I am using an excellent signals/slots library called sigslots for the library. It is similar to a callback mechanism and allows the client to register handlers for various events. It has certainly made the development much easier as I can visualize the components clearly now

The entire view of the world provided by the client library to the graphical client includes networking, map information, player information, entity information (eg. NPCs and other players on the map). Simple but definitely more flexible that a monolithic client.

I however give credit where it is due and it goes to the brilliant guys over at the WorldForge project. They employ a separate library (called Eris) that is used in multiple clients which inspired me to design mine similarly. They also have an insane server design but my skills aren’t as advanced and thus I am sticking to my lowly design for now . I would definitely recommend checking out the WorldForge project if you are planning on developing an MMO. The various parts of the project will give you a good idea of the different components you need to write. Also, their wiki is a trove of information for MMO developers.

In order to have a maintainable and modular architecture, I have decided to switch over to an object-oriented approach for the server as well. I currently have the basic networking up and running in a flexible design with a publish-subscribe architecture for message handlers.

I am designing in a way so that the core of the server and client can be released as open source while allowing developers to develop proprietary message handlers for various features. Hopefully I’ll have a simple implementation released within a week!

• Tile based maps (square tiles). I actually like this method as it gives a very simple representation of the world. No ugly physics, 3D collision detection etc.
• Movement within and between maps (we are using two blank test maps for now). We will be using the A* pathfinding algorithm for movement. Portals placed on the map will allow for movement between maps. Movement within maps is currently working using a crude algorithm.
• Chat. This is pretty much a basic feature in MMORPG’s (perhaps not true for weird, exotic ones, but we’re not going there for now!). We hope to implement public and private chats. Most of the framework for this is there. This should be up soon!
• Initially, work with a text client. This just seems the easier way to do things until we have a decently developed server. We will work on a graphical map editor and client after that. I am going to try for a 3D one, but if it turns out to be too much of a pain, I’ll stick to 2D (SDL looks pretty good and is cross-platform).
• Simple server architecture. This is the most important goal for us. We do not want to bog ourselves by over-designing everything. We are sticking to a simple object-oriented design (C++) and using the Enet library for our networking needs. We are fans of reuse and will stay away from reinventing wheels and code

That pretty much sums up the initial development goals for Ileor. We will update the milestones as we complete them! Until then, here is a teaser of what we have working at the moment: