News/2009

2009

March

• March 29th - Bringing music to the city

Bring music to the city with the introduction of 21 new muscial instruments! The instruments can be purchased with event coins at the new music store.

To celebrate the release of the instruments a concert will be held on Sunday the 29th at 3PM Eastern Time. Take a break from mindless violence and joy-riding. Listen to a variety of different songs played by a selection of skilled musicians.

• March 28th - Maloria, A glimpse through the keyhole

Many may remember Maloria as the dominant classic RPG server before it was closed for redevelopment. Maloria has improved many of its systems and game content for the users to enjoy.

The overworld is being revamped to improve the detail and quality of the levels while keeping the same geographical layout of islands that were all used from the good old days. But that's not all; plans for new islands to be implemented into the expanding overworld is one of many big changes to expect. It's safe to say that you will not be disappointed with the final result.

The shopping interfaces have been improved to be user friendly with clear and simple GUI. The interface has five easy to use tabs to direct you to the inventory for that respected tab. Each weapon, piece of armour and potion displays an informative range of statistics to aid you in buying the perfect item for whatever you need.

The events system is automated to host regular events that are usually hosted by events staff, with a wide range of prizes to be won. It will provide players with a chance to practice for when the dedicated events staff host their frequent events.

The mining system has been improved for a richer experience. Materials can be obtained by using a pick axe to break open rocks and then using the pan in the water in the usual fashion. There is now an additional option to refine these materials using a furnace.

Dungeon bosses such as the giant turtle use deadly melee and magic attacks to deal great damage to foes. The addition of these new monsters will promote group hunting. The idea of bringing down large creatures with your party of fellow adventurers has got to be interesting.

Various different spells have been revisited and freshened up with exciting new graphics and ganis to make the spells look better than ever.

A new quest system has been implemented with a clear list of active quests and descriptions of the quest objectives.

Nation warfare has been developed with the addition of siege equipment to improve player vs player combat with destructible nation castles.

• March 21st - CastleWars on N-Pulse

N-Pulse is currently having a weekly Castle War event. The Castle Wars events are similiar to a guild war, and the goal is to determine the best guild.

The Castle War event will be held weekly on Wednesdays between 7-8 PM EST (12-1AM GMT, and 0:00-1:00 server time). The Castle War events will also be hosted randomly during the week, so guilds be prepared! Prizes are also awarded.

• March 14th - Zone News Window

Zone Staff added the news window to allow for players to keep track of what happens on Zone! The news window opens on login and the news window also opens when clicking on News in the upper right corner of the stat display. Currently the news window logs event messages, race results, deathmatch winners, kills, purchases and medals. You can either watch the important or all messages, it will display the 25 most recent news. Ideas to extend this feature are welcome!

• March 14th - Kart Race Tournament

After 2 hours and 30 minutes, we finally had the winners from the Graal Kingdoms Kart Race Tournament!

Winners:

1) Jcs1919 won the Elven Boots and 5 event coins

2) Alex51 won 3 event coins

3) CriticalError won 1 event coin

Jcs1919 also did the best run with 48.46 seconds!

• March 10th - N-Pulse Rebirth

N-Pulse is continuing in it's development of N-Pulse Rebirth.

What is Rebirth? To be exact, N-Pulse Rebirth is going to be an RPG-themed server, and we actually mean that. You will have to complete tasks in order to advance through the world, instead of just s-key mashing (in other words, hitting your attack-button constantly). It may require thinking, or it may require fighting. You also don't pick a class, but rather you can choose in which areas you'd like to level up in. We have our own staff-team specific for the Rebirth development, called "Operations".

We, the Operations Team, are in need of the following:

• Concept Design - you need to be able to write stories and the concept to the game.
• Graphics Design - you will need to be able to create items, icons, weapons, etc.
• Levels Design - you must be able to work with our custom tiles and know how to work with GMaps, inside and outside levels, and a bit of level-scripting.
• Programming Design - you must be able to create systems, fix bugs in previous scripts, and works with an MUD.
• Special Effects - you must either be able to make Ganis of swords/items/monsters interacting and/or make sounds of things you'd see in an RPG (swords clashing, swinging, etc.)

If you'd like to help with the Rebirth project and join the Operations team, feel free to log on N-Pulse and speak with a Chief of Operations or one of the Operation's Branch Captains.

For more info, please see the official GraalOnline hiring thread.

February

• February 28th - Unholy Nation: CS

Unholy Nation is in the middle of a long-term developmental projects. We're going to be releasing some small term activities for the players to interact with while it's being worked on. Come on and check them out:

• We'll be hosting a level competition that will go hand-in-hand with the "re-stock" of the hat shop. Come around to get details.

• "CS" - CS is an old gun game customized to UN is brought back with new levels, arenas and style of game play. Check it out north of Town Center in the Auction house's old building

• Swear filter is now toggle-able. It was a controversial subject, and if you don't mind seeing the swears you can toggle it on or off accordingly.

• Seaport is the long term dev project that was never finished. We plan on finishing it soon for release, it will incorporate a new quest for you all to play though. We're going to take a different approach, however.

