Something a bit different.
 

Just seeing if there are people interested in playing/developing
the following idea:

Okay, throughout the history of Graal, there have really
only been two types of servers: Adventure/"Classic" Style, and RP.
Alright, there have been mixes of the two, and some have done
things in a creative, new way, but, essentially, there are really only
those two types of servers.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but there has never been a sidescrolling-
Adventure/Shooter style server. Until now...maybe.
I'm not talking about a little minigame, or guns + a gravity script,
but a full-blown server with gameplay inspired and based on games
like Contra and Metal Slug.

Now, my idea is just that, to create a sidescroller Adventure/Shooter
playerworld. Imagine it, gunning your way through dozens and dozens
of tense, challenging missions with up to five other people at a time (on your team). (Other maps/missions may support more/less players.)
And not short, three-level piece of crap missions, either. These missions
would be long and definately not a cakewalk. (Of course there could
be an Easy, Medium, and Hard version for each mission which would
alter factors like: # of enemies, # of check points, ammount of ammo
given to you at the beginning of the mission, rarity of ammo, life, and power-ups in the level, etc.)

Since Graal is such a community driven game, grouping with others
would play a key role in alot of the missions.
Say, for a mission, you create a squad of 6 players.
Now, throwing 6 players onto one path would be chaos, so
different objectives would be set for each group (3 groups of 2 within
the squad, or so.)

-One group would start on the ground with the objective of
destroying the Anti-Air turrets so that your other four buddies can
enter the base from the air.
-At the same time, the other groups are split into pilots and gunners
of the air ships. One group pilots two seperate ships while the other
group are gunners on the seperate ships.
This group fights their way through the enemy's aerial forces,
hoping that the land-based group destroys the turrets before they
enter the airspace near the base.
-With the turrets destroyed, the gunners would parachute into the base
and create an entrance for the other group on the ground.
-During this time, the remaining two (the ones piloting the ships) lead
bombing runs on the facility as to make things easier for the forces on
the ground.

...And that would just be the first part of the mission.

Features like Hi-Score and Time Trial could be implemented
so squads/guilds can compete to get the most points,
or the quickest time on a level.

In addition, other modes could be added.
Using the above mission as an example:
One squad could play as the "good guys" and attempt to do
all of the objectives described above, while the other squad
plays as the enemies (with the simple objective of stopping the
opposing squad for a set ammount of time.)

As you can see, this is nothing like Graal has ever seen before.
And, as a quick recap, here are the features I have thought up:
-Challenging, story-based solo and team missions.
-Adjustable difficulty levels.
-Squad vs Squad scenario missions.
-Squad vs Squad capture the flag missions.
-Deathmatch, each player for himself combat.
-Hi-Score and Time trial features.
-Customize your player with money earned from missions.
-Good ol' fashioned gameplay with weapon power-ups, ammo packs,
health packs, etc.
-Submit your own missions to be uploaded for use in the Deathmatch
and Squad vs Squad style missions.
-Guild ranking system. (So everyone know who's the best at what they do.)
-More to come as I think of it/remember it.

Now. This thread is to discuss interest in either playing a server like this,
or helping develop this from ideas into a real server.
If this is going to be done, it's not just going to be "Okay, buy a server and see where it goes from there."
No, definately not.
It's going to be well planned, well managed, and damn well made.
This is a chance to bring something new, and hopefully kickass, to Graal.

Note: No current theme has been decided. You could be battling
space pirate monkeys for all I care, as long as it's fun to play.

So. Discuss.

If you feel the need to contact me for any reason, you can either send
me a forum PM or reach me on aim at: LoserKidDylan.
Note: When IMing me, state that you are from Graal.

Edit:
Please don't post if you are just going to say something like "You won't find staff and it'll die."
I am aware of how hard it is to find good staff.

Well thought out i see. If you find the right kind of staff meaning "leet" developers it just might work :eek: ...Good luck though if you start to develop it. ;)

Actually Soul Blade's "Shifting Ages" has some side scrolling action :P

It seems like an extremely intense server. Good luck, I'd enjoy playing on it.

I sure hope so.
I want to put the gameplay back in game...or something.
You get my point.
So many games (console and PC alike) are just lacking
in fun gameplay. And Graal is no exception. Too many
of the servers now-a-days are just graphical chat rooms.

I know, but so far there really hasn't been any like this, or at least
to such a degree. And I don't know all the details of SA yet,
which looks to be quite awesome, I might add.

That's what I'm planning on. I just need a few, extremely dedicated
people. After the main work is done (graphics, systems, enemy AI, etc),
mission/map development will be a breeze.
But yes, finding the people to lay that groundwork will be hard.
I hope it can be done since I'd really like to play this server,
and I think other people would enjoy it too.

Well, ThinkDifferent.

Oh my. Sounds good.

Well.
As you can see the project name is Project iGraal.
Why iGraal?
Because Macs are sexy, not much else to it but that.

Feel free to use the avatar/sig, or make your own
if you want to show your support of this project.

Still need more people to post feedback!
Things you would like to see included,
things you don't want to see, etc.
This server is meant for the betterment (is that a word?)
of all Graal. So voice your opinions.

Things have turned out very well in these last few hours.
And I am proud to announce that this won't be just a set of ideas
for much longer. Development is underway.
As soon as we have some concept art, or so, to post, we'll
be sure to let you know.

When I suggested Alarid to make characters such as he has showed off in the graphics forum for a side-scroller I was bashed for thinking the Graal engine could handle it or whatever ¬_¬

If you can get someone to do graphics of characters such as Alarid has made for avatars, those would look great. You should be able to choose to be an army guy or a ninja..just because ninjas are awesome :D

We'll see about that.
And we have a few members of the team in place,
but no comments on that quite yet.

And I'll take into consideration the Ninja thing.

Saeyn, I wanted to make a side scroller but I lost interest after 1 minute of thinking about it.

You should also add some hand to hand material? I mean, not a lot of us will be like "OMFG GUNS" we want to do 1337 sword combos etc like in Final Fight.

:o I'll talk to you later, I'd help if you wanted me to.

Yes. We have taken that into mind.
I don't want to say too much, but you do not start
out with uber-guns of mass destruction.

But worry not, things are in development as the ideas were
set into place rather quickly.

You'll be seeing concept art soon, just be patient for now.

I want special combos and different outfits. Even special ones for friends please :]

There should be gun levels, sword levels, hand-to-hand levels, so everyone gets their type of fighting... obviously this suggestion is just a thought and doesn't need to be implemented if you don't want to. Also, how about a team deathmatch where for _ minutes you keep respawning with weapons of your choice, and whichever team has the most kills at the end of the round wins? This could be easily made into another type of FFA deathmatch, too.

yeah but silver, doesnt this require gfx artsts? like real ones? the idea is a good one, but i hope it looks good too.