PC, but a class all of its own. MMOs on the PSP will be designed with this in mind, simple intuitive controls, allowing for the highest possible ammount of flexibility will be the way to go.
Communication ingame is one thing I've been throwing about the old noggin, and while emulated keyboard chat might be an option, abbreviated social comments may be a better route to go down. Fast shortcuts to functions ingame that can communicate requests and social comments with the smallest possible input required(think of an andvanced emote system).
Go team!
WooT for psilos project.
good work, i hope you'll be able to get out of the ship though. it would be cool to implement the psp headset.
Thanks for the compliments Milkman! I think Psilocybeing's really got the right idea about building the game around the console and not forcing the console to fit around the game.
gah xp
its not how good the game is, its the fact that this is a PROOF OF CONCEPT!!! It isnt meant to be a AWESOME game like "WoW"(I cant stand wow....), but that is the ultimate goal. The best thing that can come from this is the fact that a big dev will notice that it is possible, and financially feasable to make a MMO for the psp. Personally, this game doesnt look like I would keep it for more than 2 hrs, but I would download it so I could see how well it works.
runescape would be good, if it was all voice recognition. You could say wordsand it would type them or it automatically learns new words when you say something new and adds it to a library of words
MMORPG'S? The US is still waiting for its first decent regular RPG on the PSP! (PoloPoloCrisis and Legend of Heroes don't count at all) Heck, most RPG fans who have PSP's have been importing Tales of Eternia from the UK, simply because there's nothing else in the genre...
why dont they port a 2d mmorpg like IRO or lineage (not lineage 2...) to the psp with some private servers then work there way to 3d games i mean come on that home bew space ship game didnt look that great at all...
Well didnt phantsy star for the sega dreamcast use the controller, but also have an option for the keyboard? I know it could be done if the buttons were binded correctly. I think that premade things to say so you can communicate and also when you click on the chat bar it will aloow you to type somthing with an onboard keyboard, but somthing that would really come in handy is somthing like 3-5 icons that you can use to bind somthing to say that wouldent be so ordanary such as....well whatever you want to say. I hope this guy continues this.
You could not make an MMO with Daxter or WoW quality graphics on the PSP, there's no way it would be able to draw/process so many onscreen characters at once, a handheld MMO would have to be EXTREMELY low poly count or 2d, daxter/syphon are pusing the psp to the limits as it is, forget about adding thousands of other people.
uhh... this is... news...?
Its a blog you stupid fu-ckwitt
you guys forgot one main point... you're gonna need to be at a reliable hotspot for the duration of the game.
So how do u expect to play games on your way to work?
THEY ARE MIDGETS!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!
you are *****ing stupid....RUNESCAPE SHOULD NOT GO PORTABLE!!! LEAVE IT THE WAY IT IS!!!
they say you can play MHF with xlink kai online, with other players.
I thought monster hunter was coming out for the psp, maybe it was a non-mmorpg version, sorry if this has been mentioned before but i only quickly scanned throught the article, cheers
Well I think its going to be a real good game and you guys should first wait for a first release before saying anything bad about the game the game could work out very well I even think that this game is going to be one of the most popular homebrews that is going to come to psp...
#31 is right. The only good rpg's are the asian ones, like, (but not limited to), RO. WoW and other American-Based mmorpg's are absolutely worthless.
wow is awsome
ARE YOU CRAZY? YOUR GRAPHICS FOR THE 2D THING PRETTY MUCH SUCK... KEEP DREAMINg
Um . . . doesn't "interaction" usually entail some sort of discussion between people? You could try to incorperate the headset somehow . . .
And props for the undertaking, but an MMO is described as "massively multiplayer". Where is the server space going to come from? Who's going to manage it? And more importantly: what if no one plays it? People are going to expect an experience akin to WoW, yet it just isn't going to happen on the PSP.
by Anonymous Coward
I agree Anonymous Coward.
XFire, GameSpy & Xlink combind
For homebrew PSP
And if somebody figures out how to make a client side server software for multi game use like GameSpy or STEAM for HalfLife for the PSP coupled with Xlink to go global and Xfire for buddy list and voice chat and a keyboard and Mouse, I'd say we've got a product that could sell.
Now to the game, I applaud your effort, did you start with the 2D and based off of learning that now able to make 3D?
How about GAMESHARE where the game is uploaded to a second PSP?
Only those who can do what he's doing and can do it better have a right to moun, I'd like to see some of you people here like the last guy before me Post #44. I'd love to see you do better, lol "You Idiot" is that what your daddy called you so much that I guess it must have stuck and you now tell everybody thats your name, Hope it works for ya. Sigh...
Nooblets talking trash on the forums again.