Archmage Rises News

[h2]Update 2b: Combat Rewrite[/h2]

Continuing my misdirection by showing random internet battle art, I’ve always liked this from the DragonLance 1985 Calendar by Clyde Caldwell

Last week was a good week in combat. The team is liking Mark’s leadership and feeling good, so we’ll continue this way. Combat Rewrite continues to be the primary development focus involving: Jessi, James, Tyler, Michel, Josh, Jonathan, Mark, Zach, and Rubi.

• Zach is working on the new Buff/Status system which allows for stacking buffs as seen in many games. For example, fire school builds up ‘Embers’ which can then be utilized in special ways.
  
• We’re going to release a new monster race with this combat update! How can we not?! Longtime supports have been staring at the same 4 races for a very long time. The new system, and reason for rewrite, allows this to be done (hopefully) easily. James is working on stats for a new race. What is the new race? Not saying yet until we get the artwork animated.
  

Finally, here is another new spell VFX being worked on. It’s a WIP for Ground Spike. The Earth spells in the current build are under represented, so this is part of making them a fully featured equal to the other schools.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Dynamic Quest Generation[/h2]

I continue to publish weekly deep dives on the proc-gen quests. I’ll begin publishing these on Fridays, meaning one today and one on Friday of this week.

Summary is we zeroed in on making NPC goals more specific so we can generate meaningful tasks and dialogue text based upon them.

The first version of the dynamic quests will come in Update #3 Exploration.

[h2]Priority Tasks[/h2]

Last week’s patch contained some good quality of life improvements thanks to fan feedback. We also fixed a dungeon room with no doors problem, something that has plagued us for 6 months and thanks to a recent bug report we managed to see the problem and solve it!

This week we’re continuing with more improvements.

• We’re going to make the NPCs a little smarter where they tell you the next step of the quest rather than requiring you to ask “Tell me about [Resource] or [Town]” to find out where it is.
  
• Based on a discussion on the forums weeks ago, we’re going to make tracking tracks easier at night: Light spell +2 , torch +1 against -4 at night
  

[H2]FIXED:[/h2]

• Fixed a bug with some dialogue options not being numbered properly
  
• Fixed a bug in the randomized selection code that should improve the variety of quest generation
  
• Fixed a bug causing quests to perpetually fail to be prompted by an NPC if they didn’t meet the initial quest requirements.
  
• Fixed an issue that can cause a number of various dungeon-related bugs (double dungeon doors, double dungeon rooms, dungeon scene listeners triggering outside of dungeons, etc)
  
• Fixed an issue of dungeon rooms being generated without doors. This bug also could potentially fix some remaining issues with dungeon levers
  

Big thanks to Spoorthuzad, hodak2, Drazhya, Mielepieltje, Augurianius, Mator, ManPie, Emroko, El'Reach, FluffyJadey, Osmentane, triplesixsmokey, kernoriordan1, kognito, and Seros Senric (among others) for all of your dungeon bug-related reports. While we can't guarantee all of these bugs reports have been address yet, these fixes should hopefully address many of these recently submitted bug reports.

[h2]IMPROVED:[/h2]

• Added keyboard controls to Archopedia (thanks to KafkaExMachina and others for the suggestion). It's not pretty but it will work for now ːsteammockingː
  
• Innkeepers are now the source of knowledge in the town when it comes to quest finding. If you are looking for a quest, they'll know who in town might be looking for some help and where to find them
  
• The subject picker dialog window now highlights quest-related subjects and prioritizes them at the top of the list so they are easier to find when bringing them up in conversations
  

Last week we went over our approach philosophy and managed to get some characters with some motivations and goals around a quest object. Thanks for those who posted questions and responses. It helped us clarify our thinking.

Now we turn our attention to…

[h2]What Do These Characters Want the Player to Do?[/h2]

Thanks to some conversation with Kaylo7 it became clear we need to define terms. We like to refer to the 1989 movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.



DEFINING TERMS

• Quest - A series of one or more plots around a certain subject. Like Indy rescuing his dad. Or needing to get the journal back from Germany.
  
  
• Plot - A set of tasks oriented around a quest objective from a specific character’s perspective.
  
  
  • Indy’s Dad Henry - wants to get the Holy Grail.
    
  • Nazi’s - want to get the Holy Grail
    
  • Order of the Cruciform Sword - want to hide the Grail and prevent anyone from getting it
    
• Task - Something you do like: Fetch, Find, or Kill. Ideally with increasing tension. First Indy has to reach the castle he is imprisoned in. Then he has to sneak in. Then he has to get him out, etc…
  
  
  • Tasks can be shared across plots of equal goal alignment. Indy finding the tomb with the missing top half of the etching is in total alignment with his and the Nazi’s agenda which is why they initially help Indy do it. It is only later Indy finds out there is a second plot.
    
  • Tasks can be mutually exclusive, where once completed, invalidate and ‘fail’ the other plotlines. These kind of tasks are the ‘Moment of Decision’ for the player where they commit to a particular plot. Our goal is to delay these as late as possible because it leads to better story feel.
    
