New Quest/Feature/Pet Submission

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Will
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New Quest/Feature/Pet Submission

Post by Will »

evev wrote:To wrap this up, the world is your oyster guys. If you really want more quests then design some and then submit them for review. At the most basic I'd suggest you include:
  • Which event triggers the quest?
  • What are the requirements for the quest to trigger?
  • Please write the text that will provide the player with a backstory and clear quest requirements.
  • Step by step list of actions a player takes to fulfill the quest.
  • Can the quest be failed?
  • What is the quest reward?
This is still a work in progress. Just been thinking about it for a little bit. I'd love input from others to refine it, if it is something that could be considered for addition to Game!


This is a quest and a new Pet/feature all in one.

The new Pet is the Monster Biologist who keeps a Bestiary of all the monsters you slay while he is following you. The Bestiary would be accessible either through the Profile or perhaps some area/NPC on the Town map (like a Zoo or Taxidermist or something).

I envision the quest being in a new area, ideally an exotic tropical island or something accessible by boat from the docks visible in the top left of the Town map. There could possibly be a toll to use the boat transportation to get to the island, if such a thing is appropriate, although I don't envision it being nearly as expensive as Holiday Island.

Since gaining the services of the Monster Biologist would be the prize for completing the quest, I don't think that the Quest Master need be involved beyond possibly giving the player a hint once the new area is available. Certainly no gold or experience need be awarded.

Once the player arrives on the island, there would be several areas to explore, each one more difficult than the last and probably restricted by level so that the player must return several times over a few levels in order to complete all the goals for the quest. Since it would cost some amount of money to reach the island, possibly having a healer there would be a good feature, except having the prices be significantly higher than the healer in Town yet still cheap enough to make it worth using the island healer instead of making a return trip via boat to Town to heal there.

On the island, there could also be a Lead Scientist, the equivalent of the Town's Quest Master, who would advise the player about the details of the quest. I haven't thought too much about details, but the basic theme behind the quest would be something like this:
  • There are several tribes of monsters on the island that are being studied by a group of scientists.
  • The monsters have raided the camp of the scientists and each tribe has stolen an important piece of equipment/machinery or kidnapped an important person. To prevent the creation of additional items, perhaps the monsters have instead overtaken various areas of the scientists' camp and must be cleared out of each area in turn.
  • The player must quest in each of the monster areas to win and return each item/clear the area and return it to the scientists' control.
  • I personally prefer quests that end with fighting some sort of boss, so once a player has killed enough of each monster type in an area or gotten a special item (ala flashlight, darkness inhibitor), he goes on to fight the leader of the tribe and win the special quest item/win back control of that area.
Once the player has returned all the items to the Lead Scientist/won control of all monster-occupied areas, he could grant the player an item that when used would turn into the Monster Biologist Pet or just be given the new pet directly, again to prevent the creation of a new item.
--Will aka Smelly Steve
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evev
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Post by evev »

I like the idea of a multi-part, over-arching quest that a player can complete at their leisure as they level along.

The new area mechanic reminds me too much of the Holiday Island, but alright, I can dig it. Personally I have zero problems with charging a player an arm and a leg to visit the island because the way this quest is described now it's a luxury that has nothing to do with evening the playing field.

Where everything starts getting unraveled for me is the pet/bestiary part. I feel that the function the Monster Biologist would perform is unnecessary and would detract form the game-play experience. Between the BK Detective and a player's skills at observation and documentation you already have a way of creating the bestiary of your dreams.

One of the things that I enjoy doing when all my characters are too tired to adventure is compile and edit the information gathered during the day by updating monster charts, tracking character progression and their knowledge of recipes and combinations. The game just handing me even more monster information once I met some arbitrary requirements would provide even less incentive to pay attention during fights.

Overall, I'm really confused by the desire to take even more aspects of Game! from the player's control. In my opinion, if someone is that desirous of an automated way of gathering monster information they have the option of writing a greasemonkey script of firefox extension.
Will
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Post by Will »

Thanks for the feedback. I can see where you're coming from, but there's already a bunch of features that are similar to an automatically compiled Bestiary. For example, when you discover a new item combination or recipe, it is automatically documented for you so that you can refer to it later. Not only that, but you can cook those recipes/combine those items automatically by simply clicking the handy link, even if multiple combination steps are required. Now, I will be the first to admit that this isn't the same thing, but it is quite similar.

In fact, there appear to be several features in the works that would encourage players to read even less. Features such as customizable hot keys and scripted battles would allow essentially mindless Game!play if the player desired to take advantage of the features in that way.

I enjoy "paying attention" and reading all the various clever monster names, features, attacks, etc. However, this fails to hold my interest after the first few encounters with a particular new monster when I've read the stuff before. I can't imagine that I'm alone in this and I'm sure I'm not the only one who "just clicks through" fights against monsters you've already seen when you're grinding to level up or waiting for a rare drop.

The good thing about the Monster Biologist would be that he's optional. For players who get enjoyment from keeping detailed notes, like the ones you described, they don't have to make use of the Monster Biologist and his Bestiary. For me, and probably many others, Game! is a relaxing break, a stress reliever, and a diversion; taking notes would detract from the experience.
--Will aka Smelly Steve
Will
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Post by Will »

Not to beat a dead horse, but players also get to view all/most of the items that exist in Game in the Market through sales and reservations, a system that gives away several of the item combinations and recipes through either item names, descriptions, or pictures.

