Description

A big component of games is the story, but there are games out there where the draw is not the story, the characters, the setting or the gameplay (well, not as much, anyway). It's the sidequests, and that's why we're here today - to make a game based on quests!


What is a Sidequest?
Sidequests are quests that are, quite often, optional. They tend to add more meat to a game and often require the player to do particular tasks in exchange for treasure. Different kinds of sidequests tend to have particular expectations on how to complete them.

They are as follows:

- Fetch Quests: Find items and bring them back to the quest giver. These can be as simple as buying an item from a shop, or as hard as going through a whole optional dungeon in order to find a lost item. They can be integral to the story, or not at all a part of it, but the main component is "Go here and get this for me".
- Battle/Exploration/Tutorial Quests: Usually revolve around aspects of the battle system, exploration or tutorial, which help your character learn how to use various aspects of the game. Usually these are once-and-done miniquests that aim to teach by example. "Jump over 10 logs/Create 3 potions/Use Combo-attack 5 times against an enemy" are all examples of these kinds of quests.
- Kill Quests: Kill x number of enemies for me! These are the most simple of quests, usually, though they can be annoying if the monster in question is hard to find.
- Chain Quests: A series of quests that connect to each other. "Bring this to my friend > it's the wrong item, go get me the right one > take this back to the original guy > now use this to kill an enemy for me > etc". They usually can contain various different types of quests within them.
- Escort Quests: Protect a character or thing until you reach a specific area. Some of these will require in or out of battle protection.
- Gather Quests: Like the Fetch Quests, this requires that you gather a set amount of items, whether from enemy drops or interaction with the environment. They require finding specific items, collecting an amount and bringing them back to the quest giver.
- Timed Quests: You usually have a set amount of time to do this quest in, and usually it overlaps with other kinds of quests, but the main component is that race against the clock.
- Hybrid Quests: Quests tend to overlap various quest types to create a particular quest. For example, a kill quest that also doubles as an escort mission, where you must help an NPC to kill a set amount of monsters for them to pass a test.
- Story Quests: Not usually considered sidequests, these are quests that move the story forward, but can also be used to delve deeper into the lore or characterisation of the game world or characters. They usually involve any of the above quest types but are centred around the story/lore/characters/etc of the game.

- Miniquests are sidequests in miniature. They tend to require very little of the player beyond what they've already done in the game, and rarely (if ever) ask the player to leave the immediate area/zone in order to complete them. Such quests can include aspects of any of the above, however on a much smaller scale. For example, giving someone a potion, asking you to kill rats in a room, asking you to talk to someone in the house next door.


What are we doing?
In this event the idea is to create a game that focuses on what would usually be an optional aspect of a game. The story of the game can be quite short, in and of itself, as the main aspect will be the quests themselves. In this event you can structure the game to follow only sidequests, or have a short story as an aside to the quests, but the main component of the game, the main focus, must be the quests.

You will be tasked to create a game with at least ten sidequests within it, if not more, and those required ten must make use of ten of the listed quest names below, either as direct reference to the quests themselves, or as inspiration for them.

That is: Make game with 10 or more sidequests, but 10 of them must be directly inspired from the listed quest names below. An actual over-arching story/main quest for your game is completely optional.


Rules
- Start on the 21sth of January. Remember to set your site time zone so that you can check this page for the event start and end times!
- Games must be full games. As the story isn't the main aspect, you can have something very short.
- When you have enough details about your game, CREATE A GAME PAGE, at least a few days before the end of the event (remember, game pages need to be checked over. Give time just in case it gets denied and you have to fix something! Last minute game pages will be met with face-palmage and me crossly flailing my arms around asking "Why?! Why do they do this every goddamn event?!")
- End date is midnight of February 19th. Again, please set your site timezone preferences so that you can tell when that is!
- You may team up, if you so wish.
- You may be part of multiple teams, if you so wish.
- You must include a list of the named quests you used in a Read Me file in the game folder OR someplace on the game page.

- Your game must have at least 10 of the named quests below.
- Your game can have no main quest, or something short. The main component must be the quests, though.

The Quests
Pick at least ten of the below names to base ten of your quests on. You may have more than ten quests total, or exactly ten, but a requirement of the event is to have ten quests within your game based on the quest names/titles below.