• February 16th - Maloria Valentine Special

We on Maloria will be releasing yet another very limited, and permanent, item in the shape of the Cupid's Bow! Along with it, you'll also receive 500x Cupid's Arrow. How to get it!? Just log on player! This offer is limited to February 22th.

During the next couple of days, the events system should be up and running, which means we'll try it out and possible give out some other misc. novelty items that will never be given out again.

We are also getting closer and closer to applying for a Classic inspection, however, the remaining work isn't some of the funniest things to work at. We're at a complete halt until we're able to find two/three dedicated and talented LAT's, that would be interested in tiling the sewer dungeon with our custom tiles.

So, if you're interested, please get in contact with Nate (bioboi) or Ziro (xXziroXx).

• February 14th - Ardeo is Hiring!

Ardeo is in need of a few staff members to get us towards the next step in development! Do you want to be part of a close-knit team of inspired workers, and do you have an ambition to complete a server?

Ardeo will eventually have a multitude of things to do, including: -Jobs -Sailing & Piracy -Trading with a real economy -Wars & conquerors. -Two different fighting systems -Dungeons And a lot of diverse areas and races to choose from.

So contact Pimmeh over the forums, or email him at dapimmeh@gmail.com http://forums.graal2001.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84177

January

• January 29th - Classic Update

Over the last few months work has been made towards subtle updates to improve playability of the server in the long run.

The first main example of this is the new Hit Detection, which is Clientside, as opposed to the Serverside Hit Detection which had been used since after Classic got an NPCserver. The difference is that the previous HD caused players from the opposite side of the Atlantic to where the Server is hosted or from other locations around the world to be at a disadvantage, supposedly being able to be hit from a long distance away, whereas the new HD ensures attackers must be close to you on your own screen in order for you to be hit, to put it simply. There is also the option of being able to spar/pk within special rooms that use the default Graal movement + HD.

The second main example would be the new Map System. This is aimed to help players that are new to Graal or the server to find their way around more easily. If you've ever attempted to quest on the server but have been confused as to where to go next, icons will be marked at locations depending on your quest progress. Locations containing obtainable items of interest are also marked on the Map regardless of progress. Any future releases can be added to this easily.

Our plan has always been to salvage the best content from Graal the Adventure and to build new content around it with the original Graal feel while keeping newbie-friendly, although we realise it is just as important for there to be recyclable content that can be played constantly around the clock. In order to accomplish both of these goals we feel the Dev Team requires a shake-up and so we'd like to invite anyone interested in working for the server to apply with our new application, which can be found at - http://classicgraal.net/applications/development/

Good luck to all of those that apply.

• January 22nd - AEON Comming to an end!

So the long expected wait of AEON's re-release of the modern world is almost here but we are in desperate need of staff to finish. Also Elan is almost complete aswell and once Opan is finished we will then re-apply for the classic tab.

So listed below are the developer positions that are open and needed. Everything is open except for NAT at the moment:

• LATs (Both Classic and Modern LATs[[1]]
• GATs[[2]]
• Gani Team[[3]]
• SFXs, Talk to HL or SwedishKing.

If you have any questions please PM SwedishKing or Hatred/HL on AEON. You can also find us on GraalForums, or on our forum: [4]

• January 10th - Classic's Monthly Spar Tournament

A new year brings a fresh start--the first monthly spar tournament of 2009! Laura (xnervNATx) takes home the champion belt this time around, beating Shiden Kotetzu in the last round. Let's hope his New Year's resolution wasn't to win.

Don't forget to stop by on February 14th for what is bound to be our most romantic monthly spar tournament yet!

• January 10th - Azure Skies underway!

Azure Skies! (Formerly called Silence)

Sailing the skies, pillaging enemies, advancing through the ranks in your crew/flag and taking control over whole islands! Cool, eh?

• We're under way with absolutely everything that needs doing, including bar levels and SFX.
  • Think you can level/sfx? Then hop on to Azure Skies and see if it's the place for you!

• We're also in need of some extra GATs to push along creation of certain aspects, such as swords and boats (both large and small).
  • If you feel up to the challenge, by all means come give us a look.

• Even if you don't have any development skills, come along and see the server thrive. We're adding new things for players to do while you wait for the grand opening, so why not hop on board (Geddit?) and check us out for yourself!

-Jamie (Co Manager)

• January 6th - New Year for Unholy Nation

• Unholy Nation is currently under going a lot of changes. Our new manager Streety is offering a more interactive experience for Graalians. A lot of our staff members have been hard at work, creating some hot new features to make your gameplay more fashionable.

• Ronnie, our Guild Admin, has put together a spectacular local guild engine to make your guild gameplay experience convenient and fun. By joining local guilds, you'll get the benefit of using a chat-system to communicate leisurely with your guild mates. It's got a pretty user-friendly interface and is definitely worth a passing glance.

• Unholy Nation now offers server-wide PKing. Anything goes when the PKing on the overworld.

• Unholy Radio is under a new radio server, with a new Head DJ (Thanks Wreckage!). Time slots and hirings for DJs are still underway, if you're interested. Head over to the server, and keep your eyes peeled.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM our friendly staff. They'd be more than delighted to help you. U.N.