03-05-2008, 04:03 AM
See-Saw Quest System
Most of the quest systems out there are designed to work directly with the player(s) on a close level. The See-Saw Quest System affects the entire game and works well if you are using an alignment system.
Add some world flags into the game code. Place a few simple starting quests. When the players finish these quests, turn off that world flag; but then turn a new one on.
Example 1: Shaded goes to the little fishing village. He speaks to an NPC and quickly learns about a lost child in the caves. The code then turns on the flag that loads the girl in the cave. Well, any player can do this quest at the moment. Well if the player is good, the girl is returned to the city and reward given. If the player is evil, the player kidnaps the girl and she is brought to an evil city and turned is forced into slave labor. Well now both earlier flags are turned off, but a new one is turned on.
Example 2: You've gotten to a high level and your magical power has grown to an insane amount. Well you stumbled across a book in a catacombs. It contains the steps to summon an unmentionable create of massive power. Well you go through the steps and summon it. Being an evil mage you gain a good amount of experience and have finished your quest. But you just created one for the good player. This beast you have summoned rushes off into the wilderness. It is not causing chaos and someone needs to slay it.
There is a lot that you could do with this to make quests more interesting. An evil player does a quest that in return opens a quest for a good player. Not only do you allow a more dynamic system for quests, you allow players to leave their mark on the world. Also, since the quests are constantly opening up and changing, it will stay fresh...
Most of the quest systems out there are designed to work directly with the player(s) on a close level. The See-Saw Quest System affects the entire game and works well if you are using an alignment system.
Add some world flags into the game code. Place a few simple starting quests. When the players finish these quests, turn off that world flag; but then turn a new one on.
Example 1: Shaded goes to the little fishing village. He speaks to an NPC and quickly learns about a lost child in the caves. The code then turns on the flag that loads the girl in the cave. Well, any player can do this quest at the moment. Well if the player is good, the girl is returned to the city and reward given. If the player is evil, the player kidnaps the girl and she is brought to an evil city and turned is forced into slave labor. Well now both earlier flags are turned off, but a new one is turned on.
Example 2: You've gotten to a high level and your magical power has grown to an insane amount. Well you stumbled across a book in a catacombs. It contains the steps to summon an unmentionable create of massive power. Well you go through the steps and summon it. Being an evil mage you gain a good amount of experience and have finished your quest. But you just created one for the good player. This beast you have summoned rushes off into the wilderness. It is not causing chaos and someone needs to slay it.
There is a lot that you could do with this to make quests more interesting. An evil player does a quest that in return opens a quest for a good player. Not only do you allow a more dynamic system for quests, you allow players to leave their mark on the world. Also, since the quests are constantly opening up and changing, it will stay fresh...