+ Blood on the Snow
+ The Ballad of the Grey Man
+ Suzy's Catastrophic Day
+ Oops! Suddenly... Cthulhu!
+ The Good, The Bad, and the Etc.
+ Where-ever I Lay My Head
+ Any Port in a Storm
+ Vape Me!
+ The Wrong Bees
+ The Case of the Empty Coffin
+ Midnight Rendezvous
+ Visions and Voices
+ The Last Dancer
+ Dark Side of the Road
+ Curses and Curls
+ The Shopping List
+ Her Sigh
+ Wendigo Mountain
+ Abigail Road
+ Luxuries of Lamplaw Lookout
+ A Twisted Beauty
+ Oops! Suddenly... Cthulhu! Part II
+ Twin Souls
+ The Mystery of the Missing Misao
+ Flowers at Fanninglow Fen
+ The Terrific Tale of One-Legged Lon
+ A Grave Remembrance
+ The Mistress and Her Cicisbeo
+ The Diamond of Gugglebug Gulch
+ Rune of the Moon
+ Ye Olde Guitar of the Blood God
+ The Toprock Narratives
+ The Downrock Diatribes
+ Power Moves and Freezes
+ Kitten Kabootle
+ Precognitive Dissonance
+ Chaos Emerald Weapon
+ Bone of Contention
+ Lord Jim: A Tale
+ Centaur for Disease Control
+ Fedora the Explorer
+ Temporal Pair of Socks
+ The Dragon, the Witch and the Wardrobe Malfunction
+ A Bridge Over Trolled Waters
+ Good Knight, Sweet Prince
+ The Littlest Megabiologist
+ The Dog Who Cried 'Woof!'
+ There's Snow Stopping Us Now!
+ On the Hills of Hervanen
+ Bandits in Bunkaloo Bush
+ All's Well That Ends Well
+ The Mourning After
+ rand(x) Time's The Charm
+ The Merchant of Riffolk
+ Of Dice and Men
+ Little Buoy, Blue
+ My Name, My Rules
+ "Normal" aka "Your Idea of Normal Hurts Me Deep, Deep Inside"
+ Help Me, Gobi One
+ The Golden Idol
+ A Stitch In Time
+ A Parade of Pandas
+ The Great Goatsby
+ Tex-Mex on the Beach
+ I Know What You Did Last Drummer
+ #blame(insertnameherebutesbyworksbestby)
+ Money Talks
+ Witch Upon a Star
+ Hello, Is It Bee You're Looking For
+ Which Hour?
+ Paint it Black-ish
+ These Ain't The Right Trousers
+ Lit Green with Envy
+ The Miracle on Ice
+ Three Crowns, One Euro
+ Dude, Where's My Griffin?!
+ Blackhawk's Down
+ The Gretzky Escape
+ Not Just Another Sidequest



Submission
To submit your game to the event, follow these directions:
- Sign up for this event.
- Create a Game Page when you have enough information about your game to do so. (Please leave enough time for it to go through the queue and to allow for uploading/fixing/etc.)
- When your Game Page has been accepted to the site, upload your game to the game page.
- When your game has finished uploading, come to this page and hit the "Submit" button in the top-right corner.
- From there pick the download of that game and submit it. It should show up next to your name on the list of entries.
- If you have any questions or issues, about this, please PM Liberty before the end date.
- Make sure to include the Read Me file with the names of the quests you were inspired by in the download (or somewhere on the game page).


FAQs
How obscure can we be?
A little obscure, yeah, but not so obscure that people can't figure out where the idea came from on the list. You can fudge the spelling on some of the words, too, as long as it remains similar to the original. For example "Morning > Mourning".

