Everything sounds quite fantastic! I had suggested, among others I am sure, for EL quests to provide choices across the storyline. I am glad to see this will be implemented in ES2.



Though I am torn between random rewards or set ones. On one hand, I understand the replay value it would create to have randomized rewards every time to play the quest and make choices. On the other hand, the rewards should be tied to the spirit behind the choice. It would be odd to receive a military tech for making a pacifist choice. In addition, quest rewards allow for the fleshing out of the faction even more, like they did in EL.



So I suppose quests could have both types of rewards, which would establish enough randomization without compromising the spirit of the quest and the faction.



I also very much like hero-centric quests. I am very glad ES2 is going to take a more fleshed out and detailed route with its heroes, an area which EL was sadly lacking in.



All in all, I am very intrigued!

Sounds really interesting. I really like hope there's a lot of variety; it'd pity to have a quest structure that's more or less the same. More hero stuff is always nice, and quests sound like a really good thing here. I think there's a lot of potential for dynamic, procedural quests here; like a quest could appear when your colonies were sieged sometimes where you'd be able to for some cost of some kind delay the enemies siege progress or damage their fleets; with different possibilities and outcomes depending on several factors from heroes on both sides to defense and FIDS of the system.



I also gotta say that I'm no big fan of Brazillain Joes idea of having quests affect future quests in future playthroughs. Now first off there's the technical problem with how that would work in Multiplayer, and the lore problem where each game is a new independent one but I also feel like it would turn the game too much into a gotta replay it 5 times to get the good ending type game. I really feel like that's totally not fitting what type of game Endless Space is.

IMO Amplitude did a good thing in ES1 and a better one in EL. I liked and enjoyed a lot how quests were in EL.

This feature is one of Amplitude strong points, and for now they're the best in narrative an quests terms (even Civ BE quest system seems to be a poor imitation of EL), so I'll like to see what they can do with the remaining time and this new, more complex and partially-randomized system (yes I hope most of rewards being theme-related, but randomized from a pool)



Good job!

Brazilian_Joe wrote:
Transcendental Quests, Traits, Items, and Lore:



They are like bits which transcend one specific gameplay. Imagine that in one game the player conquers the galaxy. In the next game, the empire of the previous game vanished and the player starts over. But the player finds hints and derelicts of its previous playthrough. Those could give different endings to an existing quest, whchich would be locked the first time quest is played.

Good idea!

You can consider also leaving items players can get using curiosity from factions which were defeated on previous games, like: "You've found a powerful module from ancient and forgotten people", and just follow this idea, even if it appears only in narrative terms and not having any effect in the game (of course if not enough time, first develop the AI).

Will AI be able to actively participate in cooperative and competitive quests?

Like, if there's a global event, that puts global penalty to all factions and associated cooperative quest to negate it for everyone, I won't be happy to be the only empire caring to do so.

As excited as I am about the story information, I'm more excited by this little throwaway line:

Steph'nie wrote:
About Modding:

For the moment, quests are built in XML files, but we don’t exclude idea to create a tool making modding easier.

I'm genuinely hoping that means a little bit more support to the modders this time around!

Hello everyone!



We're glad to present to you a brand new Game Design Document about Narration! First of all, we will explain why we want to bring narration into our game and what we want it to bring to the game.





GOAL



The Narration is of course a way to make you discover the Endless universe: major factions and minor ones, resources, galaxy lore, etc. However if you can discover the past, you should be able to change the future, or to choose what it is supposed to become. Narration should also bring moral choices and gameplay choices in order to make your game unique. The same part of the Narration could be shared by several players: sometimes they will need to cooperate, and sometimes they will be in competition. Besides, spending time to accomplish deeds deserves some advantages. Even if the easier objectives will correspond to classic rewards (resources, Dust, etc.), the hardest ones will be rewarded by unique technologies, super effects on systems, and maybe even a private node?





HOW



What shape will the Narration take in ES2? We’ve decided to mix Endless Legend’s quests and Endless Space 1's events.



Event in ES2

Narrative elements, where the player could choose his/her own reaction. There is no specific achievement to do. Nonetheless, we can notice that the event could have some effects on the Galaxy (like winter in Endless Legend).





Example of an Event:





The Effect/reward of an Event could be unknown



Quest in ES2: Narrative element where the player could have to choose between several objectives. The chosen objective then needs to be accomplished by the player. In consequence, the player could have access to a reward corresponding to their choice. Moreover, the next step or chapter of the Quest will be linked to the choice made by the player.

Some quests could have no choice, and a quick objective to meet.



Example of Quest:





In this Example, all players have the same chapter. They then need to choose between a Militarist resolution and an Economic one. For example, assign a Hero as Governor or as Admiral.

Then the player who chose the Economic choice and who has assigned a Hero as Governor sees only the version “Chapter 2 Economic”. Maybe it is a Civil War, contrary to the Chapter 2 Militarist option where a mutiny occurs.

