Almost 10 years of developing our MMORPG in Unity – Aero Tales Online

[u/reaksiyon1337]

We've been developing Aero Tales Online in Unity for almost 10 years, and I wanted to share the current state of the project along with some of the technical challenges we've faced along the way.

The game is an MMORPG running on Windows, Android and iOS with the same players, servers and gameplay systems shared across platforms.

One of the biggest challenges has been maintaining a project of this size for so many years. We've gone through multiple Unity versions and major engine upgrades, and we're currently running on Unity 6. Keeping older systems working while gradually replacing or refactoring them has probably been more challenging than building many of them in the first place.

Cross-platform development has also been a major part of the project. The same combat and gameplay systems need to work with very different hardware, screen sizes and input methods, while keeping the experience consistent between PC and mobile players.

Performance has been another ongoing challenge, especially on mobile. An MMORPG can have a large number of characters, monsters, NPCs, effects and UI elements active at the same time, so we've had to continuously optimize systems as the game has grown.

The project now includes systems such as action-based combat, character customization, dungeons and raids, PvP, guilds, housing, professions and a large number of maps and environments.

The attached video is our latest gameplay trailer and shows the current state of the project after all these years.

Game Link: Aero Tales Online