Version 1.1.0.0 Released

At long last, an update to the core RealmSpeak game is here.  As I've been promising for the last year, and really in the last several months, a version of RealmSpeak with Steve Schacher's "Questing the Realm" variant implemented.  Questing the Realm is itself a variant of the original Book of Quests published by Jay Richardson et. al.

What is Questing the Realm?  Let me quote from the Users Guide:

Elements of the Book of Quests have been isolated into a set of Quest Cards that can be played during a game of Magic Realm to dynamically generate goals for players in a way that replaces the standard victory conditions.

Quest Cards depict daily life, travels, dealing with natives, fighting monsters, completing missions, and earning fame and fortune. Quest cards will combine to allow the player to tell a unique story for each play of Magic Realm.

Essentially, you play the game not with a single quest, but smaller quest pieces (though some can be quite complex) that earn victory points.  Rather than scoring by collecting GTs, Gold, Notoriety, etc, you score by completing quests.  As it turns out, this is really quite a fun twist to the base game.

With this update, you'll get 100 quest types in a deck of over 300 cards to draw from.  Each player get's a number of cards equal to their level plus one (so a typical non-development character gets 5), and uses these to guide them through the realm, and earn points.  The users guide contains information about how this variant is setup, and played in RealmSpeak, so I suggest you read that first.  For your first game, I suggest choosing the Questing the Realm variant on the options page, along with Sudden Death set to 15 VPs.

Of course, this version of RealmSpeak also supports the Book of Quests variant.  There are two BoQ quests provided that will let you try that variant, if you like.  If you want more quests, you may want to invest some time looking at the new quest builder.  You were introduced to this new tool in version 1.0.24.0, but it's undergone a lot of changes.  Lots of bugs were fixed, lots of features were added, and most importantly, all the requirements and rewards are working.  Oh, and there's a full featured quest tester in there too.

Before you dive into making any quests, I recommend first playing the game.  Then when you have become familiar with a few of the quests, open them up in the quest builder, and see how they were implemented.  I'm going to avoid going into a lengthy discussion on the tool itself, until I know people are interested.  If there is enough feedback, I may even put together some (gasp) documentation for it.

One more thing - this release would NOT have been possible if it weren't for all the hard work Steve Schacher put into developing, testing, and chasing bugs for me.  He put up with all kinds of random issues along the way, and helped me get the code into shape for this release.  Of course, there's the 100 quests he designed, which I can tell you was no easy feat.  Thanks Steve!!!!

Ok, that's a lot to digest.  Here's what's new:

QUEST UPDATE:

• Preempt quest step works
• New quest step logic to allow ANY required step as opposed to EVERY required step
• Adjustments to quest view to make it fit the screen better
• "Questing the Realm" (Quest Cards) logic is implemented
  • A deck of quest cards is shuffled at the start of the game
  • Each character draws a number of cards equal to their starting level plus one
  • Quests must be activated
  • ALL PLAY Quest cards allow the first player to achieve the requirements to earn VPs.
  • Discard and redraw unstarted quests at any dwelling or Lost City/Castle chit
• Changed the in-game quest panel to be a bit easier to look at (no more quest diagram - that will only be for the editor)
• Finished SearchResult requirement
• Finished MissionCampaign requirement for testing when a mission/campaign is picked up, abandoned, or dropped off
• Added quest debugging option
• Lots of new rewards and requirements

NEW FEATURES:

• "Show Card" button on character frame shows the whole spy window now
• Full Featured "Quest Tester" so you can try out your quests without having to play the game.
• New "OnFail" quest step behavior, so you can implement actions when requirements are NOT met.
• Better Quest Deck viewer
• Fixed a problem with companion editor in character builder

BUGS/ISSUES:

• Fixed a bug that was causing the generated map to be the same every time when quests were active
• Fixed the behavior of quest points
• Fixed a bug that wasn't removing the effect of a mission/campaign when the chit was abandoned.
• Fixed many issues around how Minor Characters worked
• [1793] - Endless Option should be endless now.
• [1781] - Fixed some issues with sound errors.

74 Quests and Counting

Just a note to let you know that we have something like 74 mini-quests working within RealmSpeak.  These are all quests that Steve (primary quest developer) assembled for me last year, but it's taken me this long to get through them all, and make sure they are working.  I'll be throwing them back over the fence to him shortly, so he can make sure I didn't undo anything important, and then a release will be forthcoming.

Quest Tester

Wow, it's been a long time - more than a year since my last post!  I've been fairly busy the last year, working to develop a couple of Android apps (Grocery Ninja and Motherhood the Game).  Of course, that took a lot of time (a lot more than I would have guessed), and pulled me away from developing RealmSpeak.

Ok, so some random anonymous poster asked recently if I was still updating RealmSpeak.  The truth is, I was really thinking about being "done" with RealmSpeak forever.  However, there is a bunch of really cool questing stuff that I've been developing with Steve S, that would just be a shame to never release!

