Post by Stephanie (swordlilly) on Jun 1, 2024 13:51:37 GMT -5
As of today, June 1, Grundo's Cafe is opening up applications to the public for a limited time. I thought I'd make a thread here in case any other forumers are interested in talking about it :3
If you haven't checked it out yet, here's my review!
What is Grundo's Cafe?
Grundo's Cafe is a non-profit, fan-made site inspired by early 2000s Neopets. The head developer, Ben, participated in an AMA with Neopets CEO Dominic, and is currently also an ambassador for Neopets. There is some overlap in the playerbase of the two sites, but overall they seem to be developing in different directions: whereas Neopets seems to be focused on customisation, new projects and merch partnerships, GC is focused on bringing back and enhancing the classic Neopets experience.
For about two years, GC grew its playerbase cautiously through player-to-player referral only. As of today, applications are finally open to the public for a limited time, so now is the time to check it out if you haven't already.
Updated Account System
In Grundo's Cafe, each player is strictly limited to one account. When you apply to create an account, your application goes through a manual verification process. And one account feels like enough because it can accommodate a nearly infinite number of pet slots, gallery slots, and guild slots. You start with six pet slots, one gallery slot, and one guild slot, and as you progress in the game, you earn an in-game currency called "relics" which enables you to open up space to keep as many pets and galleries and belong to as many guilds as you like.*
Grundo's Cafe also uses a modernized system which allows people to change their usernames and pet names. You can use special characters, emojis and spaces in pet names as well.
* The limit for pets is apparently three hundred. I'm unsure if there is a limit for galleries and guilds.
User-Friendly Interface
The site guides you from Day One. There is a sidebar that shows you everything there is to do around the site, ranging from simple dailies like the Giant Omelette and pet-training to quests (including the Employment Agency), games (including Food Club), shops and many more. As you explore and figure out what you enjoy doing on the site, you can customise the sidebar to suit your own playstyle, and basically you never feel lost. There is also a search feature that's very visible and easy to use.
When you acquire an item, you don't have to look it up in an offsite wiki to figure out what it does. There's a helpful magnifying-glass icon you can click on, right there in your inventory, to see everything you need to know about the item in the in-game wiki. Clicking the wizard-hat icon takes you to the Shop Wizard where you can immediately price-check the item. (There is no Super Shop Wizard; everyone gets access to the best price data.) There are links to the Trading Post and Auction House as well.
The devs have put a lot of effort into not only converting old Flash games but optimizing them in HTML5 and, where applicable, making them playable on mobile. Advert Attack and Volcano Run are two games that I've played successfully on mobile.
Restored Site Features
There are many features of old Neopets that are fully restored and playable on GC: Bilge Dice, the World Challenges, Better Than You, Lenny Conundrum, Invasion of Meridell, Defenders of Neopia, and the old Battledome in general. HP increase is back, and there are seasonal leaderboards to honor the best Battledome players.
Original Fanmade Content
There are lots of beautiful new pets, items, and avatars contributed by volunteer artists. Check out this Alien Wocky for instance:
And these baby petpets, drawn by Chanty:
My current favorite avatar is this "So Cozy!" avatar designed by Joanna (mutant):
Balanced Game Economy
GC offers players a ton of options both in terms of earning and in terms of spending. To take stamp-collecting as an example: besides restocking, stamps also enter the economy through currently working games, the Battledome, World Challenges, and a GC-specific site feature called Neoschool. Some high-end stamps are available in the Hidden Tower on a seasonal basis. Battledome weapons like Jade Scorchstone can be saved up for and purchased from the Hidden Tower as well. Basically you don't feel locked out of anything.
Re: compensation for creative labor, there currently isn't an Art Gallery. Instead, there is a sanctioned free-market system where your art is worth as much as what other people are willing to pay. Players commission artists using in-game currency for things like pet layouts, pet lookup pictures (called "overlays"), userlookups, and gallery layouts.
According to Birdy, one of the volunteer artists who creates assets for the site, volunteers are given in-game currency for the contributions they make as well, but within reason:
There is a Poetry Gallery but it isn't super high-stakes. (It's not like you can highroll hundreds of millions of Neopoints xD) It's just one of many options, all equally as lucrative, to earn in-game stuff.
Clearly Defined and Enforced Rules
The rules about userscripts and coding are very clearly defined and enforced. There are no bots snatching items out of the shops at inhuman speeds, nor are there any bots pumping billions of illegitimate Neopoints into the system. The only scripts allowed are quality-of-life scripts that follow what GC calls the "one-to-one input rule," one manual action mapping on to one in-game result.
The overall effect is that you don't feel like you have to compete against bots and cheaters. Everything feels achievable (while not being given out for free, either).
Who's Playing?
I got into GC because of my guild leader, Kay, who is known on Neopets for her anti-gatekeeping activism. (She used to run the "Top Avatar Collectors, I Implore You..." Neoboard every month, asking top collectors to stay off the hiscore list to give new collectors a chance.) Incidentally, the specific initiative she ran is no longer needed on GC because new avatar collectors aren't at a significant gameplay disadvantage. All the avatars measured for the hiscore list are achievable; none of them are locked behind dead site features or permanently-retired events.
Some other community members that I admire include:
- Bart, who is known for his Neopets gaming videos reaching back over a decade!
- 11th (ziporen on Neopets), who advocated for an update to the creative contest prize pool that some of you are now benefitting from
- Macosten, who is known for his contributions to Jellyneo's battlepedia
- Chanty, who created the Maraquan Kiko for Neopets
Come join us? :3 I'm swordlilly there.
If you haven't checked it out yet, here's my review!
What is Grundo's Cafe?