• Story - A sequence of Quests chained together. Ideally with some kind of arc and increasing tension.
  
  
  • I'm playing Assassin Creed Valhalla right now. I like how they group their quests by Storyline. I also like their UI for it.
    

THE TASK OF TASKS

Here is the latest output from the generator program. Starting with our major and minor characters. If Majors disagree on end goal, that creates a different plotline. Minors provide stepping stones along the plot line based on their agreement, disagreement, or neutrality with the quest giver.

Majors:

Amice Middlemas, Female, High wealth, age 27 Motivation: Capture - A Intact Skeleton will make an excellent trophy.

Alfred Swaffer, Male, High wealth, age 26 Motivation: Avoid - We must prepare and protect ourselves against the Skeletons.

Minors:

Sabina Rait, Female, High wealth, age 47 Motivation: Fight - A Skeleton carcass is a valuable resource.

Robert Stanhope, Male, Low wealth, age 63 Motivation: Capture - I want to study a Intact Skeleton.

Eleanor Gorringe, Female, High wealth, age 51 Motivation: Capture - I want to study a Intact Skeleton.

Nicholas Ward, Male, Mid wealth, age 40 Motivation: Avoid - We must prepare and protect ourselves against the Skeletons.

Cecily Gigg, Female, High wealth, age 28 Motivation: Avoid - Skeletons have just as much right to exist as we do.

Avice Bunce, Female, High wealth, age 23 Motivation: Avoid - We must prepare and protect ourselves against the Skeletons.

=============================

Quest Plot 1: Amice Middlemas wants Capture - A Intact Skeleton will make an excellent trophy.

1. Amice Middlemas: Meet quest giver. Get introduction to quest

2. Robert Stanhope: Inquire about enemy (Allied - Capture - Study) They provide assistance

4. Alfred Swaffer: Interference: Plants an ambush for you (Against - Avoid - LiveAndLetLive) - Disagree on: ownership)

3. Amice Middlemas: Persuade X to do Y [End Quest] (Allied - Capture - Trophy)

===================

Quest Plot 2: Alfred Swaffer wants Avoid - We must prepare and protect ourselves against the Skeletons.

1. Alfred Swaffer: Meet quest giver. Get introduction to quest

2. Alfred Swaffer: Hire NPC to create item (Allied - Avoid - Defend)

3. Cecily Gigg: Persuade X to do Y (Allied - Avoid - LiveAndLetLive) They provide assistance

4. Avice Bunce: Appease enemy (Allied - Avoid - Defend) They provide assistance

5. Alfred Swaffer: Appease enemy [End Quest] (Allied - Avoid - Defend)

The above is a single quest that branches as soon as you start it. Amice wants a skeleton and Alfred doesn’t want to poke the bear, just leave them alone and build up protection from skeletons.



Some assumptions to clear up:

• Not every quest will have multiple plots. If an innkeeper needs dye for a sign, it is unlikely anyone will disagree and thwart that.
  
  
• There are two entrances into the quest depending on who you talk to first: Amice or Alfred. I really like how it isn’t set to just one NPC.
  
  
• We have to introduce the other party, immediately, upon talking to the first quest giver.
  
  
  • This could be via a letter: “It’s come to my attention you are working for Amice to secure a skeleton. Meet me at the Inn. It’ll be worth your while.”
    
  • Or just embedding it in the dialog with Amice ‘And make sure you don’t talk to Alfred about this. He is a fool and not to be indulged’. First thing I’ll do is go and see this Alfred!
    
• We are making the quest giver the first and last part of the plot. It doesn’t have to be this way, but it feels good for now.
  
  
• Characters with opposite goals can do things to thrwart your progress. We to better define this, but for now they can plant an ambush, attack, or report you to authorities.
  

[h2]Things we Discovered in Generating Tasks[/h2]

• Pretty obvious, but we had to tie tasks to goal outcomes. When we had a generic pool of tasks to draw upon we were getting weird things like pacifists asking you to kill and destroy the thing they were trying to protect.
  
  
• We had to split tasks into two kinds (for now) of ‘major’ and ‘minor’ to control pacing and tension. It was pretty silly and anti-climatic when the first task was an epic battle and the last task was to deliver a letter across town. We expect escalation. And while this can be subverted sometimes, its an expectation for a reason.
  
  
• Had to write something in to stop duplicates from occurring… but not always. Randomization is interesting and a quick way to start, but a quest where you have to do the same task 3 times in a row because that is how it rolled up randomly, it just isn’t interesting.
  
  
• Nolan comes from writing and screenwriting. In books and TV when a character goes against type it is ‘interesting nuance’. But what is true in those mediums isn’t true in video games. Once you inject interactivity and the chance for the player to get lost or confused between story points, it’s not ‘fun’ when characters are inconsistent in behavior or task.
  
  
• Originally we had major characters with complex goals and minor characters without real goals, we just slotted them into Allied, Against, or Neutral towards a certain major character and gave them the Support goal. This was insufficient when we needed to figure out how and where they provide assistance. We needed more data on the why. So we went back to giving all characters complex goals and it is the alignment of goals that determines which plot they get involved in for assistance or obstacles.
  
