Adding new PVE quests via a monthly contest of the offline maps

[Kenji03]

I would be willing to learn the code and code this sort of thing in each month if someone on the team is willing to adopt this idea.

But here is the suggestion: Why not allow for community made maps to be added as PVE content?

Implementation: Take an existing NPC and use them as a quest mule. Each month that we add a quest, they would be added to this specific NPC. Making the process simple to implement and fairly streamlined for players -- so they know that these specific quests are community made and as such, their quality may vary. I cannot forsee a lot of code required to add a new quest each month past the implementation.

Example: In the "Tarsos" area there is just one NPC (Tarsos Trader) who gives out only the Persian Demo and the 4 repeatable Project Celeste quests. So we can either reuse him or add a different NPC from another area to the area specifically to give out these quests.

Then each month (or however often), we take the best offline map and add it to the game as regular content. The rewards for this map do not have to be anything special, as the point is to add more fun maps to play more than it is to add content that is challenging.

To avoid abuse, we can even add the 12 hour cool down on these quests like many others -- or the 6 day cool down if necessary.

 

[PF2K]

Quests are much more complicated than offline Scenarios and take a lot more work to implement in the game.

Some examples of what I'm talking about are:

• Making sure each civ spawns with the right units (for example Persia spawning with 3 Sparabara and 1 Asabara, Norse spawning with 3 Throwing Axemen and 1 Raider, etc.)
• Balancing each quest for all 6 civilizations to ensure fair gameplay regardless of civ.
• Having a correct "Loader" file for the quest (for some RMS elements) which requires a fair amount of programming knowledge.
• Creating new strings (texts) for English, German, French and Spanish languages. For Quest description, objectives and other related stuff.

I like the idea, but I also think that it takes more effort than you'd think it'd take to turn an offline Scenario into a fully functioning Quest.

If anyone is willing to do these parts I'd happily help them get their quest in the game, though! (Given the quest is actually good and on par with currently existing content.)

 

[Kenji03]

Quests are much more complicated than offline Scenarios and take a lot more work to implement in the game.

Some examples of what I'm talking about are:

• Making sure each civ spawns with the right units (for example Persia spawning with 3 Sparabara and 1 Asabara, Norse spawning with 3 Throwing Axemen and 1 Raider, etc.)
• Balancing each quest for all 6 civilizations to ensure fair gameplay regardless of civ.
• Having a correct "Loader" file for the quest (for some RMS elements) which requires a fair amount of programming knowledge.
• Creating new strings (texts) for English, German, French and Spanish languages. For Quest description, objectives and other related stuff.

I like the idea, but I also think that it takes more effort than you'd think it'd take to turn an offline Scenario into a fully functioning Quest.

If anyone is willing to do these parts I'd happily help them get their quest in the game, though! (Given the quest is actually good and on par with currently existing content.)

I have free time on my hands that I'd like to spend learning how to program anything game related (Completed 2 classes of programming C++ in college). So ... if you're willing to do a bit of hand holding I'm willing to do a lot of work.

Balancing each quest for all 6 civilizations to ensure fair gameplay regardless of civ.

Does this mean making 6 different files? or is there a line of code that lets you dictate what spawns in what location based on the loaded civ?

 

[Robcore]

I would like more maps as well.

But I am with PF2K on how the maps should be balanced and such. But good idea.

 

[Ardeshir]

I wonder if @Flutters or @Sasquatch , or others interested in mapmaking would want to help. Translation to FR/DE/ES without tying up members of the dev team might take some time, but I don't think it would be impossible. I'd be happy to help with playtesting

Maybe a community questpack of "challenge quests", that force a specific civ/unit composition, a bit like the Norse and Persian quests from their original pack could also be done? That way

• Making sure each civ spawns with the right units (for example Persia spawning with 3 Sparabara and 1 Asabara, Norse spawning with 3 Throwing Axemen and 1 Raider, etc.)
• Balancing each quest for all 6 civilizations to ensure fair gameplay regardless of civ

no longer apply.

