ITEC 810 Final Project Report

QUEST DESIGN PATTERNS IN ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

Marcelino Pranoto 41979982

Supervisor: Michael Hitchens

November 11th, 2011

Table of Contents Table of Figures ................................................................................................................... 4 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 5 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Gaming Industry and Development........................................................................... 6 1.2 Problems in the Gaming Industry ............................................................................. 7 1.3 Analysis in Quest Design Patterns ............................................................................ 7 1.4 Report Outline ............................................................................................................ 8 2. Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 8 2.1 Role Playing Games.................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Quest Element in Role-playing Games .....................................................................10 2.3 Design Patterns .........................................................................................................12 2.4 Previous Works..........................................................................................................13 3. Quest Design Pattern .....................................................................................................14 3.1 Role-playing Game Quests Analysis .........................................................................14 3.1.1 Might & Magic VII: for Blood and Honor ...........................................................14 3.1.2 Neverwinter Nights ............................................................................................15 3.1.3 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind .......................................................................16 3.1.4 Dragon Age: Origins............................................................................................17 3.2 Quest Pattern Model .................................................................................................18 3.2.1 Quest Name.........................................................................................................21 3.2.2 Quest Type Pattern .............................................................................................21 3.2.3 Quest Giver .........................................................................................................21 3.2.4 Quest Action Sequence .......................................................................................21 3.2.5 Quest Stages .......................................................................................................22 3.2.6 Quest Object ........................................................................................................22 3.2.7 What the world does ...........................................................................................22 3.2.8 Quest End Points ................................................................................................22 3.2.9 Quest Results ......................................................................................................23 3.2.10 Quest Rewards ..................................................................................................23 3.2.11 Quest Prerequisites...........................................................................................23 3.2.12 Quest Success Condition ...................................................................................23 3.3 Quest Actions.............................................................................................................23 3.4 Quest Type Pattern ...................................................................................................25 3.5 Generic Example of Use ............................................................................................26 4. Quest Design Pattern Analysis Result ...........................................................................28 4.1 Quest Patterns Model Implementation ....................................................................28 4.1.1 “Neverwinter Nights 2” .......................................................................................28 2

4.1.2 “Dragon Age: Origins” .........................................................................................29 4.1.3 “The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind” .....................................................................33 4.1.4 “The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion” ...........................................................................35 4.1.5 “Might & Magic VII: for Blood and Honor” ........................................................38 4.1.6 “Neverwinter Nights”..........................................................................................39 4.1.7 “Fable 2” ..............................................................................................................40 4.1.8 Model Implementation Summary.......................................................................42 4.2 Implementing Quest Pattern Model for Main storyline ...........................................42 4.3 Result Summary ........................................................................................................45 5. Possible Usability............................................................................................................45 6. Conclusions .....................................................................................................................46 References ...........................................................................................................................47 Appendix .............................................................................................................................50 Metacritic Platform Comparison Table (2010) ...............................................................50

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Table of Figures Figure 1: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ............................................................................10 Figure 2: Might & Magic VII - Fighting skeleton warriors ...............................................15 Figure 3: Neverwinter Nights ............................................................................................16 Figure 4: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind........................................................................17 Figure 5: Dragon Age: Origins on Xbox360 ........................................................................18 Figure 6: Main Storyline Hierarchy ...................................................................................43

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QUEST DESIGN PATTERNS IN ROLE-PLAYING GAMES Marcelino Pranoto Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia [email protected]

Abstract Game design has seen major developments in the past two decades. Profit in video gaming industry has shown that a good game can reach from young adolescents and also adults in every part of available genres. Although creating games is getting easier with the technology provided, creating a good game is still a challenging process. A good game consists of a well planned game design and also the execution of a plan. In order to reduce the workload of the game design planning, several design patterns maybe combined together in a process to create a game. In this project we analyse the emerging patterns of one of the video game genre, mainly Role Playing Games. RPG or Role Playing Game is a game where the player is taking a Role of a hero or a group of heroes to take missions which are called Quests to finish the tasks and reach for the glory. Some of the ways to determine the quest game design patterns are by initiating several tests and observations on some RPG games. After sufficient Quest Design Patterns collected, it is possible to discuss the additional benefits of the patterns acquired apart from game design point of view. It is possible to use this as a communication bridge between designers and code writer. Another future use is to create a quest pattern library to incorporate several RPG game engines. Keywords: Keywords Game, RPG, Quest, Design Pattern

