What I have been up to, and don't get excited

[DeCeaseD]

Originally Posted by Rufus

Just wondering, is "Classic" now using the content that you've posted?

Well, that would mean that a server is actually doing something right for once.. God forbid that ever happen.

[Aknts]

Originally Posted by DustyPorViva

I may! However, most of my ideas were in my head, or written in a way just to trigger my memory, and lack a lot of specifics. I will see what I can do, though.

That is actually some good stuff. Such simple ideas that really do change the way the game is played. I really liked the new bombs. Plus the jumping off a cliff really far should kill/hurt you at certain heights.

People like you is what I wanted when I was making Krynn a long time ago. Someone who had good ideas and could implement them.

(Krynn for anyone who doesn't know was one of the first ever under-construction servers Graal put up. That was before you paid for a server. There are screen shots of it on these forums.)

[Dnegel]

Originally Posted by Aknts

(Krynn for anyone who doesn't know was one of the first ever under-construction servers Graal put up. That was before you paid for a server. There are screen shots of it on these forums.)

Gonna check them out now!

[DustyPorViva]

Items and Progression:

I intended to make items much more significant in the progression of your questing. This is not necessarily to say that the game would follow a strict Zelda type of gameplay route, as I don't find that suitable for an online atmosphere. It would be, however, similar but very much more open-ended. I was very much against the strict exploration rules set upon Graal The Adventure and the more recent Classic, where you're forced into a storyline before you can truly enjoy the world. I had hoped to make most of the world and dungeons immediately accessible, but also leave later dungeons only able to be found via some newer inventory. So you could probably explore and beat five dungeons without ever needed to use special inventory, but afterwards quests would start being locked behind specific areas that would make use of said inventory.

The items I had planned out for the above are as followed:

BOW AND BOMBS -- You would not immediately gain these as you typically do. Instead, they can be obtained together in the same dungeon that you most likely will first explore - the Castle Aqueducts. This was the sewer system under the castle, and you were intended to be thrown into it as a test by the King. In here, you could take two routes to complete the dungeon. One path would give you the Bow, the other the Bombs. However, after you obtain one of the weapons, you can use them to gain access to the other path, thus eventually obtaining them both in the same dungeon. Bombs were going to be used pretty much for more minor secrets instead of progression... blowing out cave entrances and such. However, I also planned to use them to blow specific chunks out of cliffs which would expose jagged cliffs underneath that would allow you to climb the cliff instead.

WATER-WALKING BOOTS -- These would be turned into literal water-walking boots. If you've played Majora's Mask you should be able to understand exactly what these will do. They would allow you to walk on water for a few seconds, or a specified distance, whichever I figured were more suited. This means they wouldn't be quite as 'powerful' in exploration as swimming, but would grant you access to a few areas before you were able to swim.

ZORBI FLIPPERS -- Allow you to swim, what more be said? However, I will state I planned to turn the aforementioned Castle Aqueducts into a sort of dungeon you could explore later on. Chances are when you first explored the dungeon you wouldn't have the flippers, but since it's a sewer of sorts it was planned to be full of alternative paths that you could swim through later on. I hoped to do this sort of thing for a lot of dungeons and areas.

ZORBI RING -- I didn't plan this one too much because it was intended for much later release, after the overworld started getting full. It would function like the old Graal the Adventure version. If you're not familiar, it would let you dive under water and explore the 'depths' of the seas. Basically an alternative overworld of sorts, but very limited. If I didn't do that, I'd give it the function to just let you dive and trigger things via where you dove -- finding items, going underwater to only specific areas...

HOOKSHOT -- I intended to get rid of the bird-shot. I personally thought it was a pretty bad idea... I was going to just replace it with a hookshot, however I was constantly trying to think of more innovative varieties instead of just a hookshot. The function of progression would remain the same, most likely... a way to pass over cliffs. However, I will say I was going to probably base the quest of getting this outside of a dungeon. Most likely involved obtaining a bird doll, chain, and Bruges bird(I think those were the items) and instead being exchanged a hookshot, as homage to the original quest.

HAMMER -- You would hammer stakes! I've only just recently thought of another method of using the hammer, though... a see-saw of sorts. Stand on one side and hammer the other to propel yourself upwards. Since I've only recently thought of this, chances are it would have seen itself implemented in the dungeons.

SLINGSHOT? -- This was just sitting on the back of my head. I was never sure if I was going to put it on the server. It would basically shoot a rock that would bounce a few times before disappearing. Unlike the bow, this could be shot in 8 directions, thus I could make puzzles revolve around bouncing the rocks around corners and such to hit switches. If you've played the Zelda Oracle games on the GBC, you should find that familiar

FIREROD -- This was also going to see a comeback. The details are now a blur, however... I'm not quite sure how I intended to implement this into the game. Chances are it would be traditional, however I was inspired by some ideas in Zelda: Spirit Tracks that involved melting snow. I also pondered the idea of ditching the firerod and instead adding elemental arrows.

