Nin Online started development early on in very unideal circumstances, the origin of the engine being based all the way back in the 90s, we developed on top of it with the limitations of the times. As such, our missions system was built into the engine early on in 2013, to be very barebones and hacky. This required a ton of unnecessary work on the developer's side to build quest lines. It also limited what we could do heavily.
This is what our "Quest Editor" looked like just a few years ago... It was built with Winforms... yuck!
If you look closely, the old mission system actually didn't have any real "objective/task" system. It simply was built by checking scripted variables throughout the way, while the mission log displayed those variables based on a scripted objective text script. The new system actually allows us to build missions in a very intuitive way!
This week's update is a major overhaul on the Mission System that breaks us free from most of the limitations and opens the door for us to add new kinds of missions in the near future.
Objective Location Markers
Nin Online at it's core is not meant to hold your hand all the way, and as such, our objective markers only appear when you're up to 1 map distance away from the mission objective. While I'm not a fan of the brain dead gameplay of following a yellow arrow all the way through, I also understand that it can be hard for new players to get accustomed to this. This method leaves some room for exploration while helping part of the way so you're not completely lost. Some level of reading dialogues is still necessary, but it's much more forgiving.
When you're not close enough to the objective, you can also press a Location button next to the Mission Objective to reveal on the world map where you should be headed to.
Mission Available Markers
Although we introduced this feature awhile back, it was extremely buggy and poorly coded to quickly have the feature added in time for the Steam launch. It's been reworked from the ground up much better!
Mission Chapters
This is what our mission editor looks like now! It has actual objectives!
Mission objectives can be segmented into chapters so that the next task isn't revealed, and information is not overloaded onto the player, until the previous objectives are complete. This creates very dynamic missions that can weave storytelling into them!
New Kinds of Objectives
So far, I've added a few new kinds of objectives. The first kind being exploration Objectives. These allow us to task the player to visit a certain map or to spend X seconds on the map. The second kind is discovering items, which is similar to Item objectives, but you don't lose them.
We're planning to add more in the near future such as escort, crafting and leveling objectives. We're open to suggestions on more! Join our Discord channel where we have a Player Ideas submission platform!
Other changes
This Missions Update also resolves a lot of past issues with missions and NPC dialogues, and as we transition to this new system more fully it should eliminate issues where players could get soft locked on their mission progress. I've also manually went through all existing missions multiple times in my own testing to make sure missions are working, are of higher quality than before in writing in some cases and give clearer directions.
On top of this, NPC Kill missions are now completely independent from the old variables system, which means missions will no longer clash with one another when they both ask you to kill the same enemy type.
(Developer) Mission objectives can be marked to remove items when the mission is completed.
(Developer) We've also added more substantial debugging tools for admins to help solve mission issues for players just incase.
(Developer) Our NPC/Event system can now also check mission objectives and if players have missions directly instead of relying on the Variables/Switches system.
Other Updates
Of course, missions is not all I've updated!
Added Borderless Fullscreen Mode
Much improved speed for going back and forth between fullscreen. This is now the default mode for new downloaded clients. It's a much more pleasant experience than the old fullscreen mode and also does not have compatibility issues with Windows HDR whereas the old fullscreen mode turns Windows HDR off.
Added Video Playback Support to the Nin Engine
Nin Online's engine now supports playing video files. This is used in a few ways now, a new cutscene player, game guide banners and Jutsu previews in the Mastery Selection menu.
Added a new (skippable) introduction video to the game
This replaces the old introduction cutscene where you had to click through it.
Reworked Volume Scaling
The game's volume always had an issue where only like 10% or less volumes were really playable. Otherwise the game was way too loud. This means you might have to readjust your volume settings though!
Other Changes
Added Keybinds for Hotkey Bar Cycling and PM Name Input Shortcut
Improved NPC Layout
New Server Selection Screen Icons
Added players online count to server selection screen
Added Video Playback Support to the Nin Engine
Combined Shop with Inventory window for a neater experience when you are in a shop
When players are AFK, they now have their eyes closed
(Developer) Added search boxes for Variable Selectors and Switch selectors in editor
(Developer) Added Mission Objective Selector Widget
(Developer) Added "Self" options for Animation and Chat Bubble Event Commands
(Developer) Added Event Conditional Branches to check individual Mission Objectives
(Developer) Added Event Commands to modify status of Mission Objectives
Bug Fixes
Fixed chatbox bugginess where it would stop scrolling to the bottom or glitch near it
Fixed NPCs finishing casting their Jutsu even after dying
Fixed being able to walk between Event System / NPC Dialogues
Fixed the dialogue box disappearing between NPC Dialogue texts
Fixed being able to keep invisibility when next jutsu is queued before Cloak is cast
Fixed the bug where when you talk to NPCs your camera flies far away and prevented it from happening ever again.
Fixed quick logins not saving if you login into a instanced map
Fixed Ctrl + Tab showing the ImGui alt-tab like menu
Fixed a bug where casting a jutsu when you just entered a map can get your jutsu queue stuck
Fixed instacast jutsu not showing Casting Jutsu pose (like breaking kick)
Fixed Steam Deck crashes
Fixed the way client rounds up/down sell price for items to be consistent with server
Fixed Chat Channels tooltip clashing with Map Zone tooltip
Fixed Barber/Hair Dresser NPC allowing you to change your hair to bald for free by not selecting a hair style
Fixed NPC Yori's artwork moving oddly when facing left