In Chapter 2, the player can choose again between an Economic resolution or a Militarist one. Thanks to this choice all players can have access to Chapter 3 Economic, or Chapter 3 militarist. But this time, players are forced (decisive choice before?) to accomplish one objective corresponding to the Chapter version.



I hope you enjoyed our super-fancy graphs… Now, let’s talk about when these quests and events occur.





WHEN



Narrative Elements (quests and events) have a lot of different ways to trigger.They are forced (major faction quest: each time the player finishes a chapter, the next one is triggered)

• They happen randomly (exploration quest: you were exploring a curiosity and suddenly an Endless appears)
• In reaction: the player is doing a specific action or something occurs as a consequence of their actions (lose population, discover a major empire, etc.)
  
  

The complexity of a quest, its tone, and the number of choices will depend on the trigger. If the quest is forced, the objectives will be longer and harder to accomplish, but the reward (access to the victory quest?) will be higher too.





QUEST TYPES



Alright, we’ve talked about quests, events, explorations, major factions… So let’s talk a little bit about what kind of quests and events we’ll be able to find during the game!



The major faction quest

Specific to the original population played by the player:

It is very specific to the faction selected at the beginning of the game. It is composed of chapters (around 4). All these chapters ask the player to choose between several reactions. If some of them follow clearly the playstyle of the faction, some will allow the player to act very differently (The Sophons’ objectives could be “exterminate X factions”). After this choice, the player should accomplish this objective to have access to the next Chapter. The lore in this chapter will depend on the choice: if two players make different choices, they will not see the same story.



Exploration Quest

The exploration quest should be shorter and lighter than the major faction quests. Even if some exploration quests require choices, or have chapters, they should be the occasion to discover the galaxy’s secrets and receive helpful rewards.



Hero Quest

Hero quests are focused around a hero. Depending on the faction or the class, they are triggered when the player uses often a Hero (level, assignment and so on). It is the occasion to learn more about a hero’s background and give them a specific future. Rewards given by these quests are rare and obviously focus on the hero.



Population

Similar to exploration quests, population quests should be short and light. They are the occasion to learn more about the relationship between factions, their customs, their favourite sports etc. Those quests could be triggered by immigration, cohabitation between enemy populations, low/high approval and such. Reward should be focused on population and economy.





However, you can also encounter multiplayer quests:



Cooperative Quest

Cooperative quests could affect several or all the players. It could have one or two chapters and sometimes choices. This could turn the Cooperative quest into competitive quest with treachery and deceit… The reward system is a little bit specific: even if the reward should be helpful to all empires, only the best players will receive a special reward, depending on their contribution. This “podium” will be visible by all players involved in the Quest.



Competitive Quest

Competitive quests involve all the players or several ones. The goal is to be the best, the first, the most productive to win the final reward – probably huge and helpful - There could be choices – in order to create a competitive quest: allowing teams – with your allies for example? The rewards could be different in function of the choices and objectives too.







EVEN TYPES



Global Events

As for winter in Legend, global events should affect the whole galaxy or a large part of it. It could affect systems, production, Empires, war… It could require a choice, a decision. The result of the event could be only effects (penalties, bonus with a duration, etc.) or a quest.



Solo Events

Contrarily to global events, solo events affect only one empire or a small part of the Galaxy. The player can choose between options to decrease or increase the event’s effects. But sometimes, she/he is forced to suffer the consequences or doing a quest to stop these effects.







VIP FEEDBACK



About Rewards:

Reward type will depend on the chosen branch (if it is a lore quest) or on the quest type (if it is a little quest). If rewards could be randomised to avoid pre-default choices (“I know there is a Super-Module at the end of chapter 3, so I’ll fill all the objectives until this chapter and stop here”.) It would be mainly the case in the exploration/population quest, in order to not disappoint the players (“This super module was super-useful… was”)



About the variability of Quests:

Our purpose is to avoid spawning the same event/quest twice in the same game. We want enough restrictive conditions to launch the quests which could allow a better variability of narrative events from one game to another.

About links between population and Quest:

Branches should follow the population’s desires. However, in order to give more freedom in terms of gameplay and in terms of moral choices, we could make some “original branches” appear (Benevolent Pacifist Cravers anyone?).



About Cooperative and competitive Quest:

Some players could be selected as participants in a quest depending on their location in the galaxy, while the other players will receive a quest later. Always about player’s selection, if some quests required specifically a political ideology, only empires which already possess this political ideology would be selected.



About the Political Ideology and the Quest:

Some quests are associated to a population. If this population prefers a political ideology that the player doesn’t have yet, the player could still fill this quest. The objectives could increase this political ideology and it could be the occasion to make this political ideology appear. (Example: migrating Cravers into the Sophon Empire trigger the quest “destroy X fleet”, which is typically a “military quest”, even if the Sophon Empire doesn’t know the Military Ideology.)



Hero Quest Reward:

The hero quest could provide two types of rewards: exclusive ones (only received by the concerned hero: experience, level, skills, etc.) and the shared one (that all the heroes could use: modules etc.).



