Missing/ delayed content
 

As most of you know there are tons of things in Classic that seem like something cool will come from it but are never touched because hats hats hats. For example



The Circus tent in mod
The Zorbi cave in Mod that when you enter u get kicked
That one cave where everyone was trying to say a secret password to the fountain


I know there's tons more spots closed off I just can't remember the locations or names. This really irks me:( because it seems like someone planned for some cool actual content for this game but it keeps getting pushed aside for more hats :/.

I've said this time and time again people pay for the game and they can't even give us decent content apart from hats.. I mean like what the hell..

GFX admins work on hats. Developers work on content. Making hats does not delay content in any way.

So you're saying the rather large graphics team only focuses on hats, and contributes nothing towards updates? It's a shame.

GFX Staff are Developers by the way.

I want to see the golden door open http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2...emmysmile2.png

I have a feeling after reading threads an talking Narcosis and guildies, maybe Dead wood will get a revamp this halloween I xant imagine tons of people hanging out in that smallll area

rofl

lol, not happening.

The develop graphics for the game. Hence, developers.

Although in the context Graal users normally use, developer refers to a coder/scripter.

And yes, Graphic staff could work on other things besides hats. But there is little room for them to create stuff in the whole scheme of things BESIDES hats. It is hard for a group of graphic staff, especially an individual, to throw together a special update. Anything that isn't hardwired into the system such as the hat system or the mount or morph system is a hard project for hobbyist pixel artists to throw together.

I don't, it does not even fit with the game.

i used to be guilty of that :''(


i like this guys opinion on what "game developer" means

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/1...loper_Mean.php

I used the term "developer" for lack of a better word. I was merely stating that the work the GFX team produces doesn't delay the other work being produced for the server

The graphics team mainly focus on creating things for the bigger updates like Halloween and Christmas (which btw take more time to prep then you probably think). Content that 'contributes' to the server we can only make so much of, we do what we can when asked but iClassic's developers can only do so much considering how little of them there are.

"Quest Genies"

"Content Wizards"

"Code Masters"

I'm sure other people can think of more, but I got my giggle from this anyway.

It's been in the game for a long long time before the Iphone version, so I say yes it does. Get the 4 grails and open the gate. Gives a little meaning to the name.

Only one developer - Dusty. Doubt he will even consider doing the Golden Gate quest anytime soon.



http://i.imgur.com/aLnytkn.jpg

That's sad. I've been noticing a lot of the places that used to be quests in previous versions of Classic have been reduced to hang out areas, hat shops or the guild flag game.
Kind of disappointing, not blaming anyone, but I was expecting more complex quests and boss battle stuff.

It's not easy for a small team of developers to get that stuff going, I wish you guys luck.

Only just noticing?! Check date of thread and the stuff, production on graal will NEVER be fast or even averagely paced production any hope of anything being opened/new big released is unlikely and you will only get the same old 'we're working really hard on big updates!' yet release the same stuff yr after yr(usually 1shop and a party at rev/crypt etc[odd quest sometime]) and then after that when hope of update after a season you get the old 'hey, we done this at halloween though! we done candy!' as if we we're all in a coma for a yr

http://www.graalians.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12277

I liked what Thor did when he tried to rerelease PC Classic, it just wasn't enough material to sustain the server after you were done with stuff. Go hire him.

I like the concept of a modernized Classic, but we obviously need more real quests.

Heres some more stuff for your list.

http://www.graalians.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12277

Are you guys telling me none of the Graphics staff worked on looting?

It's simple. Graphic Artists make the game look good. They are needed to make all things visual, they are developers. Coders/Scripters make things work and run, they run the technicality side of things. They are both developers, along with Level Artists. Staff like Graal Police aren't developers, they monitor and keep the game clean.

if you want to get technical with the word, yes. But in reality they aren't, a developer is someone who can develop content. meaning, not someone who may be okay at placing a few pixels on a hat template.

from what I've seen in recent "hat updates", i really would not be happy if they had some of the current graphics staff help make graphics for actual content, that sort of thing should be left to more talented people.

I heavily agree with G Fatals post. Zone and Era have huge updates every week, for example. Fishing came out on Zone a few months back and straight after that their version of Nexus opened. Same with Era, they release heaps of new content in their event shop and then a few days after they go and release a video game arcade. With Classic though it's like 'Oh yeah, here's some hats, oh yeah, here's some more, and here's an update with 2 new hats'. Like seriously, if Classic wants to grow it needs to release some good content, not just hats. Why can't classic have something like the arcade except less 'modern'. The last major update we had was the railroad update, which was this time last year. Classic has gone a year with just releasing hats and the player base has stayed pretty much the same, if not slowly dropping...In comparison to other servers like Era and Zone, their player base has sky rocketed since the start of this year...just out of curiosity, why did Classic not get a Summer shop/major content update when all the other servers did? I mean come on, Zone and Era always have free content like hats or special events, like Homeless Witches birthday. Lots of things where cheap, if not free in the mini shop they opened up, it also had a few cool platforming levels in which you needed to complete to get to the shop, sorta like a mini questline. Why can't Classic have this sort of stuff?

I mean, we could at least release a new town, we have not had a new place open in years, instead, we have had things taken away, which were actually good. Instead of just making hats for a small updates, why not make some hats in advance so you guys can work on something big? Sorry if i'm going on a bit of a rant here but you guys say you like making players happy, but if most of the community on Classic are upset because you took away all the good parts to the game, you really can't achieve this.

