Yes it started in about 1997 as a java or c whatever game. Later on he published GS1 (in about 2001, was developed before though) and in about 2006/2007 he released GS2. GS stands for GraalScript and as the name does give the hint, it´s an own scripting language of Graal. For histories of servers and such I´d suggest you making your own researches on the
official forums. Can be fun