Provide a quest screen

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The new town Fallheaven has an disadvantage. Its very complex and hard to 
memorize all open quests. You should provide a open quests page, just saying 
one sentence about the next step of the quest.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by SamuelPl...@gmail.com on 26 Nov 2010 at 10:45

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Good point. This should be a nice thing to implement for the next version. 

We can probably simplify the whole quest creation process as well, insted of 
relying on trigger keys as we do today. This would have implications on the 
dialog editor as well. Maybe we should create a quest editor to simplify the 
creation of quest stages and to specify what text should be written to the 
quest page.

Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 29 Nov 2010 at 7:45

• Added labels: Type-Enhancement
• Removed labels: Type-Defect

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The quests are a bit weird, like in the 2nd town I went to the cellar and found 
one of the books on the ground. Then I found the old man who's book it was, and 
he asked me if I can help him find it or something. I said, yes, and then told 
him I found it, even though I've kind of had it found in the first place. It 
would be better if you could straight ahead say "I've seen that book in the 
cellar".

Sorry for my chaotic explanation, hope it makes sense, and I hope I've 
remembered it right.

Original comment by ksawer...@gmail.com on 29 Nov 2010 at 11:45

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Don't mean to spoil your quest ksawery11 but you found a PAGE from the book, 
someone else actually has the book. Keep searching the town.

Original comment by The2ndclory on 30 Nov 2010 at 1:24

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This is something that I think we should prioritize for the next version. I'm 
marking this issue as 0.6.7.

Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 3 Dec 2010 at 10:04

• Added labels: Milestone-0.6.7

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The quest log is now done. I also rewrote the whole quest system. This also has 
the nice side effect that it now is much easier to get a good structure in new 
quests when making them.

I also wrote a quest editor, to use when creating new quests - to edit the 
texts that show up in the quest log.

The quest log shows what quests are in progress and what quests are completed.

Comments are appreciated :) Do you think this layout works, or could we have 
some simpler layout?

Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 6 Dec 2010 at 10:22

• Changed state: Started

Attachments:

• questlog.png

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I like it :) Could it be an option to show only quests in progress or only 
completed quest, but not both at the same time as shown?

Original comment by rafal.wa...@gmail.com on 6 Dec 2010 at 10:49

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Sure, good idea. Like this? The dropdownlist has the following selections:
 - Hide completed quests
 - Include completed quests
 - Only completed quests
Default is "Hide completed quests".

Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 6 Dec 2010 at 11:41

Attachments:

• questlog2.png

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nice :) An idea for the future: % of quests progress. For example, if there was 
a quest to do few things, there could be something like that "Status: In 
progress (33%)". What do you think about that? And maybe some quests colors 
(100% green, <100% - light green, <75% - yellow, <50% - orange, <25% red) or 
something like that.

Original comment by rafal.wa...@gmail.com on 6 Dec 2010 at 11:56

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Well done! Where is the new beta? ;-)

Only thing I could think of what can be improved: (beside the progress that 
rafal.watorski describes)
Perhaps show and grey out older (already done) tasks from the quest. (only when 
the quest is expanded.)

Example:
 + Search for Andor
   * Search south of fallheaven
   * Search in fallheaven <greyed>
   * Search in village <greyed>

Its nothing essential, and it should be optional.
I am looking forward to try it.

Original comment by SamuelPl...@gmail.com on 7 Dec 2010 at 11:34

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Hey, very slick idea, I prefer the solution presented on screenshot 2.

I think a nice idea would be to show the steps of a quest that you're 
completed. So lets say you need to go to the supermarket and get milk, the 
steps are.

1. Get dressed
2. Leave house
3. Arrive at the store
4. Locate milk
5. Purchase milk
6. Leave store
7. Go home

Lets say that you've located the milk within the store, I'd like the quest list 
to display.

+ Buy Milk From The Supermarket
  * Get dressed
  * Leave house
  * Arrive at the store
  * Locate milk

So next time you play, and forget where you are each of the quests you can 
retrace the steps.

Looking forward to playing the next version! 

Original comment by ksawer...@gmail.com on 7 Dec 2010 at 6:00

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Same idea as mine so perhaps its important.

Original comment by SamuelPl...@gmail.com on 7 Dec 2010 at 8:25

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I'll just add that I wouldn't like to have a percentage of the task completion, 
I think that this leaves open a possibility of plot twists (and turns).

Original comment by ksawer...@gmail.com on 7 Dec 2010 at 8:29

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Percentage could also be archived with plot forks. (Forks are a very good idea! 
They should be possible, because currently everything is determined. There 
should be some quests where the player has to decide what he wants: good or 
evil / take sides. Later Quests could/should depend on their decisions. Tell 
Leta where her husband is or not...)

Example Quest:
                      Step A1 - End A
                     /
Start - Step1 - Step2
                     \
                      Step B1 - Step B2 - End BA
                                       \
                                        Step BB1 - Step BB2 - End BB

Now calculate percentage with the following rules:
1) Percentage for Start is always 0%
2) Percentage for End is always 100%
3) Count the Members of the longest chain of remaining steps: LCh = 8
4) By default every step gives the following percentage StepP = 100% / LCh = 
12.5%

5) If a fork is entered recalculate the longest chain (LCh) and the given 
percentage. (StepP)

You could omit 5 to make it easy.

