
Deriving Quests from Open World Mechanics - lainon
https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.00341
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minimaxir
The modeled quests described (ever-escalating series of crafting better items)
is reminiscent of those found in traditional MMOs like World of Warcraft. And
those quests aren't _fun_ , and the "grind" is regarded as an antiquated game
mechanic, even in the context of Minecraft. (of note, WoW recently introduced
a weekly "quest line" which is all complete-10-generic-
quests/kill-100-demons/etc grind and no plot. Players are not happy.)

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stcredzero
_those quests aren 't fun, and the "grind" is regarded as an antiquated game
mechanic_

The approach I'm working on for my game, is to allow the player to optimize a
growing "economy." I personally find watching, guarding, and optimizing to be
far more fun than grinding. There will be threats nipping at the edges of this
infrastructure, or interdicting its transportation, however. Seeing those off
will be one kind of "quest."

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izend
Agree agree wholeheartedly, do you have any more information on the type of
game you are working on?

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stcredzero
Superficially, it looks like an 80's Asteroid type game connected to a vast
procedurally generated universe, with a SC2 style hyperspace. But I want to
emphasize things that can produce emergence. Like procedurally generated tech
trees:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3DPalL7p5w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3DPalL7p5w)

I want to implement an artificial life simulation system to produce an
ecology/ecosystem on which the economic system will be based. There will be
trading, but instead of trucking the goods yourself, you'll be nominating and
paying for others to transport it. (But if you come along and "ride shotgun"
and win battles, your piracy losses will decrease.) I want to let users craft
and script everything, then sell/license those to other players.

The power of the players will increase exponentially as they go off into
space, but the power of enemies will also increase exponentially, with a
larger constant. The leaderboards will be based entirely on how far out in
unknown space you can camp and survive.

[https://www.emergencevector.com](https://www.emergencevector.com)

Right now, the procedural universe and some combat are all that's up in the
demo.

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fragsworth
After skimming the paper, given my own understanding of game mechanics and
terminology, I would rename it:

"Deriving Achievement Requirements from Crafting Mechanics"

Which is a LOT less interesting than I was hoping for...

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grenoire
It was literally a paper that talked about creating a graph of all the
craftable tools in the game. Not to downplay the merit in the methods used,
this is extremely uninteresting and just bad game design.

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podiki
Getting lost without purpose is often a trap I fall into with open world
games. However, probably the two great things that open world games can
achieve is a sense of place and wonderful emergent stories in gameplay. And
this reminds me that I've still to make the plunge into the as-"real"-as-it-
can-get-in-games world of Dwarf Fortress. I love reading about the development
and the truly astounding stories that happen while playing, which might be
nearly as good as actually playing.