I decided that at the very least, I would get that code wrapped up and released in the very near future.  One of the newest features is the creation of a tool that will allow you to easily test your quests outside of RealmSpeak.  The main reason I'm writing the "Quest Tester", is because with all the quests Steve S has written, its gotten a bit hard to make sure they are all working!  The new tool will make our lives a bit easier, and should streamline the quest debugging I still need to do.

Timeframe?  I'm thinking that you'll see a new release by the end of June, assuming nothing major pulls me away from my weekend coding!

Hope you are enjoying a good Memorial Day weekend!

Quest Work Continues...

Just a note to let you know that work continues on the quest code for RealmSpeak. I've been working fairly closely with another Magic Realm gamer (Steve S) to iron out a lot of the details, and for testing the application. Once we feel this is ready for prime time, I'll make the new version available, along with a bunch of quests.

Also, as a reminder: if you are designing quests in the builder, keep in mind that there may be drastic changes in the next release that will render your quests nonfunctional. Once I have a stable release, I'll let you know.

Quest Reward Groups

I've gotten some questions about the "Reward Group" concept in the quest builder. Let me explain that a bit.

When a character completes the requirements of a particular step in the quest, there's always a chance for the quest designer to supply "rewards". In many cases, the rewards are clear cut, but suppose you want to give the player a choice of rewards?

There are 26 rewards groups (A through Z). If you specify more than one of these reward groups, RealmSpeak will provide the player with a choice of options. If you play the DragonSlayer quest, you see this right at the beginning, when the player gets to choose starting equipment.

There's also another reward group marked only with a dash "---". This reward group is ALWAYS given, regardless of the player choice. Say for example you wanted the player to have a choice between a horse, weapon, or 10 gold, but you want the "Old Man" to join as a Minor Character regardless. You would make the "Old Man" reward as a dash "---", the horse as "A", the weapon as "B", and the gold as "C".

Of course, you can have more than one reward land in each group. If you want the player to have the choice between a Warhorse or a weapon plus 10 gold, you would set it like this:

--- Old Man
A Warhorse
B Weapon
B 10 Gold

Version 1.0.24.0 Released

Here's a new release (finally) with a few minor changes, and one big change. The big change, you may have guessed, is that this is the first to support any form of "questing", an idea I originally heard about from Jay Richardson's "Book of Quests" (find information about that here).

Now before anyone get's too excited, keep in mind this is more of a quest-beta than the final product. In other words, there's still a long ways to go. That said, there is actually ONE quest in this release based on the Book of Quests: Dragon Slayer.

When you start a new game of RealmSpeak, you'll notice a new "Victory Conditions" section:

To try out the quests, you'll want to select "Sudden Death", and "Book of Quests" like I did above. The other two questing options do NOTHING, so no need to even select them. Choose a character like normal, and then you'll see new gold button on your character pane:

Click that button, and you should get a quest chooser popping up, with the lone quest "Dragon Slayer" as your only option. Notice that you can click on the little shields to see how the quest all fits together. Click OK, and the game is on!

Notice now that there is a new quest tab:

This is where you'll periodically want to check back to see what it is you need to do. The gold shield with a Green check mark, is the setup step, and you've already done that. The two gold shields without a green check mark indicate the next possible steps in the quest. The gray shields are not achievable until you've completed those. Click on the shield, and there is a description about what that quest step requires. Once you have completed the requirement, the shield will automatically get a check mark, and gray shields will turn gold. Complete that last shield on the right, and you win the game. (I'll be honest, this is a bitchin' hard quest to complete)

Now if you've played the Book of Quests before, you'll immediately notice some shortcomings. Remember, this is supposed to be a beta!! I'll get to that stuff eventually, but this is what I have now. Also, there is only the ONE quest...

If you look in the download, you'll see a new batch file called "launchQuestBuilder.bat". This will actually launch the beta version of the Quest Builder for you to play with. WARNING: I will likely be changing things about the builder, and any quests you may assemble now will likely be broken later. Please don't put a lot of work into any quests with this tool! Once it is a bit more solid, I'll lock it down, and you can design to your hearts content!!

Ok, my wife is bugging me to wrap this up so we can go grab a bite to eat (is it really 8pm already?) Here's what's new:

NEW FEATURES:

• Quests
  
  • Completely revamped the victory options in the setup dialog:
    
  • Choose between Endless, Timed, and Sudden Death games
    
  • Optionally select one of the questing choices: Book of Quests, Questing the Realm, or Guild Quests (only Book of Quests works right now)
    
  • Currently only "Dragon Slayer" from Book of Quests is provided. Many more to come, as well as a tool to make your own!!
    
    • The quest itself, should work. From rescue, to looting, to slaying the dragon, to returning the girl home to her family.
      
    • Some aspects of the quest not yet implemented (for example, you still earn fame/notoriety even though the quest states that you do not)
  • New Quest tab added to character window for following quest results
• [1744] - New house rules to make character development easier
  
  • No VP Ramp: 1 VP per chit regardless of level
    
  • No VP Restriction: VPs count towards level regardless of initial allotment

BUGS/ISSUES:

• [1748] - Fixed a bug that caused the SEARCH function to crash when the character is located in a clearing that doesn't lead anywhere.

