Graal as a game engine?

[konidias]

Why doesn't Graal start licensing out the engine as a general online game engine?

It's practically there already, they'd simply need to create a way for people to have their own account creation systems and some sort of simple way for their players to pay for the accounts.

I think I'd probably buy the engine myself if they ever chose to do it. Basically what I'd like to see is the Graal engine sold much like the Torque engine is sold now. Think of it, Torque was originally an engine for a FPS and later changed into a game development engine.

Graal already has a scripting language, level editor, animation editor, remote control for admins, server hosting, base graphics.. the list goes on and on. Sure, hosting your player server is neat and all... but people want the freedom to make their own game and go by their own rules and have their own community and make some profit. Why not give them that option?

There could be different packages available also... I'm not suggesting just sell the engine and call it a day... there could be a basic package which only gives you a license to use the engine but you have to have a cyberjouers splash screen or you can only make so much profit off of the game before you have to buy a more expensive package. (like an indie and pro version)

Of course it would also be nice to have the pro package (which would cost a lot more) and allow total freedom of the engine and not have to be tied down or affiliated to Graal or cyberjouers in any way.

Right now it is obvious that there are a lot of people interested in developing games on Graal... so I think it's an obvious choice to give these people more freedom at a higher price.

There are a ton of threads about how Graal is dying as a game... how the playercount is dropping, etc. But Graal could succeed as a game development engine.

There isn't a good 2D/semi-3D online game engine out there as of now. Sure there is Torque and a handful of others but none offer such a quick setup for getting players online in a game world.

The thing is that server renting is just not cutting it. People here who develop know that the server and all of the content they make doesn't really belong to them... they know they can't really profit from their server... what is driving people to actually want to make a Graal server?

Honestly I think selling the engine would be a huge boost in profits. You'd bring in a ton of people who are indie game developers who would love to get their hands on such a robust online game engine.

If anything, at least it's something to think about when Graal is on it's last leg. I don't think it would take much effort converting it into a game development platform... like I said, it's pretty much already there.