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1. Introduction 1.1 Gaming Industry Industry and Development Video Games have come a long way with the rapid change in electronics and media over the past 30 to 40 years. It has been transforming from single console units such as Pong in arcade centres in 1970 and 1980, to a more sophisticated console-based internetenabled Playstation 3 or Xbox 360. Meanwhile, a similar transformation can also be found in the method of game storage such as ROM cartridges, floppy disks, CD-ROMs to a more recent DVD-ROMs and mobile gaming on smartphones (Miller, 2005). Video games also have become a big part of our lifestyles. Gaming terms such as Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, The Sims, Cooking Mama, and many others have become daily household names. Some games such as Grand Theft Auto IV even created controversies in some continents because of its violence and sexual contents. But despite getting all the criticism for being violent and explicit, video games has been moving away from the typical activities of anti-social behaviour and it is currently leading us into a better way of life by collaborations, simulations, and also “best-case” scenarios (Weiss, 2010) In the past few decades, video gaming has become much more than just a simple purpose of entertainment. Video game has shifted to a higher level of business commodity which involves millions of dollars in the context. Thousands of new titles from numerous amounts of game genres are being released each year to accommodate the gaming consumers, from the fast-paced action games to the ever mind-consuming strategy games. A lot of companies or game publishers race each other to get the most successful sales income from the titles they released. According to a public poll done by Entertainment Software Association, 72% of American households play computer video games or console-based video games. Also in 2010, total consumer spend on games industry reach an astounding amount of $25.1 billion in total with $15.9 billion being spent on software contents apart from hardwares and gaming accessories. This is an impressive number coming from the land where most games are coming from and it is still growing exponentially towards bigger market and better trend (Entertainment Software Association, 2011).

“The video game industry is one of those important, high-tech economic drivers. Our industry generates over $25 billion in annual revenue, and directly and indirectly employs more than 120,000 people with an average salary for direct employees of $90,000.” --Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO. Entertainment Software Association The video game industry is also expected to keep on growing in the next several years to come. Gartner estimates the growth will last beyond 2015 it will reach an impressive number of $56 billion worldwide just from the sales of gaming software (Gartner, 2011). These numbers have shown us that the video game industry is a major business commodity in not just United States of America, but also in the whole world.

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1.2 Problems in the Gaming Industry Despite video gaming industry is prospering with an expanding market and continuous innovations, creating a particular game is still pretty much a hit or miss case when it comes to producing a successful game. A simple overview can be made when a customer wants to read some reviews about the latest releases in some game review sites such as metacritic.com. According to Best Video Game round up of 2010, the portion of games which are reviewed “good” in Playstation 3 only reach 44% out of all games reviewed. Xbox 360 only has 39% of the title which was awarded “good”. And last but not least the number of reviewed game for PC gaming platform is 42% rated “good”, with the rest of the percentage is only received either mixed reviews or bad reviews. We can see the data in the platform comparison table in appendix section (Dietz, 2011). Another important case study to notice is big game publisher such as Electronic Arts, does not always have their games reaching success in the market. Despite of having a large number of game released, it had only one title among the top 10 best sellers during the 2008 holiday season. Analyst criticized Electronic Arts of doing too much of diversifications and ended up producing mediocre game titles. On the contrary, TakeTwo had a more focused plan by releasing Grand Theft Auto IV. Even though the game costs $100 million for its budget plan, the industry gained a profit of $500 million from selling the game in the first week (Wesley & Barczak, 2010). These numbers proves that games are getting easier to develop, but creating a good game is definitely not an easy process. It is obvious that most games in the “good games” category are developed by big budgeted game studios, because they have the resources to begin with. However, it is important to see that there are also a lot of indie game studios emerging and new game developers are trying their best to compete with their games. Moreover, there are a lot of amateur game designers are starting to learn how to make video games with easy access to game engines such as Unity3D. Video game design requires concrete steps of planning, designing, coding, and modelling. Over the years game designer community has been gathering knowledge from analysing of various perspectives such as classic board games, real life professionals, and even the formal analysis found in mathematical game theory. We believe that game design needs a shared form of vocabulary to describe the structures created and a set of rules to fit these pieces together.

1.3 Analysis in Quest Design Patterns Patterns Role-playing can be described as one of the genres of video game which involves exploration and realism in its gameplay. This type of gameplay is interesting because most of RPG games have a complex structure of storytelling and it is difficult to find a good role-playing game in the market. This leads to the idea of developing a model of design patterns which can be used to improve the process of generating quests in roleplaying games. The following paper documents the analysis of quests in role-playing games to gather essential pieces needed to build a Quest Design Pattern model. The idea of this project is 7

to provide working building blocks for role-playing game designers to generate the quests. The resulting Quest Pattern model is a model which can be used to guide roleplaying game designers to construct a structural storyline in role-playing games. The following methodologies are to be done in this project: 1. Literature Review 2. Applied research a. Role-playing game play testing b. Construction of Quest Pattern model by defining critical elements found in the play testing

1.4 Report Outline This paper is divided mainly into two tasks, a literature review part which is important to give a better understanding about quests and its significance to role-playing games, and the implementation part which the knowledge is going to be applied by creating a model prototype for the patterns identified. The rest of the report is structured as follows. In section 2 we will do the literature review needed to gain the necessary knowledge regarding role-playing games and design patterns. Section 3 will provide details of the research done in the testing phase by looking through some of the sample games, identifying elements of RPG quests, and build our model from it. Section 4 will try to implement the quest pattern model into several different cases of quests found in our sample games. Section 5 will explore the possible usability of the quest design patterns. And finally in section 6 we draw some conclusions from the results and possible usage, also including a brief outline of any future work possible.

