Everpixel Tactics Devlog 9
I have stated numerous times that I'd planned on adding the "Quest" feature out in the next major update for Everpixel Tactics. However, as I've been mulling over that feature, I began to realize that I have the order wrong. I was going to implement quests and then a feature I called "Dynamic Events." But I realized that was totally backwards - in order to realize Everpixel Tactic's quests in my vision, I'd need the "Dynamic Events" feature in place. Thus, the next major update for Everpixel Tactics will not include quests, but will instead include the dynamic events system (and, by extension, procedurally-generated world histories!)
So why "Dynamic Events"? Well, Everpixel Tactics is very much meant to be a brutal, tactical RPG. But it is also meant to be a story-generator in the vein of Dwarf Fortress or even Rimworld (but especially Dwarf Fortress.) Dynamic Events are the mechanism by which this will happen. In upcoming updates, players' worlds will not simply generate and then be static. Instead, players' worlds will have an entire history (forged by these dynamic events) which players will continue to shape via "Quests." The vision for the game has always been a challenging tactical RPG in which players will be able to enter a living, breathing, dynamic, and zany, world.
First, let's talk briefly discuss what quests are going to be in Everpixel Tactics before we move on to discussing how this system will be used to generate a world history.
Quests
Quests in Everpixel Tactics are intended to give players a goal; an "end-game" challenge. These quests will be dynamic in nature, and they will be linked to a world's unique history. This is all very much sounds like a high-level business pitch, so let's get a bit more specific.
Somewhere two or three weeks into a players' campaign, a world-changing event will occur. These will be things like an ancient necromancer awakening, demonic invasions, etc. - and these events will tie into a world's history. For example, that necromancer who awoke was actually a major historical figure who - when defeated by an intrepid band of pixelated heroes - went into a deep slumber. Quests will have a definitive goal - e.g., defeating the necromancer - but will be otherwise open-ended. They will be very challenging, too. Players will be free to attempt to "finish" the campaign by immediately diving into these quests, but the odds will be stacked against them.
To even the odds, players will be able to embark on a handful of "sub-quests" with the explicit goal of growing more powerful. Sub-quests will allow players to obtain powerful artifacts, recruit powerful allies, and even shape the very landscape around them. In each case, sub-quests will tie into a world's history. For example, players will be able to obtain incredibly-powerful swords forged in ancient times, or awaken titans not seen since the world's founding. All the while, players must contend with a world being shaped by their overarching quest. Again, in the case of the ancient necromancer, this means contending with hordes of roaming undead.
Of course, the rewards for the quests would seem anti-climatic if they weren't over-the-top powerful. And so it shall be. Take, for example, the artifacts that players can acquire while questing. These artifacts will have their own, unique histories and will be powerful enough to shape the world around them - to say nothing of how players might be able to build not only mercenaries but entire squads around them. Players might acquire swords that make the entire world grow colder, or holy crosses that dampen necromantic magic (a particularly useful ability when facing off against ancient necromancers...) They may even acquire flails that summon oodles of friendly slimes to aid you in battle. Such artifacts will undoubtedly even any odds a player might be up against.
World History
Let's circle back. Dynamic Events will be used to both generate a players' quests, but it will be the same system used to generate a player's world.
After a world has been seeded, that world's history will be generated via the Dynamic Events system. These events will be the obligatory fantasy tropes like wars, titans being killed, artifacts being forged, etc. But they will also have more exotic, emergent stories, too. For example, a titan (who happens to be a gigantic wiener dog) may have decided that cities are full of delicious morsels (i.e., people) and that ruling over a city means having a perpetual source of snacks. And so, he takes over the city and lords over it as a snack-eating tyrant.
These historical events may also - literally - leave a mark on the world. Magical regions may spring up where titans fall. These same regions may also be corrupted by salty characters with a chip on their shoulder. For example, a necromancer with something to prove might corrupt this same region with necromantic magic. They may even go so far as to raise this dead titan as a powerful (and deadly) zombie.
In any case, when it comes time for a player to embark on their quest, they will traverse a world shaped by these events. As a player's campaign progresses, the world will continue to change - with or without the player's inputs. Perhaps they recruit titans into their squad of mercenaries, or imbue their mercenaries with godhood. Or, perhaps, they even fail their quests and get killed along the way. Because losing is fun.
