Building an MMO Game: Challenges and Our Approach

Building an MMO game is challenging, especially with a small team. At Hapz, we frequently get asked about these difficulties, and we want to share how we’re tackling them.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, MMO stands for Massively Multiplayer Online. It's often used in the context of MMORPGs, such as World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 14, or New World—AAA games developed by large teams.Our goal is not to match the scale of these giants, as that's unrealistic for our team of twenty. Instead, we aim to create a persistent, cozy world for you to enjoy with friends, offering great gameplay and plenty to do. We want a place where you can meet new people, collaborate to change the in-game world, and watch it grow over time—without worrying about hosting servers. Just log in, play, and we’ll handle the rest.

What Defines "Massive" in MMO?

The "Massive" in Massively Multiplayer is often unclear. Is it defined by 100 concurrent players? 1,000? Or is it about a persistent, evolving shared world? While definitions vary, "MMO" remains the most precise description of Hapz, even if it’s not perfect.

Inspirations and Objectives:

Cozy games like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing inspire us. Their charm lies in stress-free exploration, creativity, and an immersive world. However, their multiplayer features are limited, with restrictions on the number of players and activities.

Today's MMOs focus on competition and combat. While we enjoy these games, we crave worlds that offer a more relaxed experience. Hapz aims to merge the best aspects of both genres into a single, cozy, multiplayer experience.

Better Tools Early adaptation after AI has come into the Picture for scripting, 3D Model Generation, and more.

Technology has advanced significantly. Modern tools and cloud-based infrastructure, like Unity, Unreal Engine 5, and Amazon’s services, make it easier for small teams to build large-scale games. These tools simplify many of the challenges faced by previous MMO development teams. Tools like Leanardo, Claude, Tripo and ChatGPT helped us to deliver the projects before the timeline helped save client Budget and time.

Prototyped and Tested

We've implemented and tested much of our MMO infrastructure to ensure it's possible. We've run tests with hundreds of concurrent clients, demonstrating our ability to scale. These tests, while early, prove our approach works.

Game Design

Unlike World of Warcraft or other AAA MMOs. Without combat, our game has less state to manage, allowing us to support more players. Each sky island is a self-contained world, reducing the load on individual servers. Player items and quests are stored in Amazon’s DynamoDB, and different areas are hosted on separate servers.

Our Team

Our team includes seniors with 5+ years of engineering expertise with experience Unity and Unreal Engine in large-scale cloud projects. Our founder managed a successful cloud product with over 5 million monthly users, and our lead engineer has led teams on large projects. This experience is crucial for building an MMO.

Acknowledging Roadblocks

Despite our confidence, we recognize potential roadblocks. If we can’t support a thousand players per server, we can scale down to a few hundred without changing the core game. Hapz will remain a shared, persistent world where you can farm, complete quests, go on adventures.

We are committed to delivering the full dream and have plans in place for any unexpected challenges. We want you to feel confident in our journey and know that we are working to minimize all risks.