Welcome to the Web Developing Industry, and good luck with this project and any you may do in the future. Learning Just php will not be enough. To be able to run a sucessful game ( without putting all the pressure of coding onto your fellow co-owner ) you will have to learn some other languages which will help you in understanding existing modifications better as well as creating a huge impact on the types of modifications you can create. I'll list 2-3 of the Web Languages you should understand the basics of before leaping into the project below:
- HTML
- PHP
-CSS
I say this becuase using just php to create a modification, will not be exactly a wise idea. In my opinion, to make it good or even basic you will have to mix html and php together. Now CSS is all about the styling, however when you're learning html you will come across tutorials which will say you can make your page look better using these html tags and them html tags, but css is the more professional language for all the styling whichtakes place on the site.
Example:
The Design/Layouts you see on a page involve some css to be implemented in a external or internal css sheet in the directory.
I have no idea, what kind of route your planning to take with this project, but you sound like a hard working guy so i would advise you take time and learn the basics of php/html and css before starting the project as it will make your life alot easier. Now after learning the basics, you can go ahead and start planning your project and keep advancing your knowledge about the different languages as time passes.
Now i've seen many people give advice and just end the post but hey let's give you 1-2 links to websites which may help you in this quest. I will give the links below:
http://www.w3schools.com
http://www.tizag.com
I forgot to mention above, but learn html before you learn xhtml. The reason i say this is as far as i know Xhtml is a cleaner and stricter version of Html. I'll clarify that a bit more, so if you learn html you may be able to code something without closing a tag but if you're coding using xhtml then it will explain that you have to close the tags etc.
One more thing, don't hesitate to post up any problems here, as there are lots of freindly people here who are willing to help. Magictallguy is someone i would recomend, he will do work for you, and if it's not too big he may do it for free. ( sorry MTG if you have changed since we last spoke xd, and don't do work for free anymore )
The languages noted above are not small languages, and you will not learn any of them in one day. You will have to study hard and research about them to get the basics down which will take a coupole of months. If you manage to get the hang of them languages, then you may want to see and ask people what other languages they know and try and learn a bit about them.
Last but not least, spend time on your project. Don't expect it to be a one minute wonder as the outcome of that will be a bad one. Arrange everything professionally and if you ever need my help hit me up on a private message on here.
This article hasn't been advertise on Makewebgames yet, but if you fancy reading a article of mine about how to run a sucessful rpg then visit the link below:
http://www.onlinegrip.com/website-tips/how-to-run-a-successful-rpg-game/
That's it for now, i'll see if i can give more detail next time i post.
Best Regards: Redex