Grundo's Cafe is a non-profit, fan-made site inspired by early 2000s Neopets. The head developer, Ben, participated in an AMA with Neopets CEO Dominic, and is currently also an ambassador for Neopets. There is some overlap in the playerbase of the two sites, but overall they seem to be developing in different directions: whereas Neopets seems to be focused on customisation, new projects and merch partnerships, GC is focused on bringing back and enhancing the classic Neopets experience.
For about two years, GC grew its playerbase cautiously through player-to-player referral only. As of today, applications are finally open to the public for a limited time, so now is the time to check it out if you haven't already.
Updated Account System
In Grundo's Cafe, each player is strictly limited to one account. When you apply to create an account, your application goes through a manual verification process. And one account feels like enough because it can accommodate a nearly infinite number of pet slots, gallery slots, and guild slots. You start with six pet slots, one gallery slot, and one guild slot, and as you progress in the game, you earn an in-game currency called "relics" which enables you to open up space to keep as many pets and galleries and belong to as many guilds as you like.*
Grundo's Cafe also uses a modernized system which allows people to change their usernames and pet names. You can use special characters, emojis and spaces in pet names as well.
* The limit for pets is apparently three hundred. I'm unsure if there is a limit for galleries and guilds.
User-Friendly Interface
The site guides you from Day One. There is a sidebar that shows you everything there is to do around the site, ranging from simple dailies like the Giant Omelette and pet-training to quests (including the Employment Agency), games (including Food Club), shops and many more. As you explore and figure out what you enjoy doing on the site, you can customise the sidebar to suit your own playstyle, and basically you never feel lost. There is also a search feature that's very visible and easy to use.
When you acquire an item, you don't have to look it up in an offsite wiki to figure out what it does. There's a helpful magnifying-glass icon you can click on, right there in your inventory, to see everything you need to know about the item in the in-game wiki. Clicking the wizard-hat icon takes you to the Shop Wizard where you can immediately price-check the item. (There is no Super Shop Wizard; everyone gets access to the best price data.) There are links to the Trading Post and Auction House as well.
The devs have put a lot of effort into not only converting old Flash games but optimizing them in HTML5 and, where applicable, making them playable on mobile. Advert Attack and Volcano Run are two games that I've played successfully on mobile.
Restored Site Features
There are many features of old Neopets that are fully restored and playable on GC: Bilge Dice, the World Challenges, Better Than You, Lenny Conundrum, Invasion of Meridell, Defenders of Neopia, and the old Battledome in general. HP increase is back, and there are seasonal leaderboards to honor the best Battledome players.
Original Fanmade Content
There are lots of beautiful new pets, items, and avatars contributed by volunteer artists. Check out this Alien Wocky for instance:
And these baby petpets, drawn by Chanty:
My current favorite avatar is this "So Cozy!" avatar designed by Joanna (mutant):
Balanced Game Economy
GC offers players a ton of options both in terms of earning and in terms of spending. To take stamp-collecting as an example: besides restocking, stamps also enter the economy through currently working games, the Battledome, World Challenges, and a GC-specific site feature called Neoschool. Some high-end stamps are available in the Hidden Tower on a seasonal basis. Battledome weapons like Jade Scorchstone can be saved up for and purchased from the Hidden Tower as well. Basically you don't feel locked out of anything.
Re: compensation for creative labor, there currently isn't an Art Gallery. Instead, there is a sanctioned free-market system where your art is worth as much as what other people are willing to pay. Players commission artists using in-game currency for things like pet layouts, pet lookup pictures (called "overlays"), userlookups, and gallery layouts.
According to Birdy, one of the volunteer artists who creates assets for the site, volunteers are given in-game currency for the contributions they make as well, but within reason:
The logic [is] that often hours we spend making a piece of art or coding a game or what have you are hours we might have otherwise spent actually playing GC. It's nice of them to do. On days where I draw a lot for GC I don't end up playing much GC at all so I appreciate a game perk here and there. Sometimes people think that because I made pet or an item, I get that thing for free, but that's not how it works as much as I sometimes wish it did xD No unfair advantage for staff players. Gotta earn stuff like everyone else.
There is a Poetry Gallery but it isn't super high-stakes. (It's not like you can highroll hundreds of millions of Neopoints xD) It's just one of many options, all equally as lucrative, to earn in-game stuff.
Clearly Defined and Enforced Rules
The rules about userscripts and coding are very clearly defined and enforced. There are no bots snatching items out of the shops at inhuman speeds, nor are there any bots pumping billions of illegitimate Neopoints into the system. The only scripts allowed are quality-of-life scripts that follow what GC calls the "one-to-one input rule," one manual action mapping on to one in-game result.
The overall effect is that you don't feel like you have to compete against bots and cheaters. Everything feels achievable (while not being given out for free, either).
Who's Playing?
I got into GC because of my guild leader, Kay, who is known on Neopets for her anti-gatekeeping activism. (She used to run the "Top Avatar Collectors, I Implore You..." Neoboard every month, asking top collectors to stay off the hiscore list to give new collectors a chance.) Incidentally, the specific initiative she ran is no longer needed on GC because new avatar collectors aren't at a significant gameplay disadvantage. All the avatars measured for the hiscore list are achievable; none of them are locked behind dead site features or permanently-retired events.
Some other community members that I admire include:
- Bart, who is known for his Neopets gaming videos reaching back over a decade!
- 11th (ziporen on Neopets), who advocated for an update to the creative contest prize pool that some of you are now benefitting from
- Macosten, who is known for his contributions to Jellyneo's battlepedia
- Chanty, who created the Maraquan Kiko for Neopets
Come join us? :3 I'm swordlilly there.
