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[POLL] DESIGN OF A QUEST MENU
Poll
How should new quests be added to a quest menu? - Results
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Add on Bottom of Menu
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0
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0%
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Add in a pre-determined location in Menu
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2
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100%
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Posts
Pages:
1
hedge1
862
hedge1
View playlists
CloseI'm working on a quest menu and want to know how, from a game play perspective, people want it to function. The menu itself will be in list format and have an option to see all quests or just those not yet completed.
There are two options:
1. Newly received quests appear on the bottom of the list. So if you're at the end of the game and return to the first town and find a quest, it will appear as the very last item in the list, next to any other recently acquired quest (likely other end-game ones).
2. Quests have a pre-determined order and once you are given a quest it will always appear in the same location in the menu. So if you're at the end of the game and return to the first town and find a quest, it will appear near the top of the menu with all the other quests from that town.
For me the advantage of Option 1 is that it easy to find new quests and in many ways makes sense from a player perspective (they get a new quest and they add it to the list). The advantage of Option 2 is that it adds a bit of order to the menu and overall player experience.
In neither option will blank spaces appear in the menu. In both options I could also assign location names to the quest information, so that knowing approximately where a quest originated can be done with either option.
I'm not interested in highlighting quests in the menu that have not been "read" yet, due to the extra programming involved, but could see that as a valid enhancement if it appears important enough.
There are two options:
1. Newly received quests appear on the bottom of the list. So if you're at the end of the game and return to the first town and find a quest, it will appear as the very last item in the list, next to any other recently acquired quest (likely other end-game ones).
2. Quests have a pre-determined order and once you are given a quest it will always appear in the same location in the menu. So if you're at the end of the game and return to the first town and find a quest, it will appear near the top of the menu with all the other quests from that town.
For me the advantage of Option 1 is that it easy to find new quests and in many ways makes sense from a player perspective (they get a new quest and they add it to the list). The advantage of Option 2 is that it adds a bit of order to the menu and overall player experience.
In neither option will blank spaces appear in the menu. In both options I could also assign location names to the quest information, so that knowing approximately where a quest originated can be done with either option.
I'm not interested in highlighting quests in the menu that have not been "read" yet, due to the extra programming involved, but could see that as a valid enhancement if it appears important enough.
I'd actually recommend 'decay'. Meaning that when a quest is complete, send it to the bottom of the pile so incomplete quests remain at the top.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
If there are a finite number of quests in the game, but a lot of them are missable, I'd definitely appreciate knowing when I missed one. Having them be listed in order but numbering them would do that.
But yeah, like Liberty said, I wouldn't recommend mixing current quests in with completed quests. Either have two separate lists, or put all the current quests first and all the completed ones after that. Almost every game does separates them out.
But yeah, like Liberty said, I wouldn't recommend mixing current quests in with completed quests. Either have two separate lists, or put all the current quests first and all the completed ones after that. Almost every game does separates them out.
Dreaded
772
I'd actually like new quests/sidequests to appear at the top.
I also plan to incorporate a quest menu in my own game (which will be underutilized for this first demo since Act 1 is fairly linear) but I am concerned with it being a little cumbersome to script like the above (I'm using RM2k3). My best idea would be to create a matrix assigning quests to a number and then filling the slots with that number which would correspond with a quest and using the if greater than 0 function when receiving a new quest, but again, I'd like to avoid cumbersome scripting.
I also plan to incorporate a quest menu in my own game (which will be underutilized for this first demo since Act 1 is fairly linear) but I am concerned with it being a little cumbersome to script like the above (I'm using RM2k3). My best idea would be to create a matrix assigning quests to a number and then filling the slots with that number which would correspond with a quest and using the if greater than 0 function when receiving a new quest, but again, I'd like to avoid cumbersome scripting.
Dreaded
772
I'd actually like new quests/sidequests to appear at the top.
I also plan to incorporate a quest menu in my own game (which will be underutilized for this first demo since Act 1 is fairly linear) but I am concerned with it being a little cumbersome to script like the above (I'm using RM2k3). My best idea would be to create a matrix assigning quests to a number and then filling the slots with that number which would correspond with a quest and using the if greater than 0 function when receiving a new quest, but again, I'd like to avoid cumbersome scripting.
I also plan to incorporate a quest menu in my own game (which will be underutilized for this first demo since Act 1 is fairly linear) but I am concerned with it being a little cumbersome to script like the above (I'm using RM2k3). My best idea would be to create a matrix assigning quests to a number and then filling the slots with that number which would correspond with a quest and using the if greater than 0 function when receiving a new quest, but again, I'd like to avoid cumbersome scripting.
hedge1
862
Thanks for the replies.
There would be two separate lists, with one being only active quests, as I alluded to in my original post:
Due to how I'm designing the game overall it doesn't make sense to have strict "completed" and "not completed" lists, which is why I'm doing "active" and "all" lists instead.
@Dreaded: Is it OK if your quest menu is map/event based rather than picture based? I have a fairly nifty map based quest menu that's easy to use and pretty neat, if I do say so myself. It's also useless for most games now days since no one likes screwing up event locations on a map when accessing a menu.