I want to have pets instead of shield

Draw... a pet shield?

Speaking of GFX, what happened to that crazy new mountain tiles? Who made the switch over to the old school tiles with the striped trees and pink sidewalks?

Talking about tilesets makes me miss making my own custom tilesets that I'd replace in the tiles folder. You guys should let people use their own tilesets clientside, that would be fun.

no clue what youre talking about

and a number of people do jailbreak their ipods to replace the tileset; but impossible on flash because no cache

These kinds of threads come around on a pretty frequent basis (hell, I've started a couple of them myself). Personally, I hope to see them continue to come around because I (mostly) agree with much of what has been said.

As I've said before, I attribute most of the problems to lack of developers, and the current "invite-only" system for new developers. It's just absolutely impossible for the current development team (I don't know if there's enough of them to even be called a team) to meet the demands of the ever-growing Graal Classic player-base.

I've said it time and time again. The major updates we have been getting are of very high quality (and the minor updates and bug fixes are fantastic) and I wouldn't want any of that to change, but the updates aren't coming out anywhere near as fast as they should be, given the current amount of players. It just seems strange to me that updates are actually moving out slower than they were 3-4 years ago when there were under 1k players on during peak hours.

I remember exactly when things started slowing down, too. It was shortly after Era was released. I can't help but wonder where Classic would be today if Era and Zone were never released. I think we'd be much further ahead.

The only updates I remember back then were small things like a new hat added, and removing chat commands to purchase things. The updates now are far better.

Well this new school update should be enough to satisfy most players for a couple weeks

I bet next year update will add a hospital -3-

Sounds goof

:rolleyes: if that satisfys people ..then you will NEVER have decent updates for years. long live repeative updates with 1/2 seasonal quest/stuff if your lucky.

I wish it was, Brick, I really do.

But it almost feels like the bar was lowered somewhere down the line, and now any update that involves an updated building with a few new hats and/or furniture is supposed to hold our attention for a few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I love the school update, but it does not make up for the overall lack of new content, when taking into account the player count, and the speed at which era and zone are progressing.

Revolution and Nexus used to open a lot more, release of Snowtown, horses, Deadwood (originally much larger) new buildings (flea market in swamptown, art gallery in Belle Isle, that mansion place next to angel clan), new and expanded pet-only areas (swamp pet-only area in flea market, dragon-only area in Mad Hatter's in snowtown), Easter egg hunts which eventually led to the token shop (which eventually became year-round, not just for Easter), release of VIP (which originally was much different, as it granted access to the FB server, an entire 2nd map with a different tileset, as well as some other minor differences), rps, rps hats, draisines and railroads, shovel, custom bombs, and constant new furniture.

And all of that was in the span of a year to maybe a year and a half. I remember constantly seeing the "news has been updated" message. Also, most of this is from mid 2010 to late 2011, when there were far fewer players. I'm not saying there hasn't been some great updates in the past year or so, because there has been, but it's not the same (in terms of quantity, which may not be as important as quality, but is still a factor, especially when you have 3000+ players putting their time & money into the game). Unfortunately I'm starting to see some of my friends leaving the game (or playing less) because they're flat-out bored. Graal Classic should be way further along by now, simply put.

???

My point was that all of those updates were occurring on a more frequent basis (at least compared to today). Also, I sort of misspoke. This school update offers more than the usual. A lot of the time it's just a hat update that's expected to "tide us over" for a few weeks.

Also, many of the things you quoted are pretty large and significant updates.

I'm not saying everything was perfect back then (people always seem to remember things within a fog of nostalgic bliss). But content was being released at a faster rate. Anything else I say, I'd just be repeating myself.

I recall this too, thing was.. content was not as refined, nor as purposeful back then, they seemed to have alot more stuff(just more novice), at least now, the content coming out is to a somewhat degree more engaging.

What should happen is the server should open up its doors to recruiting a few new developers, ideally those who can create levels and code to get some heavy lifting underway and/or serve as an 'apprentice' to one of the more senior devs to bring up their development skills to a suitable level.

tldr;Classic seems a bit short staffed in coding/levels, hire more, maybe using a competiton as a means of a trial *shrugs*

I don't think he'd accept...

Yes, this is basically what I've been saying time and time again. It's so clear that there's a shortage of developers, and hiring more (however they choose to go about doing it) would help so much in the long run. To repeat myself for the 5th time, the problem isn't the quality of the updates, it's the rate at which they're being pushed out. The currents devs are doing their best but they can't keep up with the demand.

You're losing players, simply put. A lot of people are getting bored; playing less. I've been seeing it first-hand. Ok, maybe they come back for Graaloween. Then it slows down again and people start playing less. Holidays can't be the only thing that gives people incentive to play. There's so much potential. And in all honesty, I'd rather see more updates that take risks, rather than less updates that "play it safe".

http://www.graalians.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12277

???

Not seeing your point in relation to my post.

It literally takes maybe 2 hours to make a good hat. The fact is you a need a person with good imagination to think of something that people would buy.. The hats that they have been producing are garbage. Really the only people that are buying these hats are people that buy every single hat that comes out. And there are a lot of these people