About Modding:

For the moment, quests are built in XML files, but we don’t exclude idea to create a tool making modding easier.







VIP SUGGESTIONS



Adventurer_Blitz: Some quests could affect a part of the galaxy, for example some lanes, some systems.



VieuxChat: some heroes could obtain the trait “nemesis” and share quests/events in order to develop their relationship. We could also go for pre-written stories revealed during specific quests and launch them when the two heroes are unlocked by players.





Thank you all for reading! Let us know what you think.

Brazilian_Joe :

QUEST KEYS[…]

When a new game is created, the state of all transcendental keys is used to set up the starting conditions of the game and which quests/branches will be out-of-reach.

Once one or more of those keys are unlocked, they are saved to the global game settings. While unlocking these keys won't affect the current game - the starting conditions cannot be changed - they will be in a different state if the player starts a new game, allowing for more options.[…]

The faction quest can have one or more locked branches. The first time the player wins via faction quest, it will have a storyline. The second time, it will have additional options, because the game starts with the achievement already unlocked. This makes for an opportunity to give more value for repeated playthroughs.

It is quite interesting

It requires a lot of lore, texts and pictures to make it consistent enough but I like this idea, especially if it concerns the lore quest and some solo quests too. If those quest keys affect the quests, it would be nice and rewarding for players. However, if it concerns the starting conditions (I mean advantages for 1 player) it could create edge cases and exploits ^^

Some quests could be specifically designed to be unsolvable in the first playthrough.

It could be very frustrating though, if it can’t be solved/be failed whatever the player does. But, it could be fun to have a glimpse of futures consequences, or having access, through a mysterious event, to a warning or something “bizarre”, and finding the resolution in the next game.

I like this idea. I think it requires some tweaking and design but it is nice overall As Sinnaj63 said, it could generate some technical issues, but if it doesn’t break multiplayer balancing maybe we could do something similar. We will think about that. That kind of idea could be added in the future (maybe in a DLC after the release). Thanks a lot

KnightofPhenix

It would be odd to receive a military tech for making a pacifist choice. In addition, quest rewards allow for the fleshing out of the faction even more, like they did in EL. So I suppose quests could have both types of rewards, which would establish enough randomization without compromising the spirit of the quest and the faction.

Lo-fabre

(yes I hope most of rewards being theme-related, but randomized from a pool)

I completely understand what you mean. Indeed, if we randomize rewards, we can design a “pool” of rewards, which are the same value/nature (military rewards, pacifist rewards etc.) to avoid that kind of situation. If there is a crucial reward for a lore quest, it will be stable from one game to another ^^

Sublustris:

Will AI be able to actively participate in cooperative and competitive quests?

This topic is still in discussion. We don’t know yet if the AI is able to resolve quest properly or not. In both case, cooperative and competitive quests should stay playable in Solo games.

All: thanks a lot for your comments! It is really nice of you and motivating for the team

lo_fabre wrote:
IMO Amplitude did a good thing in ES1 and a better one in EL. I liked and enjoyed a lot how quests were in EL.

This feature is one of Amplitude strong points, and for now they're the best in narrative an quests terms (even Civ BE quest system seems to be a poor imitation of EL), so I'll like to see what they can do with the remaining time and this new, more complex and partially-randomized system (yes I hope most of rewards being theme-related, but randomized from a pool)



Good job!

I was thinking along the same lines as you when reading about the rewards. The building quests in Civ BE were a no-brainer by about the second play through, partially because you knew what to expect and also because of how unbalanced they were. If they're partially randomized while being thematically correct it would really help the replayability aspect! Also if the rewards are visible before selecting the path PLEASE try and balance them as best as possible!



hmmm no more lurking for me...

Welcome aboard!

Yeah the problem with linear quest like in Bert is they stop being interesting pretty quick.It needs random elements.

Ashbery76 wrote:
Yeah the problem with linear quest like in Bert is they stop being interesting pretty quick.It needs random elements.

THIS.



So damned true. The quest system in Endless Legend is fun the first 1 or 3 times you see it, but it does get boring. If not for the unique rewards, I wouldn't bother with them. When I do actually do them, I don't waste time reading the awesome (sorry Jeff) text.



For more interesting quest types, check out Thea: the Awakening or Sorcerer King. They have branching quests of various types. I say that knowing how hard it is to balance quests, especially main quests, but I'm just sharing my thoughts here anyways.

I would also suggest randomization in general is what keeps 4X games interesting. XCom became very predictable once you "learned" the maps and enemies. XCom 2 remains terrifying even late game because you have no frame-of-reference on any map.

I like the idea a lot. Hopefully, it would be interesting if a "main" storyline, like the EL chapters, would actually use the proposed changes system. It would be really cool to see visible changes related to gameplay/the world. Also, races should affect the conquered worlds further as they progress. If it isnt too much of a bother, I'd love a more detailed view of a race's planet, or at least capital, in the planet viewer/ artwork. Would honestly love to see a Sophon or Craver world as it develops. May be a bother for development, but as the player develops, one could see visible planetary expansion. Just sayin