Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
: If Escape
@>
: Branch End
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There you have it! The player now has an extra quest that he/she can go on that is not strictly tied in to the
main plot.
Additional Exercises
Here are some exercises for you to flesh out this sidequest.
1.
Suppose we did want to tie this to the main plot. After the Ogre has been defeated, have
Eric and Noah talk about the possible relation between the Ogre's appearance and the
sounds the villagers have been hearing ever since Gemini was defeated.
SQ1Completed
to be on. Just make sure the
•
You can use an Autorun event that requires
event has a page 2 that does
not
Autorun.
•
For greater consistency, you could have a switch flip on when the player talks to a villager
who mentions the strange nighttime sounds. Then, the party should only speak about the
relation
if
they have heard about the happenings. Otherwise, you could just skip the chat
altogether.
2.
Change the Ogre encounter from its current state to one in which the player has
to withstand the monster's assault for a few turns. At the end of the final turn, the
SQ1Completed
switch is flipped, and the Ogre leaves the battle of its own volition, with the
Escape skill.
•
The easiest way to make sure that a certain level of damage output is kept up is to have a
completely static attack pattern. That way, the boss fight doesn't have random elements,
such as the enemy using its strongest attack four times in a row.
3.
Have Seaside's shopkeepers give the player a permanent discount for defeating the Ogre.
•
This is as simple as having a conditional branch in each of the town's shops. If
SQ1Completed
is on, then you charge a lesser price for every item in the shop. (You'll have
to specify the lower price of each item manually).
We have completed one of the sidequests we set out to make. Now, on to the second one!
Let's Create a Time-Sensitive Quest!
We have already made a quest that can be completed whenever the player chooses. However, time-sensitive quests
are useful for giving the player a sense of the world moving on its own. So, let's make a second quest that is active
from the start of the game
until
Gemini has been defeated. The quest will involve a man who wants five rat tails and
is willing to give the player a monetary reward for getting them for him. We want this quest to have three possible
outcomes.
1.
Quest forfeited.
Occurs if the player doesn't talk to the NPC at all until Gemini has been
defeated. The man will reference the work of a third party to get him his rat tails and drop a
hint that the player missed a possible quest.