2. Literature Review In this chapter we review some related topics necessary with the aim of clarifying roleplaying games and design patterns before we carry out our analysis. In section 2.1 we describe a brief abstraction of role-playing games and list some characteristics based on related literatures. In section 2.2 we discuss the importance of quest and how it really works inside a role-playing game. In section 2.3 we describe an overview of design patterns and how it relates to our project. And finally in 2.4 we discuss some of the related work in the past in terms of quest design patterns.

2.1 Role Playing Playing Games Games Role-playing games have evolved over a number of decades as described by Hitchens & Drachen (2009). It is argued that role-playing games have multiple forms such as: tabletop, Live-action role-playing, Single Player digital, and Massively Multi-Player Online. With table top and Live-action role-playing being non-computer based activities, there are some similarities which all role-playing games share in the following features: 8

• • • •

There is a core element of “storytelling with rules”, this means that each game has its own narative ways to describe the settings and the rules. A set of Rules: A shared understanding among the participants of the game setting, rules and similar game framework issues. Most of the game participants control a character also named avatar which will be used to interact with the world created. Usually a gamemaster is present in the form of either a person or a computer system where he will be responsible to control the interaction of the elements of the role-playing game.

Adams & Rollings(2007, p507) states that computerized role-playing game as the name implies, is a genre of video games which the game utilize mainly role playing. Most of game genres tend to give static experience when it comes to skills and abilities often at far better than normal human capabilities. In and role-playing games however, character’s abilities and skills develop through the game. Moreover, role playing game also allows the player to shape the character as freely as he wants it to be. Although this seems to be the case as well with action games, typical role-playing games uses more numbers in their skill point distributions as an interface to expand their abilities. To summarize this part, some of the essential parts of rpg games are: character growth, inventory management, exploration, and quest based storyline. Although we have described what a role-playing game is, it is always has been a great debate because RPG genre is very broad in the world of video games and it has many elements in common with other genres. Adams & Rollings (2007) argues that roleplaying games is a genre full of challenges, thus making it very common to see a little bit of parts from some different types of game. Role-playing games are different than war games simply because RPG is keeping track of the growth of individual characters. It is also different than action games because a role-playing game typically has a means of inventory management which incorporate buying and selling activities. Most of the games in the rpg genre enforce the player to maintain their storage and inventory limits. This is one of the aspects of added realism which can be found in the role-playing games. And lastly, RPG is different than adventure games because the main character of adventure games is strictly provided by the game itself with small amount of costumization. Bottom line is role-playing games have a complex internal economy system, costumizable character growth system, quests system, with a little bit of elements from other genres. Kacmarcik (2005) also argues in his paper that role-playing games can be distinguished from other genres by the numerous amount of the interactions with the world environment. These interactions are provided by the non-playing characters or NPC to the player, establishing the immersion of living in a normal world. Kacmarcik also states that these NPC interactions are usually handled by finite state machine, of a set of scripted dialogs which are prepared by game designers. A good example to role-playing game genre is a game titled The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game is developed by Bethesda Softworks and it provided the gamers with a total freedom in a fantasy world. In Bethesda Softworks (2011)’s promotional site, one 9

of the major advantages of Elder Scroll’s Series is that the game also gives the player an option to experience the game at their own pace. A character will be created according to player’s preference. Player will also manage their inventory, income and outcome, and also control their character’s growth. The game also provides opportunities to explore the world and join numerous factions such as the thieves or mages guilds.

Figure 1: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

2.2 Quest Element in RoleRole-playing Games Role-playing game’s structure relies heavily on the element of Quests. It served as the basic storytelling function and will reveal important information related to the background, history, lore, and current situation of the game. Using quests, players are guided through the game by finishing both main and side quests as they progress and develop their abilities. Because it is a very important part of the genre, role-playing games such as Oblivion have numerous quests implemented in it. The elder scrolls IV: Oblivion has approximately 180 quests implemented within the basic game without any expansions whatsoever (UESP Wiki, 2011). Quests are almost available in every role-playing game whether it is recorded in the quest log or not. A quest log is a script that keeps the track of quests taken by the main character. The quests also function as a structured mechanism to connect the character with the non-playing characters (Doran & Parberry, 2010). While quest is more of a structural approach to a role-playing game storyline, it manages the player to engage with the gameplay by giving them sense of mystery. This is proven by some of the biggest names in role-playing games available in the market for example the Fable series, Elder Scrolls series, DragonAge: Origins, and many other names. Another argument comes from Ashmore & Nitsche (2007) saying that quests often have explicit starting and completion conditions. The player is given one or more tasks which they can accomplish in the world environment. These quests will guide the player 10