If you're interested in my picture-based version, I'm using one of Cherry's picture patches so that I can reference pictures with variables. Then I'm making all of my quest text just pictures with the referenced variable, and then allocated a large list of other variables as the "quest list." From there the big question is: when a new quest is added, where do I put it? Does it belong at the end of the list? The beginning? Or is there some "sort order" for where the quest should be inserted.
@LockeZ: I'll have to think about leaving blanks where a quest exists but was not found. I'm not a fan how that looks and it would add bulk to a list. It also might make some people compulsive as they try to find all of the quests in any given area. But on the positive side, for those trying to find every quest it makes their job a lot easier.
Does anyone else want to weigh in on showing blanks for missing quests?
EDIT: Does anyone know how to edit the poll? The "edit poll" button at the bottom appears to just change the poll's question. I'd like to add a third option that is "Add in a pre-determined location in menu and show blanks for missing quests."
author=LockeZ
But yeah, like Liberty said, I wouldn't recommend mixing current quests in with completed quests. Either have two separate lists, or put all the current quests first and all the completed ones after that. Almost every game does separates them out.
There would be two separate lists, with one being only active quests, as I alluded to in my original post:
The menu itself will be in list format and have an option to see all quests or just those not yet completed.
Due to how I'm designing the game overall it doesn't make sense to have strict "completed" and "not completed" lists, which is why I'm doing "active" and "all" lists instead.
@Dreaded: Is it OK if your quest menu is map/event based rather than picture based? I have a fairly nifty map based quest menu that's easy to use and pretty neat, if I do say so myself. It's also useless for most games now days since no one likes screwing up event locations on a map when accessing a menu.
If you're interested in my picture-based version, I'm using one of Cherry's picture patches so that I can reference pictures with variables. Then I'm making all of my quest text just pictures with the referenced variable, and then allocated a large list of other variables as the "quest list." From there the big question is: when a new quest is added, where do I put it? Does it belong at the end of the list? The beginning? Or is there some "sort order" for where the quest should be inserted.
@LockeZ: I'll have to think about leaving blanks where a quest exists but was not found. I'm not a fan how that looks and it would add bulk to a list. It also might make some people compulsive as they try to find all of the quests in any given area. But on the positive side, for those trying to find every quest it makes their job a lot easier.
Does anyone else want to weigh in on showing blanks for missing quests?
EDIT: Does anyone know how to edit the poll? The "edit poll" button at the bottom appears to just change the poll's question. I'd like to add a third option that is "Add in a pre-determined location in menu and show blanks for missing quests."
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Leaving blanks isn't necessary; if you wanted to encourage completionism the only thing you'd have to do is give each quest a number.
This would necessitate using option #2 in your poll, though. You'd need to have the quests listed in order, so that the player can scroll down through them and see that the list jumps from #7 to #9 and therefore he must have missed quest #8.
This would necessitate using option #2 in your poll, though. You'd need to have the quests listed in order, so that the player can scroll down through them and see that the list jumps from #7 to #9 and therefore he must have missed quest #8.
hedge1
862
I don't want to encourage completionism. I'm not against it either. I just don't want to make people feel like they need to find and complete all the quests in the game.
On the whole though I'm not having luck with an ideal system, so I think I'm proposing the following:
New quests populate in a pre-determined location/order. Upon receiving a quest it will highlight in your menu, and will stay highlighted until you view it. This should hopefully make it obvious for people to see what quest was new while also given them context for where the quest originated as well as give the list a sense of order and logic. There will be no gaps in the list and no way to show if a quest was missed.
Does that sound reasonable?
On the whole though I'm not having luck with an ideal system, so I think I'm proposing the following:
New quests populate in a pre-determined location/order. Upon receiving a quest it will highlight in your menu, and will stay highlighted until you view it. This should hopefully make it obvious for people to see what quest was new while also given them context for where the quest originated as well as give the list a sense of order and logic. There will be no gaps in the list and no way to show if a quest was missed.
Does that sound reasonable?
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
If you don't want to make people feel compelled to find and complete all the quests in the game, then yeah, don't number them.
Your plan makes sense, I guess. Though if I'm the one playing, the highlighted new quest is likely to be lost in a sea of highlighted old quests. I'm certainly going to find it annoying if every time I get a quest I have to open the menu and manually de-highlight it. I'm sort of having PTSD flashbacks to the datalog in FF13 that would update itself after almost every single battle and show you bouncing exclamation points in the menu until you read the new info.
Personally, I'd just categorize them by zone. Then the player will be able to read the list easily, and be able to tell what's new without you flagging it as unread, because it'll be listed in their current zone.
Something like, um, this?
(Color coding optional. Daily indicators unnecessary.)
Your plan makes sense, I guess. Though if I'm the one playing, the highlighted new quest is likely to be lost in a sea of highlighted old quests. I'm certainly going to find it annoying if every time I get a quest I have to open the menu and manually de-highlight it. I'm sort of having PTSD flashbacks to the datalog in FF13 that would update itself after almost every single battle and show you bouncing exclamation points in the menu until you read the new info.
Personally, I'd just categorize them by zone. Then the player will be able to read the list easily, and be able to tell what's new without you flagging it as unread, because it'll be listed in their current zone.
Something like, um, this?
(Color coding optional. Daily indicators unnecessary.)
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
It's the difficulty of the quest, based on your level compared to the level of the monsters you'd have to fight.
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