Example having managed to solve Step A1 would give you the following percentage:
For the first 3 steps LCh = 8 and StepP = 12.5% -> Percentage_so_far = 3 * 12.5 
= 37.5%
For the next step the values are adjusted to: LCh = 2 and StepP = (100% - 
37.5%) / 2 = 31.25%

So the overall percentage would be: overall percentage = Percentage_so_far + 1 
* 31.25 = 68.75

Original comment by SamuelPl...@gmail.com on 7 Dec 2010 at 9:04

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Absolutely, good idea about forks in quests, that's something I have planned 
earlier but never had time (yet) to implement. I absolutely want us to have 
those type of quests, where the player has to choose sides and affect the 
outcome. I also want quests that can be solved in different ways (killing the 
boss/snaking around him/talking your way out of it). Different paths may also 
lead to different rewards. The "kill-the-boss" path may reward the player with 
a new sword, but the peaceful approach may reward the player with gold and exp 
(or some defense items)? Future quests should be implemented that way I think.

The updated quest system is already prepared to do these types of quests, and 
will show only the actions to the path you chose in the questlog. It's just a 
matter of writing the quest dialog and text to show in the quest log.

Regarding the suggestion of showing a percentage of how much of the quest is 
completed, or some other indicator of that percentage: I'm not too sure about 
that. Imagine a quest like "Search for Andor" - that is supposed to be 
something that you stumble upon and initially just think you should go into 
town and find him there. Short and simple right? But when unraveling the plot 
you find out that it is a lot deeper than that. If we were to show "0.001% 
completed" in the quest log, we would be taking away the surprise effect when 
we reveal that the quest is indeed a lot bigger than initially believed. I 
imagine there will be several of those type of quests later. (The drunken story 
outside Fallhaven tavern leads to a larger quest too).

In response to comment 11: Good idea, that is also how I wanted it to be, and 
quite coincidentally also how I implemented it :) The quest log will show the 
subtasks required for the quest, in sequence. For example:
 * Leonid tells me that he saw Andor talking to Gruil. I should go ask Gruil if he knows more.
 * Gruil wants me to bring him a poison gland. Then he might talk more. He tells me that some poisonous snakes have such a gland.

Hopefully I can find the time soon to put out an updated alpha release of 0.6.7 
so you guys can get the new quest log as well. I just need to iron out a few 
bugs in the savegame code so that your savegames won't get trashed :) (See also 
issue 67).

Meanwhile, I'll mark this issue as "Ready" (as in, ready for 0.6.7).

Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 8 Dec 2010 at 7:53

• Changed state: Ready

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You are right on not showing the percentage, it would give too much infos about 
the quest.

Its well implemented in the alpha. Good work.
I think noone will be confused anymore.

I like that you always mention towns...

Original comment by SamuelPl...@gmail.com on 10 Dec 2010 at 8:04

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One thing: Wouldn't it be better to have 3 tabs: Overview, Inventory, Quests?
The quest button beside the "Level up" is so small.

Original comment by SamuelPl...@gmail.com on 10 Dec 2010 at 8:12

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I agree with Samuel. A third tab would be better. But I like the quest-screen 
even in it's current state. Very well done.

Just a few glitches: every time I open the quest-screen the filter is reset to 
"hide completed quests". In my opinion it would be better if that option would 
stay at the last chosen one. Also it seems that not all "events" are logged. In 
quest "calomyran secrets" there is no hint that i actually found the book. Just 
that I am looking for it and that I gave it to the old man. So far it is the 
only quest-log that seems to be "incomplete" (maybe it's designed in that 
kind...)

Original comment by erwr...@gmail.com on 10 Dec 2010 at 8:32

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I have no idea how long the game will be in the end, but won't the Search for 
Andor quest log get a bit long if we have updates as frequently as are in the 
list currently?

It would be good to condense every 10 completed items in a long quest into a 
single step, or condense all from a single location into a single item once 
they have been done. e.g. Once everyone in a place has been asked, it just 
shows something like "Nobody in place w knows where Andor is. Person x 
suggested I ask person y in place z next."

Original comment by caveman....@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2010 at 1:54

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Regarding questlog in its own tab or not: My thought is that we will have a lot 
of tabs eventually. I already wanted to separate the info that currently is in 
the overview tab into its own "detailed combat stats"-tab, but haven't gotten 
around to it yet. Skills will probably also be a tab on its own when we 
implement them. And spells. Something more perhaps. I'm not too sure that we 
can put everything in its own tab. Do you guys think we can find a good 
distinction into what parts should be placed as a tab in the heroinfo-screen 
and what should be put into its separate screen? Everything related to the 
player's stats for example? Maybe the inventory-screen should be somewhere even 
more accessible than today? 

We might do a restructuring of the info-screens that show this kind of 
information in the future. At the moment, this placement will suffice. Maybe we 
should move this discussin into its own issue?

@caveman: Good point. My plan was that we end the initial "Search for Andor" 
when a certain point has been reached, when you have found out what has 
happened to him, buit then continue the main quest in another quest - "Free 
Andor" or whatever it might be, depending on which storyline we choose. Kind of 
like how chapters work in Baldurs Gate if you played those games. I agree with 
your reasoning that it could get very long if we keep this level of verbosity.

Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2010 at 9:54

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Oh and I forgot to add: Thank you erwrock for the suggestion in comment 18. I 
have added functionality for the quest screen to rememeber the last selected 
filtering.

Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2010 at 10:36

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Why not just show the last 5 or 10 entry's in the Quest history, (newest first) 
and an entry "show all entry's"?

For the GUI issue I would suggest the following:
------------------------------
| < | Inventory      | v | > |
------------------------------

The arrow down "v" triggers a dropdown:
------------------------------
| < | Inventory      | v | > |
-------------|-----------|----
             | Overview  |
             | Quests    |
             | Skills    |
             | Spells    |
             -------------

It would always show the inventory first, and could be easily expanded.
The right and left arrows could change the screens fast.

Original comment by SamuelPl...@gmail.com on 12 Dec 2010 at 2:45

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Original comment by oskar.wi...@gmail.com on 20 Dec 2010 at 9:13

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