 

[Kenji03]

I wonder if @Flutters or @Sasquatch , or others interested in mapmaking would want to help. Translation to FR/DE/ES without tying up members of the dev team might take some time, but I don't think it would be impossible. I'd be happy to help with playtesting

Maybe a community questpack of "challenge quests", that force a specific civ/unit composition, a bit like the Norse and Persian quests from their original pack could also be done? That way

• Making sure each civ spawns with the right units (for example Persia spawning with 3 Sparabara and 1 Asabara, Norse spawning with 3 Throwing Axemen and 1 Raider, etc.)
• Balancing each quest for all 6 civilizations to ensure fair gameplay regardless of civ

no longer apply.

Good suggestion on tapping the rest of the community for translation assistance. It'll be one hell of a lot better than google translate at least

I have next to zero preference on the maps that are added, as I just want to help give players more content to play. That being said, I'd hope the community can "imitate" some of the map concepts from games like Starcraft 2 coop, as those maps are replayed to death and there's only like... 10 of them. So at least one of them has to have a really good idea for coop gameplay.

Obviously, things would have to be changed around to work for AOEO's style of gameplay, but the important part is I think the maps should be both coop allowed, be repeatable, and be something you'd want to play again and again with a friend.

 

[Ardeshir]

Definitely. I think the Level 30+ Project Celeste Questpack repeatables, and elite and legendary quests (especially with the team's new additions) are looking better than the sc2 coop in terms of depth of repeatable content for the geared and dedicated, the biggest PvE content gap I think lies in varieties of repeatables for inexperienced, not-even-remotely-geared players (before worrying about a power creep beyond current legendary quests, though filling out more at current endgame or near is always welcome). Starcraft's Co-op system is honestly just a prettier, more heavily scripted/trigger-reliant 2vai skirmish mode with a bunch of subfactions/unique tech trees (an idea the devs are also aware of, and may introduce to some extent in future quests).

 

[Flutters]

I wonder if @Flutters or @Sasquatch , or others interested in mapmaking would want to help. Translation to FR/DE/ES without tying up members of the dev team might take some time, but I don't think it would be impossible. I'd be happy to help with playtesting

Maybe a community questpack of "challenge quests", that force a specific civ/unit composition, a bit like the Norse and Persian quests from their original pack could also be done? That way

• Making sure each civ spawns with the right units (for example Persia spawning with 3 Sparabara and 1 Asabara, Norse spawning with 3 Throwing Axemen and 1 Raider, etc.)
• Balancing each quest for all 6 civilizations to ensure fair gameplay regardless of civ

no longer apply.

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't checked the forums in a while besides reading the weekly announcements about the Romans.

I'm personally interested in offline mode and the technical side of the game in general, not so much in actually making content myself. I'd be willing to help with what I can and make guides if necessary but at the moment I don't know that much about quests. I know a decent amount about programming and development in general but it's still mostly just a hobby for me, I occasionally file bug reports in open source or help fix them and have a few unfinished projects lying around, that's about it.

About the original post and this is just my opinion: I would love offline mode improvements and guides/documentation on how to make quests. The devs can of course decide what to do from there (contests, include them in future updates, etc). I'm pretty sure if info like this is made easily available in the website eventually some good quests will come out.

 

[Kenji03]

Sorry for the late reply, I haven't checked the forums in a while besides reading the weekly announcements about the Romans.

I'm personally interested in offline mode and the technical side of the game in general, not so much in actually making content myself. I'd be willing to help with what I can and make guides if necessary but at the moment I don't know that much about quests. I know a decent amount about programming and development in general but it's still mostly just a hobby for me, I occasionally file bug reports in open source or help fix them and have a few unfinished projects lying around, that's about it.

About the original post and this is just my opinion: I would love offline mode improvements and guides/documentation on how to make quests. The devs can of course decide what to do from there (contests, include them in future updates, etc). I'm pretty sure if info like this is made easily available in the website eventually some good quests will come out.

A few of us are working together via discord. So if you have that please add me Kenji_03#8484 If you are a person who can beat legendary quests, we have a few that require play testers soon.

Also, I am slowly working on making guides for offline mode