Combine and Simplify
I’ve proceeded with my mad simplification plan, and I have to say that so far I like it. The skill list has been cut from 43 to 25. The talent list has been cut from 30 to 27. Conversation is no longer mandatory. The job list makes a little bit more sense than it did before. Now that all these things are out of the way, it’s time I sunk my teeth into some major changes.
If you’ve ever browsed the source, you’ll know that the megaplot generator (which takes several subplots and combines them) and the quest generator (which takes multiple quest fragments and incorporates them into the adventure) are very similar. They’re so similar, in fact, that I’ve been thinking about folding the quest functionality into the megaplot system.
Combining the two systems would have several benefits. First off, there’d be less code to manage, and improvements to one system would directly benefit the other. Secondly, it would solve the problem we have now where two very similar systems have slightly different interfaces. Third, it would allow content to be shared between plots and quests.
What’s the downside of combining the two? You remember right above when I insinuated that streamlining the character system was a minor change compared to what I was thinking of doing next? I wasn’t joking. The quest generator is a massive hairy beast of a procedure. It works in subtle and mysterious ways. Assuming that the megaplot generator can incorporate all of the quest generator’s functionality, there’s also the issue of revising all the quest fragments to match the new specifications.
Of course, I was planning to revise the quests anyways, and I’ve got some good ideas for making quests more powerful by giving them some of the same capabilities as megaplots. At the moment quests have no standardized way of storing variables. Subquests have no standardized way of communicating with one another. Quests also have no way of reacting to standard triggers, unless the PC happens to be in a quest scene at the right time. All of these limitations could be overcome if a Quest gear were present along the trigger search path. This Quest gear would function as a story or plot. To prevent the search path from getting clogged by all the hundreds of quests scattered throughout the game world, each Quest gear will be placed as a subcom of its host city. The trigger search path will need to be expanded to also apply triggers to the subcoms of the root scene. If you aren’t familiar with the inner workings of GH2 this paragraph probably made no sense but trust me it’s good stuff.
I leave you tonight with a video of the Noble Gundam, just to prove that I wasn’t making that crap on the forum up.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I must say I’m intrigued by the plot generation fix. Sounds like, indeed, a hairy beast.
Take off every zig! For great elegance!