November 2005
- Computer Security for MMOs and Online Games Greg B
- Discussion of MUD system design, development, and implementation Chris Duesing
- Commentary on Recent PlayOn Blog Social Cohesion Christopher Allen
- quest engine design documents? Johnicholas Hines
- Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Ghilardi Filippo
- Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Kiztent
- Effort to produce a quest Vincent Archer
- Effort to produce a quest Damion Schubert
On 11/12/05, Mike Rozak <Mike@mxac.com.au> wrote:
> How much work does it take to produce a quest of the quality used
> in WoW or EQII? How many text-MUD "rooms" are needed per hour of
> entertainment?
> ...
> I am creating a content-production schedule for myself, and am
> uncertain how much time to schedule for quests:
> WoW has 3000 quests (or so I think I've heard), and about 600
> hours of content (to make a round number). That's means that
> players complete a quest once every 12 minutes, on average. My
> experience with EQII is that quests take a similar amount of time
> to complete.
> Fable has 30 quests and takes 14 hours to complete, or 25 minutes
> per quest.
Trying to measure your gameplay experience via a vague and
hard-to-define unit as a 'quest' is pretty much a TWLM (This Way
Lies Madness) exercise. The reason why is that the answer will vary
vastly based upon the lengths of the quests, your gameplay paradigm,
your willingness to go the extra mile for scripted content, etc.
For example, if your gameplay paradigm is a 'puzzle pirates' game
where each puzzle takes 5 minutes to do, it could take you 30
minutes to complete a quest with 6 encounters, not counting run
time, etc.
Work backwards. I prefer to use the 'zone' as a unit of
measurement, and then say 'a zone needs X hours of content in it'
(total content is that number times X zones). Then build one of
your zones out, and play it with a stopwatch. The right number of
quests will become clear.
One reason to take this approach is that it focuses on the opposite
point of view. You don't want to build 3000 quests just to say you
have them - far better to have 300 elegantly tailored quests than
3000 that all feel the same. It only counts as different content to
the player if it FEELS like different content.
The last point I'd make is that you want to ensure that your quests
vary wildly in length, which makes it hard to do those calculations.
Players want both the hour-long epic quests as well as the 'I only
have five minutes, I think I'll knock a couple quests off' type
quests. Having fewer quests also has the benefit of building
communities - yes, it sucks that everyone does the same quests, but
it also provides a common base of experience that everyone can
relate to.
--d - Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Damion Schubert
- Effort to produce a quest Mike Rozak
- Effort to produce a quest Randolf Richardson
- Effort to produce a quest Lachek Butalek
- DGN: Starting with Nothing (Requests for Resources) Sarah Bonner
- DGN: Starting with Nothing (Requests for Resources) lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- DGN: Starting with Nothing (Requests for Resources) Otis Viles
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? John Mauney
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Sean Howard
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Sam Pointon
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? John Mauney
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? justice@softhome.net
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Lachek Butalek
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- Text MUDs; in need of an (r)evolution? Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs CHRISTOPHER LLOYD
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Mike Rozak
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs cruise
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Mike Rozak
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Roger Hicks
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains cruise
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lydia Leong
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Dave Mitchell
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lost
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lachek Butalek
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Lost
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains jack fredricks
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Mike Rozak
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Arnau Josep Rosselló Castelló
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains Damien Neil
- Dynamic Quests & Event Chains ceo
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs cruise
- DESIGN: Personal NPCs Jaycen Rigger
- (no subject) Koster, Raph
- Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) cruise
- Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Lachek Butalek
- MMO a temporary phenomenon? John Buehler
- Sexism in design lwl@black-knight.org (Lydia Leong)
- Sexism in design Marc Bowden
- Sexism in design Louis d'Ambra
- Sexism in design Sean Kelly
- Sexism in design Amanda Walker
- Value Brian "Ayavaron" Ross
- Griefing Brian "Ayavaron" Ross
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Jean, Yannick
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Marc Bowden
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Lost
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Damion Schubert
- RE : Removing the Massively from MMOG (long) Lachek Butalek
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look)
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Caliban Darklock
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Ryan S. Dancey
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Jeffrey Kesselman
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Ken Sewell
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Sean Howard
- Changing Midstream (SWG's New Look) Joe Ludwig
- Discussion of MUD system design, development, and implementation Chris Duesing