Quest Actions

Just for fun, thought I'd list some of the actions that can be applied for a given quest step, once the requirements have been met:

Information	Displays a dialog with information in it. This is a good way to inform the player what is happening.
Item	Add an item to the character inventory, or take one away. Allows for choosing items from a group.
Attribute	Modify Fame, Notoriety, or Gold. Can either add or subtract points/gold.
Hireling	Add or remove a hireling.
Companion	Add or remove a monster ally.
MinorCharacter	Add or remove a Minor Character. Must create Minor Characters BEFORE creating this reward.
Teleport	Teleport the character to a new location. Must create a QuestLocation BEFORE creating this reward.
RelationshipSet	Set the relationship of the character with a particular native group, or all natives in the clearing.
RelationshipChange	Modify the relationship of the character with a particular native group, or all natives in the clearing.
QuestComplete	Tells RealmSpeak that the character has completed this quest.
QuestFailed	Tells RealmSpeak that the character has failed this quest.
SummonGuardian	For a specific quest location, summon the treasure site guardian (if any)
ScareMonsters	Randomly move all monsters in current clearing to other clearings either in the same tile or other tiles, as defined.
AlterHide	Change questing character's hide status (from hidden to unhidden, or the other way around).
MarkDenizen	Mark a particular denizen for later reference. This is useful if you want to make sure a character kills (for example) a particular monster.
StripInventory	Removes ALL inventory and (optionally) gold from the character.
LostInventoryToLocation	All future lost inventory from this quest will go to a specified location.
LostInventoryToDefault	All future lost inventory from this quest will go to wherever they started the game, including treasures. This is default setting.

I should mention that there are actually more actions planned, than those listed above, but these are the ones I have going so far.  This list also covers everything I need to complete the Dragon Slayer quest.

Amazon Quest

The quest integration with RealmSpeak is coming along. Thought a teaser was in order (click for a full size view):


What you are looking at is the Amazon after having selected a quest. This quest, "Dragon Slayer", comes straight from Jay Richardson's Book of Quests, so you may recognize his wording copied verbatim here. Notice that this is a new tab (yeah, there are a ton of tabs now...).

At the top of the tab is the quest name, followed immediately by a short description of the quest. Below that is the quest step tree, which describes the order that the steps must be completed. As you can see, the first step (left-most shield with a green check) has been completed. That step was actually the "setup" step where the starting reward (warhorse, weapon/armor, gold, etc) was chosen. The next two shields appear as "gold" because they are the next up. The top one (currently highlighted in green, if you can see that) is "The Rescue", and the step description is immediately below. The shield below that is "The Treasure", and details that you must draw a treasure from the same HOARD or LAIR that you rescue the girl from.

The rest of the shields are gray because they cannot be considered yet. Notice that two of the gray shields are dependent on "The Rescue", and the last shield is dependent on those two, plus "The Treasure". Complete that last step, and you will receive appropriate rewards, and finish the quest. Hooray!

This quest was created by the quest builder tool (described in some detail in a post from Aug 15 last year), and saved as a file to a "quests" folder with RealmSpeak. RealmSpeak automatically recognizes the quest file, and makes it available when the character chooses a quest. As myself and others make more quests, there will be more to choose from, much like the custom character design.

Ok, so what I'm not telling you, is that there is still some work to do to get the Dragon Slayer quest working, and a bit more work after that to get the builder tool ready for prime time. I'm really quite pleased that the integration of quests with RealmSpeak went so smoothly, so now its just a matter of filling in the blanks. Like I stated previously, I'll make the Dragon Slayer quest work mostly like Jay Richardson intended, and then release that with the next version (hopefully). Shortly after that, I'll release a version of the tool that will let you design your own quests.

They said it couldn't be done.... :-)

Slaying the Dragon

I've had a few e-mails about the next release. I haven't put anything new up in a while because my goal is to have some form of RealmQuest working in the next release. At the very least, you will have the first quest in the Book of Quests (Dragon Slayer) in all its glory to play with.

The challenge is making sure that every aspect of the quest can be encoded using the Quest Builder tool, without requiring any technical knowledge of the underlying data itself. One of the toughest parts of that, is giving the quest designer a way to reference any piece in the game, like a Magic Sword, or a T Dragon (flying or land).

The way I'm accomplishing this (partly) is through regular expressions. If you are a software programmer, you've probably heard the term, and if you are a Perl programmer, you likely use them every day. As you may or may not know, regular expressions are used to search strings for patterns, and can be very powerful tools. Regular expressions can also be very complicated, but I'm hoping to alleviate the pain there a little bit. When you design your regular expressions, you'll have a usage key visible, and a live list of RealmObject data updating live as you tweak your search. It's pretty intuitive, I think, so we'll see how that works once I can put it your capable hands. :-)

Not sure yet whether I'll also release the quest builder tool this time around, but it is coming. You see, I'd rather not enter all the quests into RealmSpeak myself, so I figured I'll let you guys work on that. ;-) Seriously though, its much like the character builder: the more people designing stuff, the more fun they are to play.

Anyway, look for something in the next month. If I get time during Spring Break, I may have something even sooner than that.