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NOTE: This article is part of a series titled: PBBG Development For Beginners.
If you are like me, and have little or no scripting experience then you must rest easy with the fact that it's going to take you a while before you are ready to begin coding your game. Don't get too caught up with the idea that you don't need any skills yourself if you just find others that are willing to help, it will be nearly impossible for you to manage a development team if you have no clue just how much work is involved; to manage a successful team, you need to have first-hand experience in designing, coding, and creating artwork. I know what you're thinking, if you could do all that you wouldn't need a team… right? Wrong! Game development takes time and creative resources, of course you can do it alone if you wish, but it can take you years to complete then, instead of just months. The choice is yours: work smarter, or work harder. Of course this depends on how much content your game will include too, but for sake of argument, I'm going to assume that you have a kick-ass game in mind with lots of content, and that you are serious about making this work.
Going along with the assumption that you don't have any coding skills, but are willing to learn, let's start with the first steps.
Design Your Game
There is a common saying when it comes to any type of game, program, or development project: "Design Before Development". This means that you must finish the design first. A game design includes all of the little details that define the game, not the code, but rather the content of the game. For example, the background story, how characters are created and what choices players have. Character development and advancement, common concepts such as character movement, PvP, guild support, communication systems such as live chat and community forums. Items, combat, and other elements such as how to handle death. Let's not forget security, anti-hacking and anti-cheating measures too. If you intend to just go with the flow, you're game will suck, no one will like it, no one will play it, and you'll never earn a dime with it. Sure, you might get lucky, but if you attempt this without a plan, you might as well admit that you are not that serious about making your game. Even a poorly designed game has a chance with a good plan.
Define Your Business Plan
Oh yes, and after you finish your 300+ page design concept, don't forget the 500+ page business plan that will define how you will monetize and market your site, or did you think that time, servers, artists, designers, and programmers like to work for free? Probably not. ;-) Initial marketing will be a huge obstacle to overcome. You may look around and notice that some of the more popular games really are not that fun. Well the same could be said of a best selling novel, a novel does not become a best seller because it contains a stunning plot and is well written, but because more effort was put into marketing it than in creating it. All of this requires money and time or in some cases, just more time, if you are working on a tight budget.
Learn How To Script
As mentioned previously, even if you decide to lean on the skills of others, you will still need to familiarize yourself with at least an elementary level of scripting knowledge. This will allow you to understand what type of programmers you will need on your team. For example, there won't be much use of a Java coder if your game is in Flash, and little use for a Flash expert if your game is in PHP. On the other hand, you may need several primary coders if you intent to use a combination of several scripts.
Learn How To Design Artwork
Again, if you want to fully appreciate just how much work and time your artists will devote, you will need to understand what they do. You will also need to have a basic understanding of things like image types and if working with animation the importance of concepts like vector graphics, 2D, 3D, and 2D Isometrics. I'm sure you want 3D, so do all the fans out there, but the fact remains that out of over 300 PBBG's that exist today, only 1 (ONE) of them is in true 3D (Sherwood) and it contains very little content (I.E. is not that fun). Note: Some may consider Wurm Online to be a PBBG too.
Build Your Development Team
If you truly want to succeed then you will not only need coders and artists, but a team manager and project leaders too. You may assume yourself to be the team manager but do you really have what it takes to manage other people… do you have any management experience at all? You will also need customer service personnel once your site is live, or even during Beta. Don't make the mistake of assuming that coders have good customer skills. In fact, don't make the mistake of thinking that you can handle the customer service all on your own. And most importantly, don't make the mistake of thinking that customer service is only a minor issues… people will leave your game no matter how great it is if they feel they are not being treated fairly and if you intend to earn money with your game, you will want and need happy customers, even the ones that play for free. And don't forget the sales and marketing team too… people need to know about your game, or you wont earn anything.
Does this seem like too much? Then understand that out of over 350 PBBG's known at the time of this writing, only a small handful do well. There are tons of skillsets required to succeed in any market and the PBBG market is no different. Bear in mind that I'm not presenting you with a model of success, only a basic outline. In the end, your success rate is going to be determined mostly by your passion and commitment… you fail when you give up or tap out. Just give it your best shot and good luck.
That should get you started, check back here for updates and I'll try to include some additional content as often as I'm able.
Article written by: 
Whane The Whip
