Graal Bible - User contributions [en]

Creation/New Player Development Guide

2007-07-05T08:40:54Z

HoudiniMan:

== Welcome to the New Player Development Guide! ==
This guide is meant to assist new players of Graal in finding a fun development project to help with.
Playing Graal is fun, but when you created part of the world it is much more rewarding.
The goal of this guide is to help new and existing players enter the world of developing their own content on Graal.
== The Basics ==
Graal is made up of three main development communities:

The script makers

The level makers

The graphic makers

A playerworld project generally consists of at least a few people from each category. Some highly skilled people will help on several projects.

== Scripting ==
Staff of this type are generally referred to as NATs (NPC Administration Team)
[[User:Skyld|Skyld]], part of the [[Global Scripting Team]] has written a decent introduction to scripting found at [[Creation/Dev/GScript/New_Engine_GScript_for_Dummies|GScript for Dummies]].

GScript is a function based language which has many pre-defined functions triggered by game events, such as a player touching an NPC or chatting a word/phrase. Users may also create their own functions, which allows extremely flexible creation using GScript.

If you excel in html, javascript, or logic in general, mastering Gscript will make you a highly sought after resource for many playerworld projects.

== Leveling ==
Staff of this type are generally referred to as LATs (Level Administration Team)

Levelling is the process of placing [[Creation/Dev/Tile|tiles]] in a 64x64 grid which is saved as a .graal or .nw file using the [[Creation/Dev/Level_editor|Level Editor]].

Some tiles allow a player to pass over them, while others do not. This is how we create the game-world and anything imaginable. A castle, for example, may have "wall" tiles which block the player, "chair" tiles for the throne which make the player sit, "water" tiles for the moat which make the player swim, etc.

Levelling is considered the easiest developmental skill to learn. Many new players find it easy to pick up level making since the level editor is WYSIWYG or "What You See Is What You Get". While levelling is easy to start out with, there are many techniques that a master leveller will use regularly to achieve amazing illusions of depth and detail.

A master leveller is valuable to a project not only for the feel of the world, but the speed at which it expands. A master leveller can build entire continents in a matter of days, rather than months. Strong levelling skills are the driving force behind any project.

== Graphics Making ==
Staff of this type are generally referred to as GATs (Graphics Administration Team)

Making graphics is a very simple task for the artistically inclined player. Once you are familiar with how the game uses graphics it is only a matter of talent with digital illustration programs to produce content for Graal.

For instance, a tileset used by the LATs is a grid of tiles. Depending where the tiles are placed on the grid determines if they are blocking, swimming, chair, etc tiles, and a GAT must put the correct tile in the correct area on the image.

For a somebody who is a wiz with digital illustration, there will be unlimited opportunity to join exciting projects.

== Notes ==
Very small start, not even a complete outline yet.

Players: If you seek what this guide may some day hold, check [[Creation]] as a good starting point.

--[[User:HoudiniMan|HoudiniMan]] 10:40, 5 July 2007 (CEST)

Creation/New Player Development Guide

2007-07-05T08:24:35Z

HoudiniMan: /* Scripting */

Creation/New Player Development Guide

2007-06-26T01:04:22Z

HoudiniMan:

Creation/New Player Development Guide

2007-06-26T01:00:51Z

HoudiniMan:

New Player Development Guide

2007-06-26T00:59:13Z

HoudiniMan: New Player Development Guide moved to Creation/New Player Development Guide

#REDIRECT [[Creation/New Player Development Guide]]

Creation/New Player Development Guide

2007-06-26T00:59:13Z

HoudiniMan: New Player Development Guide moved to Creation/New Player Development Guide

Creation/New Player Development Guide

2007-06-26T00:58:23Z

HoudiniMan: New page: == Welcome to the New Player Development Guide! == This guide is meant to assist new players of Graal in finding a fun development project to help with. Playing Graal is fun, but when you ...

Creation/Management/Playerworld Administration Team

2007-02-05T22:46:08Z

HoudiniMan: /* Björn */

The '''Playerworld Administration Team''', or, as it is more commonly abbreviated, '''PWA''', handles routine [[playerworld]] administration tasks such as renaming worlds, collecting and handling complaints and questions, arbitrating global disputes, and helping when worlds are maliciously damaged.

