In part 1, we talked about quests in general. Now it’s time to get to the heart of the matter.
Step #1: CLASSES of quests
As one player put it, quests have to be broken up into components. Think of these as the building blocks of a quest (or “bricks” as one user put it).
How are quests initiated? Here are the ones that come to mind:
1. Some tiles would contain an object that when a player enters that tile, triggers a quest event. These tiles would appear on both the cloth map and full map. We’ll call these MAJOR quests.
2. Random events. Player hits turn, and there is a chance that a quest opportunity may come to the player without having to do anything. We’ll call these MINOR quests.
3. Some tiles would have objects in them that when the player interacts with them would trigger the quest event. These would only be available on the full map (players will be able to move within a tile without using up a move on the full map because you can zoom in). We’ll call these INCIDENTAL quests because they won’t have a game-changing effect.
Step #2: MECHANICS of quests
Here we define the building blocks of these quests specifically.
- Timers. Quests must be completed within a certain time limit.
- Satisfying the quest requirements:
- Kill N creatures.
- Find Object O
- Return object X.
- Rescue character Y.
- Perform Action Z.
- Obtain Q of a particular item.
- Collect items A, B, C…G
- Destroy V
- Kill character T
- Rewards / Consequences
- Get Item
- Get Ability
- Get Money
- Get Spell
- Get Access to Area
- Trigger new Quest
- Trigger new Unit(s)
- Assign unit(s) to your side
- Trigger new object on map
- Get Marriage Proposal
- Get Experience
- Participation
- Just the Hero
- Full group hero is in. (i.e. the whole freaking army he’s in)
- Requirements
- Does it require an adventuring technology?
Step #3: EXECUTION of quests
This is where we decide how these should be implemented. There are 3 obvious ways to do tihs.
One way is to simply code these in C++ but that eliminates modding.
Another way is to implement in XML which makes modding very easy but makes it hard for us to add additional quest types we haven’t thought of.
And finally, they could be implemented in a scripting language (Python) which makes it possible to create new quests but harder to mod.
I’m leaning towards combining the latter two. Python used to script the mechanics with XML used to provide the actual quests.
Step #4: ACTUAL quests
Quest 1: Kill the rats
Type: Incidental
Trigger: On main map, player can zoom in on a city and see a “!” above one of the buildings. Player can then select one of his heroes and take them there which triggers the event.
Content: “Oh please help me, rats are infesting my Inn. If you can kill them, I’ll gladly give you 20 copper. Will you accept?”
Execution: Player is taken to a tactical battle with rats in the Inn. Only the Hero is allowed in.
Quest 2: Rescue Princess Genica
Type: Minor
Trigger/Conent: Upon the beginning of a new turn, a local noble has asked you to save his daughter Genica from a group of marauding bandits who are operating out of the ruins of one of Curgen’s old fortresses to the East.
Requires: Adventuring Level 2.
Execution: On accepting, a fortress is added to the map to the east. Only an army with a hero can attack it. If successful, you have the opportunity to wed Princess Genica.
Quest 3: Recover the Dragon’s egg
Type: Major
Trigger: Dragon icon on the map, when a hero-equipped army intersects tile, triggers event
Content: The Red dragon of Sythia is outraged that a manling has stolen her precious egg. Dragons only have offspring once a century or so. The dragon agrees to join your kingdom if you recover her egg. The egg was stolen by Calorax the Warlock who lives somewhere in the far north in the Pilgen mountains. Sythia does not know where Calorax is exactly but knows that the Witch of the Swamp knows someone who might know.
Execution: On accepting, a hut is added to the map in a swamp nearby.
Quest 3A: Dragon’s egg part 2
Content: Upon reaching the witch, she tells you that she has a map that will take you to Calorax’s lair that she agrees to give you if you bring her the scroll of Poisoned Claws which she knows is near the bottom of the old dungeon of Harpok to the south. She points out that in getting the scroll, you will be able to make use of that spell as well.
Execution: On accepting, the dungeon of Harpok appears on the map.
Quest 3B: Dragon’s egg part 3
Content: Upon entering the dungeon, you discover that a demon that fled to these deep places of the world after the cataclysm has taken refuge there. You can choose to battle the demon or exit and return later. If you battle the demon, the tactical battle screen comes up and you fight it out. If you win, you gain the scroll which you can then return to the witch. Returning to the witch gets you a map which triggers the fortress of Calorax to appear on the map.
Quest 3C: Dragon’s egg part 4
Content: Your army reaches the fortress of Calorax that you must conquer to rescue the egg. If you’re successful, you get the dragon’s egg which, if you return it to the dragon nets you the dragon (or you could sell the dragon’s egg for money elsewhere) who becomes a unit in your army.
So these are the kinds of things we’re thinking about. Please feel free to add to this and discuss.