  
• With better character goals the player can have a dialogue choice like "why are you helping" and the answer is "Because I want the corpse myself!" then the player knows the npc will make an offer near the end of the plot. I think this deduction and foreshadowing is cool. It also creates the option for late branches and multiple endpoints of the plot beyond just the quest giver.
  
  
• For better stories it was important to not just know two people disagree, but to know how much and on what do they disagree. This allows us the Nazi & Indy situation where both want the tomb with the etching to be found, and overcoming the 3 trials at the grail’s location, it is only the last step of who possesses the grail is where they differ. This means we do late breaking branches of plot rather than having entirely different plots for essentially the same tasks to a similar objective. Which leads to my next point…
  
  
• We started designing a ‘Reaction based’ system, where the plot can twist and turn based on variable thresholds along the way. Like if the mayors approval rating is < 50 the quest continues, but if it is > 50 then it is over. What I came to realize is there is no difference between reaction in real time (a quest of 8 steps that can end at each step) or just generating 3 or 5 steps. There is no way for the player to know so don’t overcomplicate it.
  
  
  • It's hard to come up with a reaction necessary at runtime besides skill checks like persuasion. We’ll think more on this.
    
• It isn’t the quest writer’s (person or algorithm) job to come up with specific ordeals to block the player’s progress in a plot. It is the job of the world to oppose the player naturally. Like if you need a resource, there is a 'trial' in it's just hard to locate, or there are goblins around it, or whatever. We don't need to PLAN on those things, just rely on the game to do them.
  
  
• But there is the occasion where someone actively wants to stop you from doing that precise task. So they interject a trial, like Saruman making the snow pass collapse causing the fellowship to have to go into the mines of Moria.
  
  
• Keep it relational. Choice has to be based on the person and not the task/goal. The longer we delay a branch, the more the player can interact with the disagreeing parties, and therefore the more likely they are to care about each one’s perspective. When the choice comes, make it a choice between people.
  
  
  • This is super important and removes the emotional impact from the actual tasks or writing (which may be basic and samey) but the people and their reasons will differ. For example, a thousand different people can rob a bank. And while each one does it ‘for the money’, it is their personal and specific reason that makes it interesting though the act is the same.
    

We’re working on the tasks more this week and hope to have something cooler to show soon!

[h2]Update 2b: Combat Rewrite[/h2]



I can’t get combat done any faster, but I can steal cool looking art off the internet! Not our art.

Combat Rewrite is the primary focus of the company. It’s almost all hands on deck, certainly our best people working on it: Jessi, James, Tyler, Michel, Josh, Jonathan, Mark, Zach, and Rubi.

Combat has been dragging on and on for months and I’ve had a realization as to why: Leadership.

It’s a big complicated mission critical task and because of this it requires not just resources to get the features done, but Leadership to unify the vision and keep things from being neither over nor under-engineered. Michel was providing this, but got burnt out. The task is bigger and harder than his experience. You know how in a game the monster level is shown as a skull or ?? because it is 10 levels higher than the player, ya that’s the situation here.

I solved this by putting Jonathan in charge. He’s got 10+ years senior dev experience. And it was going well… until he decided to move continents and he’s been (rightfully) focused on that. The move ends this week.

So, last week Mark, with 15+ years experience, has taken the reins and we’re staying focused and making progress.

If I ever make a game about Game Dev, leadership will be a key stat!

Last week we onboarded Zach to the current state of combat. He is now going to write/rewrite the Buff system as many combat spells and effects rely on stacking buffs.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Dynamic Quest Generation[/h2]

Last week I posted a progress update and we had some good feedback from you on it, so thanks!

I’ll continue to do detailed weekly updates for those who are interested.

In summary, we got to the point where we can generate multiple plot lines based on disagreement between main actor goals. We then threw in some tasks, based on goal, and started some basic quest task chains.

[h2]Priority Tasks[/h2]

• We’re going to make the Innkeeper a central hub of quests and able to tell you all the people in the town who need something done.
  
• We’re fixing some dungeon issues worked on last week.
  

[h2]FIXED:[/h2]

• Fixed a bug that may cause the wrong lockpick to get removed from your inventory if your lockpick breaks
  
• Fixed a bug with determining if the player has space in their inventory when buying items
  
• Fixed a bug with dungeon floors sometimes being generated without stairways and/or exit portals (reported by FluffyJadey)
  

[h2]IMPROVED:[/h2]

• Item descriptions now show current skill level if there is a skill requirement to use that item
  
• Mount inventory is now checked for quest item collecting progress
  
• Net worth now considers creature and tower inventories
  
• When a tower room is torn down, send items to player inventory first
  
• When removing storage from a Mage Tower, if the player doesn't have space in their inventory but a mount does, items in that removed storage space get moved to the mount's inventory
  
• Tooltips for items purchased via trading in the market show how much you paid for them if different than the asking price