The current members of the Playerworld Administration Team, along with their email addresses, are as follows:

== [[HoudiniMan]] ==
houdiniman@graalonline.com

'''Reminder:''' PWA are also easily reached at the [http://support.graalonline.com Support Center]. Although, addition contacts for the PWA can be found at the following link, http://forums.graalonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57132.

Global Staff

2007-02-05T22:45:25Z

HoudiniMan: /* Global Scripting Team */

The global staff are the higher admins of GraalOnline. They handle the larger issues that playerworld managers can't. If you are in need of a global staff member you can contact them via the [http://support.graalonline.com support center] or other means of commmunication that are listed on the [http://forums.graalonline.com graal forums]. Please remember to contact the correct admin for the problem you need resolved. Also note that Directors and Game Masters should only be contacted when the other admins can't help with your problem.

=== Directors ===
* Unixmad (Managing)
* Stefan (Technical)

=== Game Master ===
* Ibonic

=== Account Support ===
* Lyndzey

=== Global Scripting Team ===
* Skyld
* CheeToS

=== Playerworld Administration ===
* HoudiniMan
* Vulcan

=== Global Guilds Support ===
* To be announced

Global Staff

2007-02-05T22:44:32Z

HoudiniMan: /* Global Guilds Support */

The global staff are the higher admins of GraalOnline. They handle the larger issues that playerworld managers can't. If you are in need of a global staff member you can contact them via the [http://support.graalonline.com support center] or other means of commmunication that are listed on the [http://forums.graalonline.com graal forums]. Please remember to contact the correct admin for the problem you need resolved. Also note that Directors and Game Masters should only be contacted when the other admins can't help with your problem.

=== Directors ===
* Unixmad (Managing)
* Stefan (Technical)

=== Game Master ===
* Ibonic

=== Account Support ===
* Lyndzey

=== Global Scripting Team ===
* Skyld
* Jagen
* CheeToS

=== Playerworld Administration ===
* HoudiniMan
* Vulcan

=== Global Guilds Support ===
* To be announced

Global Staff

2007-02-05T22:44:10Z

HoudiniMan: /* Playerworld Administration */

The global staff are the higher admins of GraalOnline. They handle the larger issues that playerworld managers can't. If you are in need of a global staff member you can contact them via the [http://support.graalonline.com support center] or other means of commmunication that are listed on the [http://forums.graalonline.com graal forums]. Please remember to contact the correct admin for the problem you need resolved. Also note that Directors and Game Masters should only be contacted when the other admins can't help with your problem.

=== Directors ===
* Unixmad (Managing)
* Stefan (Technical)

=== Game Master ===
* Ibonic

=== Account Support ===
* Lyndzey

=== Global Scripting Team ===
* Skyld
* Jagen
* CheeToS

=== Playerworld Administration ===
* HoudiniMan
* Vulcan

=== Global Guilds Support ===
* Vulcan

User:HoudiniMan

2006-08-09T23:32:44Z

HoudiniMan: /* Development Areas */

Playerworld Administrator

Since March 5, 2003

== Community ==
HoudiniMan spends most of his time on the support center and forums. He can also be spotted occasionally sparring and doing [[playerworld inspections]].

== Development Areas ==
HoudiniMan is a competent scripter, but has not scripted much since the introduction of Gscript2. His graphics skills are adequate enough to create placeholders to facilitate scripting.

He one day hopes to make a server dedicated to sparring in as lag-free an environment as possible, but worries that it is Graal's server connection and not always the playerworld at fault.

== Staff Positions ==
HoudiniMan is currently Playerworld Administrator. His work on servers in the past has consisted primarily of FAQ, GP, NAT, Chief, and Server Admin positions. His global position makes working on servers a conflict of command and he generally focuses on his global duties.

== Graal Accounts:Nicknames ==

HoudiniMan:*HoudiniMan

== Contacts ==
HoudiniMan prefers to be reached through the [[support center]].

