Here it is! The Map Maker works for the most part, and I've even got a picture to prove it! When making a map you choose an image to use then draw all over it. In the picture here I'm drawing a boundary along the edge of the sea, so that in-game you couldn't just walk on water. It's like 1000 times faster than how I was making it in Darkened Dreams 1!
You can also make different regions and locations. Regions are larger areas and hold different information for your reputation, how NPCs in the region react, as well as weather patterns. Locations can hold information about what kind of plants grow, what kind of creatures are randomly generated, and where NPCs go during the day. For example, an NPC with a farmer job would go to the farm that is just to the right of what you can see on the map there during the day, and return to his home at night.
Lastly, about the interesting thing that I ran into in Daggerfall that I mentioned last week. I had just found the NPC contact that I was looking for and finished my minor little quest. I thought I'd see if the innkeeper had any food that I wanted, but as soon as I talked to him, he accused me of stealing his amber. He then disappeared and a warrior came through the door to get me. I had been framed! It was difficult, since I was only a level 1 character, but I managed to beat the warrior and snagged his stuff. I was pretty hurt, but I thought it would be safe to try and track the guy that accused me down. Everyone seemed to think he was still in the inn that I had come from.
Eventually I went to the other inn in town to rent a room. That innkeeper called the guards on me but slipped me a note. I was too hurt to try and fight, but I managed to slip through and went to the house that was in the note. It was locked. I had no lock picking skills. I bashed the door down, getting the guards attention again, and talked to the guy who let me know that I had been framed by the leader of this town. He let me know where her stash was and where her house was.
I went to the house first. Unfortunately no one was there (I was in the mood for a fight . . . if I could survive it) but I did find a note that proved I was framed and also explicitly mentioned who I should take the note to. Found him easy enough and then I just had to go into a dungeon to find the amber and clear my name. It was all unexpected, and I had a blast doing it. Coyote at rampant games had a similar experience.
So what do you think? What if there were random quests that just jumped at you like that every once in a while? Would you feel it was interesting, or would you just groan and reload your last save?
-Califer
2 comments:
Very nice work on the map editor, but my thought on the random quests.. i feel icky about it Runescape did the same thing, and i hated the quests i was forced to do to continue playing it was like a survey i had to fill out to play... i think we should have the option of accepting and ignoring the quest without it interupting the gaming experience
Runescape had random quests? Guess I never played it that long. Rest assured that most of the quests (even if I do put in forced random, only one vote so far) will give you an option of choosing them.
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