Looking For Collaboration On Questing Add-On

[dominoid]

The thought here is to create an add-on that adds additional quests to the game. While an add-on is certainly no where as robust as a mod, this is still accomplish-able with the caveat of there is no end reward other than the conclusion of the story and journey of the quest. Actually the end “reward” could be a Treasure chest spawn location!

I wish to not only make a quest, but a framework to make it relatively easy for others to add quests of their own. I will also be developing a stand-alone “Quest Maker” that will auto build the LUA for the quest data to make it accessible to more creators.

The base quest progression will simply work through location checks and perhaps a key bind to perform an action at the location. Think of old school RPG's that had a "Do" key that would either pickup, read, open, etc depending upon location.


Picture the following "quest":

• Upon walking through a particular section of town - "simple" radius location check - you are notified (see notifications below) with the following:
  "You feel a slight tug at your pockets. You notice someone has slipped you a note and disappeared back into the shadows."
  <The Note is then displayed on your screen using standard LUA and UI>
• The note asks for your help, blah blah blah, and asks you to meet at the fishing camp by the river - there are literally hundreds of small already setup and unused areas like this in EACH ZONE of the game.
• Upon arriving at the camp no on is around, but an open journal lies on the ground - again these already exist in the game by the hundreds if you simply look for them.
• And so on.

Hopefully you can see how using existing areas in the game, you can weave a nice quest through the map with good storytelling.

I have made add-ons, Dominoid's Immersive Things, and very complicated mods - Dynamic Things. So this project isn't beyond my abilities. I would however like a collaborative effort as my LUA is very week.


Here are some sample ways to receive quests:

• The old note slipped into your pocket trick - location check
• Looting a particular item - item ID check upon entering inventory
• Looting a particular container - location check after container interaction
• Notifications - “That book on the table looks interesting” - location check
• Talking to a particular NPC - “Upon walking away XXX nervously slips you a note” - EVENT_CHATTER_END

Here are some sample quests steps that can be handled through the allowed API:

• Read non-interactable books and journals in game through a location check and possibly a “Do” key
• Go to a particular place - location check
• Retrieve X - loot and location check
  • For example a “drink” bottle buried in the sand along a river bank could be a particular message in a bottle when looted
  • A stack of coins on a desk could be a collection of rare coins
  • Removing a “poisoned” bowl of soup at a picnic spot to save someone’s life
• Using the “Do” key at anything of interest can move along the story. “Upon closer examination of the painting, you notice it isn't securely fashioned to the wall. You find a tattered note wedge into the frame on the backside”
• Pickpocket a particular NPC
• Burglar a particular house
• Fish at a particular fishing hole
• Collect X of an item - inventory check
• Collect X of an item from a particular area - custom counter with radius and inventory check
• Kill NPC X

Some “Immersive” ways to talk to NPCs

• Through a sewer grate
• Through an unopenable door
• Maybe a custom NPC dialog box for NPC’s without in-game dialog. The ones that simple say “Hey” when you click on them.

Here are some sample quest rewards

• Existing treasure chest location
• Images (displayed on in-game note paper) for:
  • A bunch of treasure chest location
  • A bunch of harvest nodes
  • A good grind spot

Notifications can come in the form of in-game notifications, alerts, a custom chat channel or perhaps better a custom notification panel that is more robust.

Map and compass POI markers could be added using existing methods - although my "quests" will be POI free.

The entire quest and quest steps are tracked in a custom journal similar to Harven's Quest Journal interface.


I think the importance of building this in a manner to make it modular for others to add quests from the start cannot be understated. I believe this to have the possibility to add unprecedented longevity to the game and to attract some of the best "modders"/Story Tellers to the game.

Thanks for your time.