CLIFF CLIMBING -- As you can probably see from the video, you were going to be able to climb specific cliff faces. I never came to a conclusion on how this was going to happen, though. It was either going to be a specific item that allowed you to do it, or an additional 'power' of a level 3 glove, since the gloves have always been pretty useless. I will say I had a lot of fun with this, and it opened up a lot of ideas. An event that involved players scaling a huge mountain, with rocks falling and the ability to drop bombs on each other sounds like a lot of fun!

[DustyPorViva]

Questing and the Party System:

I had a very hard time coming to the conclusion on how I was going to handle online questing. Given that Graal is an online game, it would seem wrong to make dungeons clientside, as you'd be very secluded from the world. But serverside dungeons are so complicated that it's insane. Also, you'd be inadvertently getting help from others whether you wanted to or not. Anyone who played way back when Classic had bosses and you had to either wait for others to beat them, or go in only to have it already beaten for you know what I mean. I didn't like either, and I couldn't think of a way to implement both.

So I thought of a completely separate way!

Normally, if you'd enter a dungeon you'd be separated from other players. It would be all clientside, thus it would give you the chance to enjoy the experience like a real Zelda dungeon.

HOWEVER. I also planned a party system. This would allow you to party with up to 3 other players. When in a party, dungeons were created by instance for your party. However, instead of just creating a copy of the clientside dungeon I planned to remake the dungeons from the ground up to be specifically tailored to online gameplay. Baddies would be different, puzzles would be different, the whole dungeon would be different. Since it was serverside, specifically designed baddies would be used instead that had simpler AI and movement. This way the whole party is experiencing smooth and simple movement instead of complicated movement that will most likely suffer from lag. Baddies would also be generated with health and numbers depending on the party size. Like I also said, the whole dungeon would be designed to work best with a party instead of being specifically designed for a single player experience. For example, even though the video doesn't show it, you could pick up other players in your party and throw them around. Things like this would be worked into the dungeon. Same could probably be said for the bosses. They may be the same boss, but chances are they would be changes to various degrees to make the party work as a team.

So when all is said and done, you could play through a dungeon by yourself and then party up with others and get two completely different dungeons! I also intended to give incentive to players to party and redo quests. How I'm not sure... I definitely planned on having time trials, with the quickest parties getting recognition for their feats(probably in a tablet in front of the dungeon or such). However, I was also thinking of giving rewards for each time you beat the quest again... I don't remember what they were. Possibly large gralat rewards or something. Like I said, I forget.

On a somewhat similar note, I intended to keep track of all sorts of fun data. If you've ever played Timesplitters, I was very inspired by it. How many bushes have you slashed? How many gralats have you earned? How many times have you readied your shield? Opened your map? Picked up a vase? As well as the typical... boring data, like player kills, hours and such. I was going to record all this data, because I believe players LIKE looking at random, nonsensical stuff like that. I certainly found it humorous when I booted up Timesplitters to see I killed 537 monkeys and smashed 57 watermelons. Then all the data would be compiled into a massive top-10 list, just like the good ol' days!

[DustyPorViva]

A more minor planning, Options:

I thought from the very beginning to have a planned and organized option system. Pausing would also have an "Options" selection, that would navigate you to an options screen. Here you could change various options. As I can up with ideas, and the ability to toggle said ideas and options I would write them down. Then eventually I was going to put them all into a universal option window, instead of having things scattered between NPC's and commands. Also, because many of my scripts were somewhat graphically intensive, I had planned to have a graphics setting. Instead of "disabled effects" or "enabled effects" I was going to have a more standard, low, medium or high graphical quality. This would disable and enable certain effects I would think would slow down a computer without sacrificing the in-game effects.

Q-menu was going to get a total reworking to be more like Zelda. This was not to copy Zelda, but to simplify inventory navigation. Even though the video shows a q-menu very similar to the default q-menu, it was actually scripted to handle various sections. I intended to put different items that didn't actually need to be used by the player into sections the player didn't have to navigate to. I also planned to have an inventory to hold temporary items as well as quest items that the player would eventually use. All of this meant the player only had to navigate through items they would actually need instead of a bunch of system and/or temporary items that had no actual use.

[DustyPorViva]

Map, Exploration and Warping:

I intended exploration to be a huge part of the server. I wanted to give players a reason to stray from their journey of Point A to Point B, and even give them a reason to go back to previously explored areas.

The map would initially be covered in many clouds, except for perhaps the starting area and Graal City. These clouds wouldn't disappear just from entering the area, however. In order to disperse the clouds covering the area on the map you would have to find the map of the area. They could be found as simply as by buying them from a shop in the area to completing a long side-quest, depending on the importance of a map for that area.

For example, in the desert area on the map in the original post you can see 5 areas of water. They are very crucial for getting through the area. When you enter the area you would be overcome by blinding desert sands and a crippled view. You'd only be able to see about 10 tiles around you. More importantly, you'd have to make your way from one oasis to the next before becoming dehydrated(depicted by a bar at the bottom of the screen that would constantly fill). I timed the average trip to go from one to the next, and make that a base. So even surviving the desert would become a quest of sorts to get to the pyramid. You could either choose to simply conquer it, or if you were having that much trouble go through a sidequest to find the map of the desert. This would show you all the oasis hotspots, making it much more easier to navigate the desert.