User:HoudiniMan

2006-08-09T23:32:13Z

HoudiniMan: /* Community */

Playerworld Administrator

Since March 5, 2003

== Community ==
HoudiniMan spends most of his time on the support center and forums. He can also be spotted occasionally sparring and doing [[playerworld inspections]].

== Development Areas ==
HoudiniMan is a compitent scripter, but has not scripted much since the introduction of Gscript2. His graphics skills are adequate enough to create placeholders to facilitate scripting.

He one day hopes to make a server dedicated to sparring in as lag-free an environment as possible, but worries that it is Graal's server connection and not always the playerworld at fault.

== Staff Positions ==
HoudiniMan is currently Playerworld Administrator. His work on servers in the past has consisted primarily of FAQ, GP, NAT, Chief, and Server Admin positions. His global position makes working on servers a conflict of command and he generally focuses on his global duties.

== Graal Accounts:Nicknames ==

HoudiniMan:*HoudiniMan

== Contacts ==
HoudiniMan prefers to be reached through the [[support center]].

User:HoudiniMan

2006-07-09T10:43:32Z

HoudiniMan:

Playerworld Administrator

Since March 5, 2003

== Community ==
HoudiniMan spends most of his time on the support center and forums. He can also be spotted occasionally sparring on N-Pulse and doing [[playerworld inspections]].

== Development Areas ==
HoudiniMan is a compitent scripter, but has not scripted much since the introduction of Gscript2. His graphics skills are adequate enough to create placeholders to facilitate scripting.

He one day hopes to make a server dedicated to sparring in as lag-free an environment as possible, but worries that it is Graal's server connection and not always the playerworld at fault.

== Staff Positions ==
HoudiniMan is currently Playerworld Administrator. His work on servers in the past has consisted primarily of FAQ, GP, NAT, Chief, and Server Admin positions. His global position makes working on servers a conflict of command and he generally focuses on his global duties.

== Graal Accounts:Nicknames ==

HoudiniMan:*HoudiniMan

== Contacts ==
HoudiniMan prefers to be reached through the [[support center]].

User:Skyld

2006-05-22T11:48:30Z

HoudiniMan: /* Comments */

{{player}}
----
Lex, aka `Skyld'

=== About ===
Skyld is a [[Regular]] user of the [[GScript IRC Channel|#gscript]] IRC Channel (freenode) and [[GScript IRC Channel|#gscript]] [[Guild]] member. He is a fairly good [[Scripter]], and has been known to help other #gscript visitors with their scripting problems.

=== Staff Positions ===
Skyld is a member of the Global Scripting Team and the owner of Rudora.

=== Accounts ===
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" width="100%"
| '''Name'''
| '''Admin level'''
| '''Free upgrades'''
| '''Banned?'''
| '''Comments'''
|-
| Skyld
| 1 (All)
| None
| No
| GST
|-
| Rudora_Admin4
| 1 (Rudora only)
| Admin account
| No
| None
|}

=== Documents written by Skyld ===
* [[Creation/Dev/Graal_v4_IRC|Graal v4 IRC Documentation]]
* [[Creation/Dev/Troubleshooting_Graal_v4_IRC|Troubleshooting Graal v4 IRC]]
* [[Creation/Dev/Basics_of_NPC-Control|Basics of NPC-Control]]
* [[Creation/Dev/Output_Methods|GScript2 Output Methods]]

=== Comments ===
Any comments about Skyld may be added here.

Pronounced "ssss" + "kyle'd"

LOLSkyld

Hey Skyld <3 - andrew

<3 <3 skyld - Kronan

<3 x2 - Smu

*lick* - Warcaptain

=o I gaze trough his window at night, wait.. no that was the hotty from next door's window. I stalk you over the internet -Ang =o!

User:HoudiniMan

2006-04-27T12:28:29Z

HoudiniMan:

Playerworld Administrator

== Community ==
HoudiniMan spends most of his time on the support center and forums. He can also be spotted occasionally sparring on N-Pulse and doing [[playerworld inspections]].

== Development Areas ==
HoudiniMan is a compitent scripter, but has not scripted much since the introduction of Gscript2. His graphics skills are adequate enough to create placeholders to facilitate scripting.