Details

  • 01/21/2017 12:00 AM
  • 02/20/2017 02:00 AM
  • 10

Achievements

Registration

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Teams Members Entry
Doing nothing or hardly trying
Its cold and there are frostwolves out
Crazuman
This Team has Nothing Whatsoever to do with Dragons
We screwed everything up, but we're trying to fix it now, okay?
Murder She Worf
Team Name
I HOPE THIS TIME I'D HAVE ENOUGH TIME FOR FINISH THIS FREAKIN' GAME
Team Late to the Party
Team Probably Not Making Anything Again
HexComet
We Have Slain the Dragon oh look a little girl lost her cat
Team Deckiller
a series of disappointing events
how the heck am I making a cohesive narrative out of this
Side by Side Warrior
When it's all over, we still have to clear up
Aw Hell,l I might as well join... I got nothing better to do.
Oh but it's Klold out side!
https://pics.onsizzle.com/Facebook-a212ce.png
Maybe I'll find time... mabe not... have some glitter meanwhile...
procedural quest generator
Merk-antile
Emag Retniw Memories
Team Names Suck
Gam Maek
TEAM SLACKER
80 Hours of Optional Content
A CAT AND HIS CHEERLEADER
Team FFX-2 Clone GOGOGOGOG
Team Name Goes Here
I Love Sidequests
Cute Girls do Cute Things
The weather outside is HOT AS HELL, let's make sidequests
The Weather Outside is Gam Mak
Team Not Gonna Submit Anything
Team (oh frick i accidentally lost all my motivation)
Sir Questalot
maybe someday sometime
Side Quest for Glory
Machine Hangar
Out questing, please come back later unless you want to join me
Team Rat Race
Hecka Cool Boys Studio (Punk + Hekset: Buddy Cop Duo)
Team, get it in
Team Name
I mak gams therefore I join
Whoops I just failed
Team-a-ding-ding
Studio SaGa Q
Team Blob of Game
Simple RTP Game
Always late to the party
Can't think of a name
Sidequest Lord
A Mechanical Garden
School, exams, and game making... I am not sure I can finish in time :(

Posts

CashmereCat
Self-proclaimed Puzzle Snob
11638
@Kylaila & @Delsin7 Oh, thank you so much for your kind support. You people are the best! If all else fails, I'll just add more cats. Thanks for cheering me on!

@karins_soulkeeper You can do it, karin's soulkeep! You are able to make a fun game if you play to your strengths, or you can just be like me and have fun making a silly yet unique game! Either way, we're in the same boat. Let's do this!
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Hi, Cashy! Did you get me message on Skype? You've been hacked. You're sending spam messages.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Hrm. I suppose I could take what I did for Myraid Cypher's random missions, and restructure it a little. I have no idea if I will have any free time, though!
The Lazy Quest-o-matic

Having trouble coming up with that last quest needed to finish your game? Need a few diversionary sidequests and are fresh out of ideas? Then grab a normal six-sided die and start The Lazy Quest-o-matic. Make two rolls, and apply the results as below:

First Roll:
If Roll is: The action of the quest is to:
1 Liberate/Recover/Intercept
2 Destroy/Kill
3 Guard/Defend
4 Transport/Escort/Journey To
5 Create/Build/Summon
6 Gather Information About

Second Roll:
If Roll is: The object of the quest is to:
1 Item
2 NPC
3 Message/Data
4 Secret or Dangerous Location
5 Magical Equipment/Technology
6 Monster

Note for all the actions that there are contingencies separated by slashes. It would be pretty strange to Escort a Dangerous Location. You are, of course, not restricted to this list. Make your own list, or use a higher-numbered die. Or add a third die with a setting (cave/dungeon, forest, tower, temple, castle/village, swamp).
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
author=pianotm
Hi, Cashy! Did you get me message on Skype? You've been hacked. You're sending spam messages.


Oh yeah, didn't pay attention to who sent it but you sent me one too, so better get on that.


Also kentona I will use that for every sidequest it is a perfect generator
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
kentona
It would be pretty strange to Escort a Dangerous Location.


you're on
kentona
It would be pretty strange to Escort a Dangerous Location.


You can always escort a flying castle :3
Kloe
I lost my arms in a tragic chibi accident
2236
Team Kloe it's up to 3, yay! I can't wait for this! :D
<3 This is so awesome!
I see wonderful things. Wonderful teams, wonderful people!

And snow. Just not outside.
author=Liberty
They're just kidding around, sheba, don't worry. ^.^

Oh my God, I feel relieved! ;-;

author=pianotm
karins_soulkeeper
Probably has something to do with our brand-spankin-new nuclear missile launch button :)
Sooz is right, though. That little icon makes me want to press it every time I see it.


