There are patches, and then there are patches. Some are maintenance, others explore and expand on some previously established design space, and then there are those precious few that actually add new design space. I hope this one is of the latter category. I try to not be too sure of too much in life, but I at least have some hopes that this patch could be a good one. In the long run, if not in the immediate first implementation. Here's hoping.
Quests
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- Various actors in the world will now give you quests on a recurring basis.
- You should receive a summons to your first quest before long simply by playing.
- Completion of quests is rewarded by LP, XP, Hunger, and Random generated items. Bigger quests generally give bigger rewards. (Lots of design space to expand on this in various ways down the road.)
- That's pretty much it. The quests should otherwise largely speak for themselves.
If this works the way I hope it does, it has the potential to change the game in a few, potentially quite significant, ways.
- There is a recurring incentive to leave your base.
- There could consequently be a lot more people out and about, which implies more encounters with other players.
- You can now grind actively for character development, and are not strictly limited by time constraints.
- There could -- if we manage to get the generation of quests down well enough -- potentially always be something to do.
There is a lot that could be said about where we could go with future developments of the system, but suffice it for now to say that we have a lot of ideas for it.
Keep the feedback coming on this. There's lots of stuff in the system, and all kinds of things could be out of whack.
Go try it out!
Hearth Magic
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Since there's now a semi-reliable source of XP generation we've felt comfortable implementing some ideas we have had for XP for quite some time. Hearth Magics are pseudo-magical abilities, somewhere in the borderland between magical and mundane, that cost XP to activate. We've implemented three for now.
- "Commune With Nature", gives you a quest to visit a quest-giver in the relative vicinity.
- "Kindle", allows you to light a fire with the snap of your fingers.
- "Quell the Beast", peace out an active combat relation with an animal.
New Implementations
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- Added "Scarlet Gown", clothing.
- Added "Woodsman's Tunic", clothing.
- Added/Re-added "Onion Rings", "Fishsticks", and "Batter", food.
- Added "Ant Farm", curiosity.
- Added "Great Wax Seal", curiosity.
- Added "Seer's Spindle", curiosity.
In the Pipe
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- No patch next week, but I hope we can get back to a somewhat regular schedule after that.
- Previously stated ambitions hold fast. Push-out. Object-controlled objects. Fighting system. Our development focus during the dev sessions will most likely be on the fighting system, and on expanding the quest system.
UPDATE YOUR CLIENTS, and...
Enjoy!