CLOK: Reawakened

(Psssst! This is still early testing, so don't go shouting this from the rooftops just yet!)

Welcome!

Welcome to the early info page for the CLOK: Reawakened project! This is an attempt to keep CLOK alive by running the game on a new codebase forked from that used by COGG (which was an updated CLOK codebase itself). The intent is to make it feel fundamentally the same as old CLOK by:

• Keeping all the CLOK player characters (and their stuff!
• Keeping the same old BBS and the original wiki.
• Retaining the CLOK in-game history and avoiding revisions or retcons
• Retaining the CLOK wilderness map and all its explorable areas and mobs
• Retaining the CLOK skill system (mostly)
• Retaining the CLOK guild system (mostly)

If you want to try things out, here's the connection info! (Game may occasionally be unreachable during early restoration phase.)

Address: clok.contrarium.net
   Port: 4000

Connect and log into your usual CLOK account! (You may have to reset the password with RECOVER command).

To claim legacy CLOK characters that predate the CLOK account system, use the CHARCLAIM command! If you never made an account when they were introduced (hi, old-timer!), feel free to make an account and then claim your legacy characters to it.

Log in, wander around the familiar world, and enjoy seeing your CLOK characters (and their stuff) again! You can engage in basic combat (no special abilities restored to characters yet) if you go into combat zones. You can also do lots of crafting and various mundane activities. It's mainly guilds, abilities, and more involved crafting that need to be restored.

Why not the old codebase?

Between the extremely outdated Python version and several now-unavailable code libraries it depended on, it just wasn't happening (I tried). And even if it did work, let's face it: The code was a temperamental mess written largely by novices (primarily myself) with little to no coding experience at the time. It would have needed to be rewritten anyway. At this point it'll be much easier to get old CLOK features and mechanics working in the newer codebase I've already spent years on than it would be to try and update the old codebase all over again.

Successful Imports

The following has already been successfully imported:

• All CLOK accounts and associated characters have been imported, along with their inventory and bank accounts/vault items. You may need to use the RECOVER command to get a recovery password sent to your email however since I don't think the original passwords translated.
• All legacy CLOK characters predating CLOK's account system (and their stuff) have also been imported. Create an account and use the CHARCLAIM command to claim one to your account!
• The CLOK wilderness has been imported and is useable to traverse the land and get to other areas just like before.
• All CLOK explorable areas have been imported along with their mobs.

Works In Progress

• Restoring guilds and their associated abilities and tasks.
• Setting up General Abilities
• Restoring various crafts (jewelrycrafting, herbalism, lapidary).
• Adding various crafting customization that was previously present in CLOK.
• Restoring shop items to various shops (most in Shadgard are already set).
• Restoring player homes (does not include homes that are/were in closed or ruined settlements).
• Restoring player mounts.
• Restoring forageable herbs and fellable trees
• Restoring the ability to use all of one's Dodge, Block, and Parry rolls to defend against standard attacks. (At present it only uses the potential highest of the three defense methods.)
• Restoring the varying parry modifiers for weapons that had them in original CLOK.
• Assigning challenge ratings to various crafting processes to allow for increasing skills.
• Still deciding what to do about farming.
• Still deciding how to implement two-weapon combat. It was a little too wild in original CLOK with full-size weapons in the off-hand.
• Still deciding whether to go back to the multiple strikes model of attacks, or keep all weapons to single-strike. Admittedly leaning toward multi-strikes again.

Updates/Differences from legacy CLOK

Here are some updates that have occurred and will be different from how things were in original CLOK:

• There is a limit to how many alts can be active at once on an account, with a 30-day shelving system used to shuffle active characters around. Focus!
• Shadgard is the newer COGG-based version of the town. Those unfamiliar with it will note some added and updated rooms and the presence of some basic steam technology. Most of the old NPCs have been restored and offer skill training like before!
• Corvus Outpost has been updated to spruce up some descriptions, fix some grammatical errors, and add a few facilities that were needed for crafting or just quality of life.
• Mistral Lake is closed to player characters until further notice. Their faction may still get involved in world events and such as NPCs.
• Haiban has been destroyed. Alas. The Western Coalition will have spaces in existing towns instead.
• Player mines are unavailable. Maybe they'll be brought back with an improved system sometime in the future.
• Various combat zones are their newer COGG-based versions with touched-up descriptions and occasional new paths/portals/mobs, but remain in their old CLOK wilderness locations.
• Crafting processes are their COGG versions. This means we have tailoring! But not lapidary or jewelrycrafting or herbalism (yet).
• Ranged ammunition no longer leaves the player's inventory when fired, but instead takes durability damage upon use. No more needing to bring dozens of arrows with you or worrying about gathering your ammo afterward!
• Food spoils after a few days, so resist the urge to stockpile. Some foods last longer than others though!
• The metal "cobalt" is now "kobaltarn".
• The metal "mithril" is now "moonsilver".
• Storage space for items (in banks, inn rooms, homes, etc.) is significantly more limited. Allowing virtually infinite storage for everyone just wasn't feasible in the long run and contributed to CLOK (and COGG) becoming increasingly bogged down and laggy. Handcarts and wagons can no longer be stored in a bank or in homes, but a single EMPTY cart or wagon can be stored at one's local stables to be retrieved whenever needed for hauling purposes.
• All sorts of other little changes and quality of life updates from COGG. (A lot of processes no longer require having a hand free or a crafting tool in hand, for instance, to reduce annoying inventory juggling.)

Deleted Items

Any existing items of the following types were deleted either because they were outdated versions that wouldn't function in the new codebase or because they were excessively hoarded in the CLOK database:

• Herbs (millions of them)
• Food/cooking ingredients (over a million)
• Bandages, poultices, and poultice cloth scraps (near a million)
• Ranged ammunition of various types
• Firestones
• Torches
• Branches/sticks
• Sinew
• Animal fat
• Wood shavings
• Incense-sticks
• Lithic flakes
• Fishing line
• Powderhorns
• Nails
• Tongs
• Charred masses (what is wrong with you people)
• Lantern oil
• Feathers
• Locked lockboxes
• Tanning solution
• Various commodities that only existed to be sold for money

There will certainly still be old outdated items left that don't work like they used to in the new codebase. If you find your character has some, please toss them in a trash barrel if they're not rare items. Maybe keep a few samples as keepsakes if you're sentimental. If they're rarer or more important items, feel free to use the BUG command to report their lack of functionality.

What about COGG?

I still don't have any intention to continue development on COGG, for many and various reasons. Sorry!