Whaaaat??? ;0;
author=white_sheba
author=pianotm
karins_soulkeeper
Probably has something to do with our brand-spankin-new nuclear missile launch button :)
Sooz is right, though. That little icon makes me want to press it every time I see it.
Whaaaat??? ;0;
The radioactive icon next to the "Report" button's new. Applied no more than a day ago, I think? We're just poking fun on it.

Sorry if our shenanigans are getting/have gotten out of hand :)

author=CashmereCat
@karins_soulkeeperYou can do it, karin's soulkeep! You are able to make a fun game if you play to your strengths, or you can just be like me and have fun making a silly yet unique game! Either way, we're in the same boat. Let's do this!
I... I can do it? I can do it. I can do it. I CAN DO IT.

WRRROOAAARRGRHRHRGRHRLLLFLFLFLGBBDHFHRKSKDJFFFFFF

Coffee machines where violated that day.

Edit: Seriously though, thanks Cash! Let's all make this a fun event :)
Post favorite side quests/names to get some inspiration going!

Two of mine are from FF14 (FF14 has a lot of great quest names) for when you go to the first dungeon and when you revisit it much later:

It's Probably Pirates
When you have to go investigate some sea cove for strange occurrences and see if there are pirates there! (there are and you punch them)

It's Definitely Pirates
When much later (at the old level cap) you get called to investigate the same sea cove again. This time much much more horrible things are happening in the area and only you can fix them! Features punching pirates who have been corrupted into Cthulu-esque monsters as punishment for getting punched by you the first time.
Craze
why would i heal when i could equip a morningstar
15150
ff14 quest names are the best/worst. i named my FC "Nine Ilm Nails" only to discover that there's a Fate called "Nine Ilm Snails" in upper LN. kansdfoinl
Seiromem
I would have more makerscore If I did things.
6375
author=white_sheba
author=Liberty
They're just kidding around, sheba, don't worry. ^.^
Oh my God, I feel relieved! ;-;


worry
author=white_sheba
author=Liberty
They're just kidding around, sheba, don't worry. ^.^
Oh my God, I feel relieved! ;-;

All good : ) *hugs*

And I am excited!
author=Versalia
author=Link_2112
Does the game have to consist only of gameplay related to doing the side quests? Where you might see mention of a main story but the game never gets around to that.
In this event you can structure the game to follow only sidequests, or have a short story as an aside to the quests


I'm still uncertain because the description also says

Your game can have no main quest, or something short. The main component must be the quests, though.


So is there a point where if too much of the game deals with a main quest that the side quests no longer become the main component, then it fails the spirit of the event? (but really, nothing will change if it does fail the spirit? since there's no actual judging or prizes)

Using my previous example, if running the side quest errands takes about 20 minutes and you have the choice of either ending the game there or continuing on to save the world, and then saving the world takes 1 hour, does that mean the game strayed too far from the rules because the main quest becomes the biggest component? Or is it still ok because the player could end after doing the side quests, and finishing the main quest itself becomes an optional quest?

I would prefer an answer from Libery since she's the one in charge. I'm not asking hypotheticals here. Based on initial talks, this will directly affect our game :P
hmmm hiya, I've got a question regarding this: "- Start on the 21sth of January."
does this mean that I can't use the project I've currently been working on,or that I'll have to make a entirely new one?
also can I use premade stuff like the default music and battle animations?

Cheers
Question! By 'full game' do you mean a game with a start and end lasting any amount of time, or is there a specific amount of gameplay needed?
Also...

+ The Wrong Bees

This sounds great. Like, "oh yes i'm sorry sir i accidentally delivered you the wrong bees"
Versalia
must be all that rtp in your diet
1405
author=Link_2112
a ton of over-analysis


if you're that worried about the 'main story' crossing the line maybe you should re-think your approach to a gam that is literally about avoiding the main story?? it says you don't even need to include one
Again, it's an event, not a competition, so we're not going to worry too much about definitions and the like. Just include at least 10 list-inspired sidequests in your game. If you're worried that they're too main-questy, then add more sidequests!

Do keep in mind that you can create your own sidequests that aren't based off the list, just that 10 of your total sidequests have to be.


Full game means that it's completed - I mean, if you want to go back after the event and build more into it, I can't stop you, but we're not allowing demos. It has to have a clear cut ending! No "To Be Continued~" or loose ends to whatever the main story (if you have one) is used.