Post: #1

It seems that the tragic loss of the sphere forums might be resulting in a revialized community spirit within the sphere community. If this is indeed the case, I think it would be a good idea to capitalize on the situation and fan the flames by engaging the community in some sort of community projects. Here's just a few ideas:

1) Of course we already have the community script pack, are there any priorities on scripts that are currently missing? We could take volunteers for script assignments. Even if you are a novice scripter, with a little help from the community here; you can contribute more than you know.

2) Maybe a weekly or monthly script challenge would be fun. Someone proposes a somewhat general script idea with plenty of room for uniqueness. Give several criteria and requirements in order to qualify and then post the winners/runners up on the following week.

2.5) Team challenges could add to the fun and community aspect of the above idea. Using programs like dropbox can allow groups of members to collaborate on a script in secret before submitting it to the “judges”

3) I know it is a pretty ambitious idea, but I think community sponsored shards would be great. I’m sure we all know of the other popular UO emulator and their sponsored servers and I’m not saying we should try to be like them. I just think that there is so much talent here. Some have a creative mind and can come up with ‘out of the box’ game mechanic ideas. Some are gifted story tellers and can write innovative mythos and background fiction. And of course there are many skilled scriptors capable of turning dreams to reality within the world of sphere. There is so much opportunity for collaborative work these days that just wasn’t around last time the community had a boom and I think the idea of a community world (or two or three) whould just be wonderful.

Just a few thoughts...any one else?

Post: #2

Sure why not? I think all your ideas are doable and we can put some of them in practice. About the community sponsored shard, this was already included in the plan of this project at the begining but in a different way. If I'm not wrong Shiryux had in mind or did host a server for shard developers only for testing purposes, for that reason you can see a section called SphereCommunityPlay, I'm not sure how it was or if it's still working because I never tested it personally, but what we haven't discussed yet is about opening a single or multiple shards to the public in general to play on it. You got my vote on this one but not at this moment because we have to reorganize and reinsert all the content of sphere here first and stablish the new goals for this year. But it may be a long-term goal to achieve

Post: #3

Thanks Valios,

Of course I never intended to imply that a community play server would be an overnight thing. It is a lofty goal to be sure with a lot of kinks to work out (such as how we would run it and decide what ideas to empliment and which ones to discard, that kind of thing can end badly for people in the community who's ideas are regected.) I also agree that there are much more pressing issues at the moment that must be dealt with before a large scale project like this can even begin. I was just throwing out ideas to try and help strengthen the community and get people 'buzzing' again. For some reason this new forum has me excited about the future of sphere and I can't even begine to explain why.

Post: #4

I know and I applaud your good intentions Nacht. We are going to impulse this community to something huge and brand new. So let's start working together on it! In the next days we will be pointing out the new goals, everyone can participate and share ideas.

Best regards

Post: #5

Indeed, I have a backup of the server files because the project was on 'silent' mode and we never finished it. Most of the cities spawned/decorated plus the graveyards, and 2 or 3 dungeons are done. Not by me of course, we used the SCP files and worked just with that. The competitions are a nice idea once we get the Community around again, anyway, I'll kindly support any new good idea and will give them the necessary resources to work, as I did with Axis, Valios' Tools, and CommunityPlay. I'm also thinking in some foreign languages sections, but I can only cover the Spanish forum.

So yeah, we're open to suggestions and projects if you present them in the right way

Post: #6

Well, I am still working on my server and plan to link it to the community. It won't be an Age of Shadows clone though. It will have the same combat for the most part with a ton of customization.

I am still working on it as a solo project since I can never keep any scripter's around since they act like their "LEET" colored swords or mobiles with 2,000,000 hp should dominate the server. Which to me has always seemed quite retarded and shows a lack of creativity.

Basically, if I keep finding the time, I will get something up soon that I can keep people playing while I upgrade it. Which can take some time. =)

Post: #7

(03-17-2012 07:14 AM)khaos Wrote:  I am still working on it as a solo project

... and Valios got forgotten here, you hurt my feelings. Let's merge projects everyone! One love! legalize it! jah

Post: #8

Wow that really sucks that the main site has gone down. I for one am a firm believer that Damian should have open sourced the server years back when "menasoft" ceased being interested in it.
Anyways, not that I am back proper, merely tinkering in moments of boredom, I have added in my signature here the link to my skydrive, which contains a decent portion of the scripts I created should anyone be looking for them.

Post: #9

We appreciate it Mordaunt, thank you and welcome! Development hasn't stopped yet, Shiryux and khaos were the last members to join the staff and they also got the access to the source so they can keep working as usual and I believe that MrSugarCube and Torfo are still around doing the same as well, it's just that no one have been able to communicate with them. But as long as the community keep showing up like everyone is doing and supporting the new ideas we will be ok. I don't know if the original site will be back or not, but we are here creating some cool stuff.

Btw, the downloads section is available for everyone to upload files also. I will be uploading tools there and ppl can upload their scripts like in SShare but better!

Best regards

Post: #10

Well did that on the old site, and lost a load, as well as back when I was co-admin on scriptsharing. I might copy some up at a later date, but I know barring some disaster that my skydrive won't lose em