Sorry if this should go in the Hello/Goodbye forum. I chose to come here because its a bit more of an introduction, but I might as well introduce myself.
My name is Cory. I'm one of those guys who played Graal way back in the day. I was probably around 10 to 12ish (guesstimates) when I played and I loved the game. It actually really effected my classes (middle school doesn't really count though) because I carried around a secret Graal folder with Graal maps and stuff that I would flick through during the day. I loved the game, being a huge Zelda fan, and thats what Graal was, a Zelda clone.
Anyway, we all know what happened and I stopped playing around 2001. Every once in a while I would check out what Graal had become, it was horrible. And every time I get the idea to start my own server with that 1.39 server that was floating around. Problem always was, how do you get more then 5 people playing? I think we can fix that though, and I'm really glad I found this place. This weekends been full of nostalgia and things I thought everyone else had forgotten about. It seems like everyone has different motivations here, but heres mine. I want to somehow bring back a game I loved, to play on the weekends and make friends on, to chat on, to have a good time. Yeah I'm 20 now and way busy with school (regardless of my grades in middle school I made it to university and now I'm a psych major.) And I think we can bring that back.
I don't know if any of you remember ShockedFrog, he ran the site graalupdate.8m.com and it changed urls a few times. I've bee emailing him and hes said some very true things about Graal.
[quote] The world was pretty good when it was more about adding things than destroying them. Avalon and Destiny were the first sign of the game being taken over by the minority, though the damage was only really done after the change to Tyhm's ideas - he did some good stuff, but I still wish he'd made his own server instead of messing with one that really didn't fit his methods.
The way players can obtain all hearts, weapons, items etc. - most MMOs turn into a level or equipment grind, I enjoyed the lack of any forced-for-progress grind, though PKing was the most common next step there was also the option of just exploring, lazing about and chatting, or hosting player events. The Game Coordinator team should have encouraged player events, but the prizes effectively meant people were only interested in staff events instead.
The potential for player content. While at the time I started (early 2000) it was pretty weak anyway, it was in late 2000 that it started to become clear that the game was being controlled by staff and a minority of players - Avalon and Destiny were the first sign, though the damage was only really done in 2001.
The playerbase - 400 players packed into a decent sized world was hugely fun. Going pay to play slashed the playerbase in half, but I think a lot of the damage was done by the world being so much larger that players didn't see so much of each other.
PKing was a mixed bag. Fun but ultimately pointless most of the time, I really enjoyed the times I actually had reason to PK - guild battles, or intentionally targetting random PKers as part of an anti-PK guild, that kind of thing. Sparring was pretty fun too, especially with different rules like agreeing to use certain NPCWs. While some no-pk areas are neccessary, I felt some places needed to stay PK - when the main bridge became a no-PK area, that really spoiled things.
That 'every man for himself' style was great. I've never liked people who think multiplayer games are about groups much Not that I didn't like guilds - at least initially, they were usually just good small groups of friends, and that's the way I liked them. During the unofficial guild time (early 2000), the guild scene was really active, with all kinds of alliances and wars going on between them. The return of official tags wasn't a huge problem in itself (though the website was a bit of a hassle to go through) but after paying accounts became needed to make guilds, they developed into huge, kinda soulless things - I liked VV initially, they did a lot to start some enjoyable big guild battles, but eventually things just went too far.
Running Graal Update was fun, most of the time. I was a bit disappointed that a lot of areas of the site didn't get much attention, but the fact that the site as a whole was so surprisingly popular meant a lot to me.
Playing offline. As well as the official level sets, the Jedi Knights and Bravo offline games were enjoyable and losing offline saved games really destroyed them. The loss of offline multiplayer was a shame too, though I didn't use it much.
Loads of other stuff too, but I think that's enough for now. [/quote]
So, why isn't this just an intro? Well, for one I am working with the classic levels in my free time. (I work at the university library so they let me do homework there) and my girlfriend isn't a big fan of me sitting at a computer for hours, but she usually works a bit later than me, so that gives me some time. I'm pretty good with the level editor but not npc script, although people have been really helpful on IRC, and I'm surprised to see more people here then there. Get on IRC and get playing!
Well, my idea for a server, I’ll just post what I said in IRC. I want to maintain Graal classic like the “Graal apocalypse” never happened, yet still, keep on growing, player created content. I also want to clean it up a bit, divide it into islands. Heres what I said:
Of course, thats in so many worlds.
I wondered why there were only 2 players on a server at a time, asked around in IRC. And no offense, you guys don't advertise!
So I was thinking, I work on this, keep it from getting to large at first, (I'll add in more custom levels and larger islands, elements from other classic PWs to later) and get some friends playing. My girlfriends younger brother is really into this sort of thing. I know I dont want it populated by 13 year olds but still, they're a start. And I can start advertising all over the place. I mean, the original graal (olllldddd versions) that were just sub par clones of Zelda got big enough! Maybe with your guys help.
Also, ShockedFrog and I sorta came up with the idea of a Graal tribute site, a site tributing the way it was back when we played. And of course, I’d use that as an opportunity not only to be nostalgic, but to get people interested in this, and directly link here. I know Unixmad’s legal threats are bs, I’m not 13 anymore. I know theres no way hes going to be able to sue (or send the police! WOOOO!) from France to “take me away” over a near decade old game. Law just doesn’t work like that, or maybe I’m just really not familiar with French law
Then, heres what will kill it or make it thrive. I don't know if any of you have an account on Something Awful. I searched archives for Graal online and there happened to be LOTS of goons who played, and were nostalgic. LOTS of goons (for those of you who arent SA members, a goon is just an SA member, in short) who were very interested in starting a goon server. They were just limited, they didnt have the level packs, the clients, or the 1.39 server that was floating around.
And for those of you who don't know, SA is a MASSIVE community. If we can build a small community here, explode the size, make it a COMMUNITY where people dont just try it out but become active in developing it, then there we have it, we've revived Graal the way it should be.
And I have to say, thank you for all your amazing work. And for not forgetting a (past) amazing game that had so much potential, we need to resurrect this and I really think if we all put a lot into it, we can. And keep the nostalgia that was classic (not like the p2p servers butchered classic) but a bit more well “organized” and able to attract new players. I’ve noticed the little advertising thats been done is either to the 10 year olds paying for crap Graal (do we really want them?) or people like me who had played so long ago.
All I want is this amazing Zelda clone back how it was, a free, open community. I’m hard to get a hold of sometimes, but any ideas or help, would be amazing. I will occasionally start up “beta” servers but my first goal is to divide main Graal into several islands. It sounds weird, but I have some good ideas. And maybe, not deleting some of the more useless stuff, but pushing it a bit to the side and replacing where it was with things a bit more impressive, monuments to what was, I dunno. Let me here your ideas, criticisms. If this is in the wrong place, sorry. I know its ambitious, but I’m 20 now, not 12. I think (hope) I have a greater understanding of what can and cant be done.
EDIT!!!: And I forgot to ask, I've gotten all the PW files from you guys to start with (WOW! What a collection) but which graal classic should I start with? Which one contains the most complete or latest levels/graphics?
[Levels] Graal Classic January 2000.rar
classic.rar
Graal Classic (2000).rar
Graal Classic - 12-9-06.rar
Lastclassicgraalpackreleased.zip
orrrr
Old Classic.rar"?