I have to admit that when I discovered this, my curiosity got the better of me and I looked at a bunch of the items only to immediately realize how they are created.

The feature was available, I made the choice to make use of it, and as a result there's a few puzzles that I don't get to solve in the way they were probably intended.
--Will aka Smelly Steve
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evev
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Post by evev »

The main purpose of having a list of combinations and recipes is to allow a player to easily create batches of items. From what you currently describe, the bestiary would be a static list and thus I feel the comparison is invalid.

Hotkeys are on the TODO list, but I fail to see how they would make gameplay any less "mindless" than clicking buttons with the mouse. While there has been one discussion about bots, no conclusion has been reached about their inclusion on the forums. If you are privy to additional information on bot/scripting development for Game! then I encourage you to share it.
Will wrote:I can't imagine that I'm alone in this and I'm sure I'm not the only one who "just clicks through" fights against monsters you've already seen when you're grinding to level up or waiting for a rare drop.
I'm unsure what point you are trying to make. Personally I referred to reading the combat outcomes to try and establish the amount of exp and gold a monster gives, along with any trends to the items they drop.

As I tried to write in my initial post, the Monster Biologist feels like a substitute for something a player has several ways of doing already (observation and records or scripting) and something that we both admit is not integral to gameplay. Furthermore, he comes at a cost of designing and implementing even more additional content in the form of multiple new areas, quests and monsters just to bring players one new pet.
Will wrote:Not to beat a dead horse, but players also get to view all/most of the items that exist in Game in the Market through sales and reservations, a system that gives away several of the item combinations and recipes through either item names, descriptions, or pictures.
I myself have commented that the reservation system is a bit broken (scroll to the bottom of that post). Having a list of all the game's items available to you from level 0 via reservations does take away some of the mystery of the game. However, I see nothing wrong with being able to see and examine items placed for sale or swap by other players. In fact I would argue that the game works as intended by providing hints for item creation in item names, item descriptions or item pictures. I'm sorry if you feel somehow cheated, but I personally would rather have the option of finding hints in-game instead of begging older players for tips or stumbling around blindly.
Will
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Post by Will »

I may not have communicated clearly, but the point I was trying to make was that there are already several features of Game! that don't "provide incentive to pay attention during fights" and "take...aspects of Game! from the player's control."

In my opinion, the Bestiary would be a beneficial feature to the way that I enjoy Game!. I don't see it as a static list, any more than inventory is a static list. It changes over time based on the player's accomplishments and provides a way to review those accomplishments without taking notes. Taking notes may be an enjoyable endeavor to some, but I don't [edit]personally find it enjoyable[/edit].

I can certainly see the point about spending limited development resources wisely. If this is not a feature that the developer(s) feel is a good addition or that won't be useful to a majority of players, then spending time on it isn't a good idea.

Anyway, ven if the Bestiary is not added to Game!, I'd still like to see the inclusion of a quest similar to what I described in that it encompasses more than one goal, spread out over a few levels. I feel quite strongly that quests make the leveling process much more enjoyable. Instead of just grinding through, you have a specific short to medium term goal that keeps things interesting and enjoyable.

If the idea I put forth for the quest is workable, I'd be very happy to put more thought into it, try to come up with some more concrete story line, monsters, whatever. Just want to get at least some idea if it is something I should put time into.
--Will aka Smelly Steve
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evev
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Post by evev »

I believe everyone is in agreement regarding quests being highlights in the game and the need for the inclusion of more quality quests. Also, I think you are certainly onto an interesting idea in spirit, if not execution.

In general I think that the question we should be asking ourselves is: How can we create exciting new content containing original quest mechanics that all players can enjoy while reusing as many pieces of existing items, monsters, locations, and art assets as possible.
Will wrote:... to put more thought into it ... if it is something I should put time into ...
As I tried to recommend in my post that you initially quoted, it's always a good idea to include as many creative details (descriptions, flavor text, names) and technical details (levels, mechanics, formulas) as possible in a submission to pave the way for a good discussion.

I'm unsure what features you have in mind when you say the game already provides several disincentives to pay attention during fights. I am guessing you refer to the cooking and combination lists when you use my quote: "taking aspects of Game! from the player's control". If that's the case then we'll have to agree to disagree, although I hasten to point out that it's up to the player to keep a record of stamina, HP and Fullness, he gains from consuming food.

When it comes to fighting monsters I feel that players have been given plenty of means to collect and track all the information you refer to and basically you seem to be asking for it to be handed to you on a silver plate instead. The idea of a built-in bestiary just seems like a slippery slope to me.
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Mad Merlin
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Post by Mad Merlin »

Overall I think the idea has merit and is worth expanding upon, however...

I don't think the whole quest should revolve around the proposed new pet, as I'm not really sure that I want to add that feature in the first place, and I also suspect that some people may not find the reward to be worthwhile.

I'd probably also avoid spreading the quest areas over several character levels without logically separating the quest into multiple pieces (each of which having a interim reward and such), as I think it'd be frustrating to get the quest partially done and then have the (arbitrary) level roadblock sitting in the way of completing the rest of it. I do think that the increasing difficult is a good idea though, but that can be done within a single character level.
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