Language Question

[Gawian]

Putting aside the logistics of pulling a project of this type off.....

What would be the best language for supporting a 200-400 playerbase in a 2d game but with a good amount of particle effects?

As well what sort of common languages ( variations of C, etc) could be cross platform?

Thanks in advance

[Toast]

It's really an open question. Alot of people will tell you to use C++, cause that's what the hardcore pros use for big commercial games like WoW, but it really comes down to what language YOU are most comfortable using or learning. For me it's VB, cause it's easy to pickup and isn't that bad if you use it right. Is it meant for big commercial games scenarios? No, but it's a good way for me to get my foot in the door of the programming world.

[unknown]

Toast is right, you should code it in what you feel most comfortable in. All languages are very similar structurally with slightly different syntax.

Different languages do different things better. C is one of the fastest languages because code is compiled into machine code. This makes it difficult to port, and difficult to do networking because you have to worry about little and big endian. NET is interpreted, which makes it slower but it is pretty simple to learn and very powerful. Honestly, 'slower' isn't really an issue unless your making a 3d game it's not that much slower. Since NET is interpreted it is also kinda portable (it's still a ms product & mono is not that great)

Java is my language of choice. It's interpreted, open source, and truly multi-platform. The syntax is not as nice as .NET, but simpler than C. You also don't have to worry about little and big endian in Java, or most interpreted languages. It's roughly the same speed as .NET, and the java interpreter is installed on most systems.

I read a good article arguing for dynamically typed languages as opposed to all aforementioned languages =).

[Gawian]

Thanks for the replies. I was mainly wondering because I was looking to hire someone to make an engine to support the criteria I had listed. I'm an info systems major so I've word a bit with each of the ones ya'll have listed. So whatever would be the best combination for price quality and accessibility is the way I want to go.

[grimsk8ter11]

Java is probably your best bet for cross platform support unless you write in pure C or C++.

[katcode]

Well there are plenty of choices, I wouldn't recommend VB6 for Such MMORPGs that require Fast proccessing. VB6 is a good choice for other things.
However things i do recommend are:

C++/Qt(C++ can be easy to understand if you learn it in a method that you find intrests you, Qt makes C++ code portable and makes coding in it slightly easier)

.NET(Any .NET language will do, theire all mostly the same except F#. Theire pretty easy and you can rapidly make applications in it, and Mono makes it available on many platforms, however .NET may seem intimidating at first.)

Game Maker(I'm not sure how good it preforms with high numbers of players, but when 2D is you're thing this is an Excellent application, Not cross-platform but it's really easy to get started and is a fun way of doing things.)

Other BASIC variants(There are so many i can't count, Some are easier to code it, Some are more powerful and some are easier to program games in, Google them.)

Python/Lua(Both Interpreted languages, however Python is an Amazing little language and is quite powerful, a little slow and crossplatform. Lua is also very easy and used by many mainstream games for Scripting, can also be compiled with LuaJIT and you can use many Libraries with it.)

Just pick something you like, i didn't list everything, but I hope i helped.

[Gawian]

Thanks for all the reply's guys

Honestly I am between Java and VB.net. I am looking to hire someone to do the programming but I'd like to be able to know whats going on and work with the GUI which I can do in VB but Java. So between those two which do you think is the best bet in terms of A.) Finding affordable programming and B.) Can both languages accomplish the job or is one better etc.?

Lastely I'm real familiar with Mirage based engines etc. could this even be done (reasonably) based off a Mirage?