He one day hopes to make a server dedicated to sparring in as lag-free an environment as possible, but worries that it is Graal's server connection and not always the playerworld at fault.

== Staff Positions ==
HoudiniMan is currently Playerworld Administrator. His work on servers in the past has consisted primarily of FAQ, GP, NAT, Chief, and Server Admin positions. His global position makes working on servers a conflict of command and he generally focuses on his global duties.

== Graal Accounts:Nicknames ==

HoudiniMan:*HoudiniMan

== Contacts ==
HoudiniMan prefers to be reached through the [[support center]].

Creation/Inspection/Playerworld Scripting

2006-04-27T12:08:25Z

HoudiniMan: /* Effiency */

=== Introduction ===
So, you've created your playerworld and decided that you want an inspection to check that things are in order, before being moved to Hosted. There are various requirements for playerworlds to pass inspections, and scripting is a quite important part.

=== Why inspect scripting? ===
We inspect scripting because it helps to protect your playerworld. There are people out there who will take advantage of the Graal client, and careful scripting methods can help to reduce the amount of damage that can be done by using client hacks and such.

There are a few things which will be looked for upon a scripting inspection, and in this article, we'll cover the basics of what the inspection team will be looking for.

=== Guidelines ===
Make sure that your scripts follow the guidelines set here. It will increase the chance that your inspection will pass, and it will help your server overall.

==== Security ====
Make sure that your scripts are '''secure'''.

Following are a couple of things that you can do to enforce security in your scripts.

* If you are checking for staff flags, i.e. clientr.staff, then make sure that the checks are on the serverside. The first example is good, the second example is bad.
----
<pre>function onActionserverside()
{
if (params[0] == "warpto")
{
if (clientr.staff)
{
// do warp stuff
}
}
}

//#CLIENTSIDE

function onPlayerChats()
{
if (player.chat == "warp")
{
triggeraction(0, 0, "serverside", "weaponname", "warpto");
}
}</pre>
----
<pre>function onActionserverside()
{
if (params[0] == "warpto")
{
// do warp stuff
}
}

//#CLIENTSIDE

function onPlayerChats()
{
if (player.chat == "warp")
{
if (clientr.staff)
{
triggeraction(0, 0, "serverside", "weaponname", "warpto");
}
}
}</pre>
----
* If you are going to have staff flags, then make sure that they are clientr. flags so that the client cannot edit them and take advantage.
* Try to avoid "open-ended" triggeractions. By "open-ended", we mean that you should make sure that your checks are more obscure, or expecting more. The first example is good, and the second example is bad.
----
<pre>function onActionserverside()
{
if (params[0] == "firstparam")
{
player.setLevel2(thislevelname, x, y);
}
}</pre>
<pre>function onActionserverside()
{
player.setLevel2("levelname", x, y);
}</pre>
----
==== Efficiency ====
Make sure that your scripts are '''efficient'''.

Here are some guidelines which can help to promote efficiency.

* Avoid using timeouts on the serverside unnecessarily. It might be better to check for an event instead.
* Avoid using fast times on the serverside at all. A timeout should not be any faster than 0.5 on the serverside.
* Try to avoid sending a multitude of triggeractions at a high speed from the clientside. Sending one triggeraction per second should be plenty for whatever use. Any faster is probably overkill.
* Don't use serverr. flags unless you need to. serverr. flags are fed to the client quite often, even when they aren't being used, so only use them if you know that they are values that will be used regularly. For storing values for use on the serverside, using a database NPC might be more effective.

==== Scripting Style ====
Make sure that your scripts can be '''worked with''', and are '''readable'''.

* Consider divising a sensible scripting format for your scripts and sticking with it consistently between scripts. If you aren't sure of a sensible format, then consider following a scripting format like those set out in [http://forums.graalonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61805 Skyld's Script Formatting Guidelines].
* Avoid mixing old scripting engine and new scripting engine code in the same script. It makes it much harder to understand.

User:HoudiniMan

2006-04-27T12:04:56Z

HoudiniMan:

{{player}}
Playerworld Admin.
{{stub}}