I continue to plug away at the new quest system, and I think I've got the bones of it in a good place right now.
Rather than innovate too much I just copied some of my existing systems and what a few other games do and have a state-driven quest system. Basically this functions like a finite-state machine: there are a variety of possible states and rules for going from state to state. But that's just the boring backend.
Much like with the NPCs, I focused on making a baseline that all other things of that type could be based off of. In the case of NPCs, this was the pig. In the case of quests, it is the omnivator quest, a relatively simple exploration/fetch quest that will unlock fast travel between towns.
In order to access it, you need to find the new omnivator station building. An omnivator is like an elevator, except it goes sideways as well as up and down.
The machinery is a ticket dispenser.
Once you have finished the quest and unlocked the omnivator, you will be able to use the ticket machine to travel between towns. However, if it is still broken, you'll see the following, and automatically unlock a quest:
It reminds me of Japan, in a way.
The quest display screen has been updated to a journal, rather than the old abstract system. Slowly skeuomorphism is taking over the game's systems, and I've developed a bit of a liking to it. There's something to be said about computer games being simulacra of tabletop games, which themselves are simulations of real-life or fantasy environs. Skeuomorphism brings the stage back to simulation from simulacrum. My goal with this project was always to put pre-modern art in a post-modern medium, so this scratches that itch.
While it's not yet implemented, soon quests will be organized into supertypes and will be far easier to navigate than the old abstract system.
Speaking of goals, it is my goal to finish the game by the end of the year. You heard it here first.
You'll technically have a few more clicks to reach the quest detail screen but I think it's worth it to eliminate scrolling.
The quest detail needs a bit of fleshing out but I think it looks pretty nice. The checkboxes will get filled in, obviously. I'll probably add a map view or a few pictures to the other side of the journal.
The fact that "Woodale" is next to three different woods is not a part of any system; it was a total coincidence and I thought it was funny.
There's a lot of behind-the-scenes here that makes this the baseline of all quests, but rest assured it should make quests more modular and therefore easier to produce (and faster to produce). For example, you can see how there could be more choices for the quest type as well as different things listed on the detail page, progress checkboxes rather than item checkboxes, etc. Of course, other quests will be more complex, with things like time sensitivity, companions, interactions with people, different states, branching paths depending on choices and so on.
I'll have an update out by next week, so keep an eye out for that. Remember to email any questions, comments, and prayer requests you have to [email protected], or just leave them in the comments below.