You mean lure them in with lies? :P

Not necessarily lies, just stretched truths, yes, sort of like sirens. That's successful marketing. Everyone knows those sandwiches you see on TV for McDonalds aren't what they really look like when you go there and order one.

Edit: The whole point of marketing is to entice the player enough to download the client, then hopefully get hooked on the game. Enticing involves pretty graphics and neat aesthetics-- and easy navigation.

Potential users should have a realistic expectation created for them. The "fast buck" approach which has been in employment for the longest while seems to have bred a lot of hostility and dissatisfaction in current and former users.


We can see the result of that approach which I feel we're currently living in; steady decline.

Ya, but when I see those delicious burgers and go to Mcdonald's, I still at least get a burger...

But tasty nonetheless. Graal, on the other hand, is a laughable joke in the state it's in. Seriously, I showed two of my friends the login and Zodiac just to see their reactions and it was hilarious.

Exactly, start with the client itself because I can guarantee the site will go to waste if the game isn't fixed (I mean hell, the v2 interfaces and v3 interface looked better than the current garbage). Once you atleast have an attractive client that will leave a good impression, then launch a nice site to go hand-in-hand with it.

So basically we're just making a new game.

Well, currently I have someone working on a new theme for the login screen to make it more of a graal look and something more interesting. I will see if I can eventually remake the entire login screen to make it more interesting.

As far as interesting servers go, yes, that's true, but right now, our best bet to get more interest in the game is to create a more attractive website and try to move away from the current marketing plan in my opinion. The game should be free and then you should be able to purchase in-game items (as it was said earlier in the thread). If we can do that + create/fix the servers to have some nice content, we would be rolling in the right direction. One step at a time right now though, and the easiest & most practical step is to build a new website to boost developer morale and maybe even attract a new player or two.
I mean, everyone has been trying to make a nice server for years now; obviously that's not working out so well, there is no one server on Graal that's attracting massive amounts of players, so we'll take this approach right now.

No, I'm referring to the login screen and serverlist really.

I'm hopping that whatever interface and site are planned share a common theme.

Of course it does :D

more like new content for the current game

I really don't like the graalonline.com web site it reminds me of a scamming web sites or a web site that just trying to make money. The only graalonline.com web site i ever did prefer was the one with the wizard in the right hand corner. im pretty sure play count was up when that layout of the site was on here.

I skipped two pages. Realistically, I'm not sure we need a new website per se. Can we not use an old version and update it, a version where the design wasn't so bright?

It'd save a lot of work and get us to, arguably, a better place - considering I don't recall too many people in favour of the current design/website.

Perhaps you could get approval for such a project, get people who know how to edit websites (perhaps from the GDT pool) then proceed to update it before presenting it to the powers than be for approval.

You wouldn't need serious design skills as there are many acceptable parts that could be reused in an edited design making the project more about layout and updating the content than creating new things.

The biggest issue with the current website is that no one can be bothered to update it. It's a success in that it doesn't need maintaining but that lack of effort is perhaps also bouncing potential players/developers away.

Why are we asking people to create a website without showing what the new game interface would look like? :\

Because I already said the theme of the website should be green, and I am willing to have the new interface created/changed based on the way the website turns out.

So.. who is going to make it?