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.

[sirinsidiator]

Stahp it! You are making me overexcited.
I have planned something like this since more than a year ago, but haven't had the time to start anything yet.

If I where to make this, I would split it into several libraries that can be used independently of each other.
For example one library to handle NPC dialogs, another one to show custom books, a third one to handle quest progression and yet another one for quest markers on compass and map.
Authors who want to create custom content could then include the libraries they needed and put together their content.

I was also thinking about adding custom achievements, which could be a reward for finishing a story line.
If ZOS ever decides to allow custom sounds, we could even do dialogs with voice over.

[dominoid]

I envision the add-on to be a requirement for others looking to make a quest. Their LUA would be nothing but data to make the quest work - which will/could be written by an external program. They would of course be welcome to use the libraries to expand upon the concept, but I would like to add the functionality required to make their quest work into my base package.

[sirinsidiator]

I imagine you could make an addon that combines all these libraries and handles converting the input format into an actual quest, but I would also keep the option to use the parts without relying on the combined package. For example the NPC dialog library might be something one could use in a different addon, independently of the whole package.

[JC242]

Sounds like an excellent way to encourage role-playing, as it would be difficult (to impossible) to provide a concrete reward of experience, gold, or level-based loot. I don't mean that to discourage you -- far from it.

I used to (well, sometimes I still login) to Star Trek Online (Lifetime subs are great). One of the draws is that ordinary players can write scenario content, add NPC's, questing, dialogue, etc. Anyone can play through it once it is available. The only thing they cannot do (by design) is provide specific loot. You get a random chest at the end, and some XP. XP-farming and gold-farming made them redesign the system so that it's great for roleplay/immersion, but not as good as standard questing for those trying to level quickly.

I think what I'm saying here is that you might want to think bigger and get Zenimax involved. They might be looking into something like this already, or have had it tabled until someone comes along and offers a sensible mechanic for how to incorporate it into the existing content. Won't know until you ask.

That said, I'd be willing to Q/A a project like this. My coding days are... well, decades in the past, and to say I'm "rusty" is an insult to rust.

[aJamDonut]

Hey,

what a great idea and something I was also thinking about for my guild. Imagine deciding my guild members ranks by them completing quests which I decided - great idea.

I'm still new to lua and addon coding (although already a programmer) so would be excited to help with testing and code refactoring/bugfixing.

I have developed a quest system for an online game I operate - so in terms of the game mechanic designs and how to effectively "start", "check" and "end" a quest I have some experience - if that could help.

Update:

I also forgot this idea. Imagine your guildies are different types of crafters/farmers etc. The quest could be different for each of my guildies "types" for example; the gatherers of my guild would be given a quest to collect 200 ingots and either store them in the guild bank, or send them to the "holding" account - then the armourers would be given a quest to craft <x> amount of research trait items for the guild store from those ingots.

This will open up the "factory" flow of an efficient guild - and provide guildies with a lot more fun around their crafting. A guild writ essentially. The rewards will come from the guild who ultimately will make gold off taxes, donations and the "factory" model.

Thanks, Donut

[Ayantir]

Hello,

Did you started this project ?

I did an internnal "LibCustomAchievements" and will soon start a "LibCustomQuest" if you didn't yet started. If yes, I'll let you play with the code, if not, I'll consider starting something.

Thanks,