1st Player Created Quests Concept

We know Inky can pass data to / from the game. I'm presuming in game items have some form of unique id since several items have the same name and would require some form of unique identification. As part of the Player Created Quest system, I'd recommend the quest setup interface display the item id for the selected Buy Order item, so the player could include this id in their script so it can then be passed back from the inky script to SotA when verifying the item to be turned in by the questing player.

See thread titled Conversationalist Game Data Transfers for details on passing game data to/from inky
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f.../conversationalist-game-data-transfer.167717/

For example a Red Dragon Head might have item id 744769. When selected as the quest item on the new quest design interface that item id "744769" is displayed. Lets also presume the devs set up the variable name to be passed from inky to SotA as Quest_1_Item_ID.

The quest creator when setting up the inky script would hard code that id into the variable name
VAR Quest_1_Item_ID = 744769

When the script is triggered, SotA would read this value and process it to verify the item is in player inventory and return a verification to the inky script that the player could then use.
_inkStory.variablesState["Player_Has_Quest_1_Item"] = true

The inky script could then continue the quest story line as needed and return the variable state to identify that the script is complete.

Upon closing the dialogue window, SotA would then display a screen requesting that the player verify that they want to turn in the item for the reward. This verification should include the item name. This verification is necessary to keep Quest Creators from potentially stealing items from players. Their could be an option to continue the story after verification and turn in that would be set up in the inky script and processed upon item turn in by SotA and re-open the Conversationalist.
VAR Quest_1_Continuation = true

@DavidDC for interface updates.
@Chris for Inky updates

 

Some additional concern has been discussed with me about players being upset if they couldn't turn in a quest because the quest had a limited number of turn ins, and other players beat them to it. This is a valid concern but would exist with any player created quest system. Player Created Quests may become invalid for multiple reasons...

• The Quest Creator removes the Quest Conversationalist because its a seasonal quest, player event quest, or just because they want to.
• The Quest Creator modifies the Quest
• The lot where the Quest Conversationalist is located runs out of taxes and is sent to bank
• The lot where the Quest Conversationalist is displaced using Magic Mover
• The Quest Conversationalist is moved to a different location, including hard to get to locations like under the terrain map or at the end of a difficult puzzle like @alphaine has been known to create
• The Quest Conversationalist becomes bugged, invisible, or has a script error

That does not mean a Player Created Quest System should not be built. These issues can be mitigated to a significant degree.

Identifying a Player Created Quest in the journal is important so the player doing the quest knows its player created. Maybe splitting Player Created Quests onto their own section within the quest journal would work for this. This also helps to direct any blame the player has to the Quest Creator and not the dev team.

If a Quest Conversationalist is moved, removed, edited, or otherwise no longer available; that quest should be flagged and updated in the players journal in a way that the player can see that an update has occurred. Additionally a button to remove the quest should be added so the player can optionally remove the quest from quest journal. It should not automatically be removed as that could further confuse the player.