LIANNASAYS'S PROFILE

I was being vague, my bad. There is an adventure in each episode, so it wouldn't make sense starting from episode three. This is the plot, bare bones:

#1) Episode one is where Player is taken out of her small village by a friend on a quest to lift a curse he brought into her village. They need an enchantment on a tool to dig out a cursed skeleton he buried there to hide.
#2) Episode two reveals the back story of the re-animated skeleton and how her friend came to discover it, revealing the antagonists.
#3) Episode three is where the skeleton offers a reward in exchange for Player 1 and 2's help in finding his family and ----, all whilst being pursued (which I won't delve into).

The daily tasks system will be used at the start of episode one to lead the Player to the necessary turning points. There won't be any playing piano scales, I'll definitely heed your words about dull tasks. These ones will be essential to moving the plot forward.

But back to OT: I guess the daily part isn't all that necessary. I could just pile up tasks that lead to one another and let the player sleep whenever they need to heal. Would it be harder to implement a daily quota of tasks as opposed to using one complete to-do list?

author=LockeZ
Hmm, the typical beginning of a "hero's journey" involves leaving your old life behind when you become a hero. There's a reason for this: you have to step out of your comfort zone in order to change into something extraordinary.

Good point, I've definitely taken this into consideration in my storyline. I mentioned before that the game is organized into episodes; the character won't leave behind their old life until the third episode. The first two episodes are more like a prologue, showing the series of strange events that lead to their final, big adventure.

Also, thanks for the great suggestions, bulma. A lot of the tasks will probably be tied in together like you suggested.

I'm looking for opinions on a day-to-day task based system. Is it helpful and has anyone tried this?

I want my storyline to move in a linear fashion, and though there will be side-missions to complete at anytime, I want a certain number of events to be completed each day before the story can move forward (the player goes to sleep). I plan on using a to-do list to display given chores while side quests will be discovered by the player as they play.

The map space is small at times, so instead of constantly traveling, the players will spend some time in a familiar area. This means a lot more events have to be opened, closed and new events put over them in some cases. This isn't to say that new maps won't be introduced (they will) because the daily event system won't be necessary when the real adventure begins, and players are constantly moving forward (like in a regular RPG).

So what do you think?

Intermittently working on my first attempt at a game.
It's about a farmer girl dragged on an adventure by a childhood friend who found a reanimated skeleton from a shipwreck that wants to find its family and is offering them a sum of gold to help.
(It's not a huge game, and it's also not a classic RPG, but I wanted to start small and complete something first.)

Good point. I guess each part will need its own central conflict, leading up to the main one.