Warping was going to be handled by the traditional warp ring, but vastly different. Over your journey you would gather certain red jewels. Scattered over the overworld would be statues. Placing said jewels in the statue would allow you to warp to that statue. However I was planning to have less jewels than there were statues, forcing you to micromanage your warp spots. Now I'm not saying there would be only five jewels and fifty statues, but there would most likely not be one jewel for every statue(you could remove them from statues to move them elsewhere). You'd obtain these jewels in various ways, from finding them in caves to getting them as rewards for sidequests. One idea I had early one involved the player noticing the local fortune teller had one on his turban. If you were observant, you'd be able to hopefully negociate it away from him.

Warping would be integrated into the map instead of some external method. When you went to warp, it'd open up your map and also show your warp spots as well. You'd simply warp by highlighting the warp spot and selecting it! I was going to have the map have various functions like this, including showing area names and such.

[Demisis_P2P]

See now you're just rubbing it in

[DeCeaseD]

Originally Posted by Demisis_P2P

See now you're just rubbing it in

What he said.. Wish you would finish this Dust.

[Dnegel]

Do it Dusty, I know you can make it!

I would play the server, I love the ideas.

[Sp_lit]

Wow, this could have been the server I've been longing for..I just wish it would get the attention it deserves..

Anyway, finished or not, you did an awesome job

[maximus_asinus]

Dusty, you're a very gifted developer, it is sad to know Graal will never be granted the privilege of seeing your work completed.

[Fulg0reSama]

Originally Posted by maximus_asinus

Dusty, you're a very gifted developer, it is sad to know Graal will never be granted the privilege of seeing your work completed.

I agree 100% with this dude here.

[Crono]

Originally Posted by Crono

i think i got excitit too fast :<

yeah you did

[DustyPorViva]

Storyline:

I'll admit the storyline was the least of my worries. For one, it just isn't my strong-suit, and second, in a multiplayer atmosphere I think it takes a back-seat to the rest of the world. Regardless, I did come up with a few ideas, but I never wasted much effort on it. What I had come up so far was to throw the player into a world that doesn't revolve around them. I had not yet came up with an idea to justify every player emerging from the same place, but regardless I think I came up with a solid idea to build off why the player MAY be questing.

The current world wouldn't exactly be on the brink of a war, but people felt it. People feared some powerful enemies were planning something... who that was I'm not sure yet. Classic doesn't exactly have a great villain roster. Regardless, because of this, and the shortage of soldiers, the King starts looking for worthy 'substitutes'. You get a letter stating that if you so choose, you can meet the King at the castle and complete his test to prove your worth as a soldier for the Kingdom. Doing so, you can choose when you feel like it, to go to the castle and meet the King. He will tell you if you can survive and conquer his trial, you will be honored as a soldier. This is when you get tossed into the Castle Aqueducts. This dungeon was intended to be the 'first' dungeon, although it may not be the first you encountered if you wandered away from the 'story'. Because it is a test, the dungeon would be designed around introducing the player to dungeon gameplay. Introducing simple puzzles, simple baddies and tactics, and of course their first boss and weapons. Also, I would probably have it if the player ever died here they would be revived by a soldier of the castle... after all, it's the first dungeon AND a test on the King's behalf.

After completing his test you would prove your worth and receive proof you were an honorary soldier. The item you get I'm not entirely sure... probably a letter with the King's seal or something. However, it would grant you access to more dangerous areas the King has guarded around the overworld.

I will say I intended to implement heavy backstory, instead of an actual story. I was going to plan out a lot of details and stories about the past/history of the world and tell it through books/quests/sidequests and other secrets.


Breathing life into the world:

Though not much of a plan, I was going to focus heavily on giving the world life. Giving NPCs purpose, and reason. This doesn't necessarily mean that every NPC would be some complex assortment of AI... but just give them enough reason to be who they are, and make the area seem alive. For example, the bar in Graal City was going to be my first test of this. I intended to fill it with a few NPC's going about their daily life. The bartender would sit there, rapping his fingers on the bar, looking a bit depressed(more on this next). NPC's would call out to him for a beer and suddenly one would get thrown across the level from the bartender. However, get in the middle of this beer being tossed and suddenly you've got the drunk and the bartender questioning your intentions.


Trade Quests:

I loved these in Zelda. Basically they were quests that started you out with a single item, and you had to look for the person/situation that called for it. Trade that item for another and suddenly you're drawn up in a long quest involving pleasing people or situations. Not only do these give the player a reason to explore and know their settings, but it supplies development with an easy way to make subtle changes to the world that the player will most surely recognize because they caused it. For example, I stated above about the bartender. He's rapping his finger on the bar because he lacks his rag to clean it with, you only figure this out after he asks you about it. Find his rag and give it to him and he'd give you something else that you'd later find out someone else is in need of. However, after this you'll notice the bartender will scrub the bar often now, moving around and cleaning it. Subtle changes like this will add up to make the player feel much more immersed in the world, I think.

I'll post the whole trade quest I had planned out in the next post. I had one pretty much fully planned out, but was going to implement quite a few.