through the journey and resulting in both spatial and personal growth of the avatar. An example of a main quest can be seen from Dragon Age: Origins main quest, which the ultimate goal is to end the blight by killing the Archdemon. This quest is given by Duncan, the grey warden at the end of Ostagar part and it is carried throughout the whole main story path driven by the player. The main storyline consists of a number of many quests which have to be completed by the player to progress through the end. Adams & Rollings (2007, p513) also classify some quests which are totally unrelated to the main story and these are called side quests. These side quests are available to the player by interacting with certain non-playing characters (NPCs). Because the nature of side quests is being optional and unrelated to the main story, player have to seek for them from rumors and visible or audible cues. After the side quest is being obtained player then can decide to accept or reject the side quests. In most cases, there is no penalty for the player to reject the quest. Quest structure is also described as a form of interactive storytelling. In a lecture of Scriptwriting for Games: Part 1, Foundations of Interactive Storytelling (Grace, 2008), it is argued that any game features both character and story in which one or more narrative aspect changes interactively can be considered an interactive story. Although this description is more covering the story part of a video game, it is a form of quests structure seen from role-playing game point of view. The reason for this is because storyline in role-playing games is given in a form of quests that have to be finished by the main character. There are some quest structure can be described from the first and the second part of the document (Grace, Scriptwriting for Games: Part 1, Foundations of

Interactive Storytelling & Scriptwriting for Games: Part 2: Advanced Plot Story Structures, 2008): • • • • •

Linear Branching Parallel paths Threaded Dynamic Object Oriented Narrative

To get a better understanding on quest implementation on role-playing games, it is best that we discuss a little bit of example of a quest which can be found in Might & Magic VII: for Blood and Honor. MM7 is a classic role-playing game developed by New World Computing in 1999 (New World Computing & 3DO, 1999). One of the quests requires the player’s group to search for Davrik's Signet ring from the bandit caves in the northeast of Erathia and return it to Davrik Peladium in Harmondale. At the end of this quest, Davrik will give the player a reward of 5000 experience points and 5000 amount of gold (Smith, 2004). This is a very basic type of an “obtaining item” quest type and can easily be found in other role-playing games. As a result of our literature review, we can summarize the quest element of role-playing game as structured goals given to the player as a method of storytelling in a role-playing game. A quest itself is described with small and identifiable parts and pieces of the game. Some of the important parts of a quest are a quest giver, quest objective, and 11

finally a quest end point. It is also to be noted that quest is always having an end result affecting the player whether it is visible or not. Because of the nature of the quests are done simultaneously, some games have their quests gathered and organized in a journal or a quest log. People often compare this quest as a pattern of the Hero’s Journey described in Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Campbell, 1949). In his book he argued that most myths from distinct times and regions shared a common structure and stages which leads to the term Monomyth. In a Monomyth the hero is described as an entity who ventures from the ordinary world; encountering problems and gaining victory; and finally he comes back from the adventure with greater power than before. These steps of the Hero’s Journey are built by Campbell in the 17 Stages of the Monomyth. Our quest discussion however, is not totally related to the Campbell’s Monomyth. Quests in role-playing games are simple patterns which are used to lead the main character into a sequence of tasks that have to be finished in order to progress in the game storyline. Having said that, the quests don’t always have be the same pattern compared with the Monomyth where the hero is described having a life changing experience. The Hero’s Journey itself on the other hand, may be applicable to the main quests storyline structured in the game. Another point of comparison can be seen from our earlier description where quests usually have a starting point, ending point, and a reward from doing it. Finally to end this discussion, we are going to say that they both are different from each other, with the quest in role-playing games in our context is much smaller compared to the Hero’s Journey.

2.3 Design Patterns Patterns Before we discuss much more about Quest Design Patterns it is important to get a better understanding of Design Patterns themselves. Design patterns are recurring solutions to software design problems which can be found again and again in real-world application development. Design patterns are mainly concern with design and interaction of objects, as well as providing reusable solutions to commonly encountered programming problems and purposes (Gamma et al., 1995). Some important summaries can be found as well from the book of Head First: Design Patterns (Freeman et al., 2004): • • • •

Design Patterns show you how to build systems with good object oriented qualities Design Patterns are proven object oriented experience Design Patterns don’t really give you the code; rather they give you with general solution applied to the problem. Design Patterns are not invented, Design Patterns are discovered

Design patterns are also classifiable into three different purposes (Gamma et al., 1995): • •

Creational Patterns
Concern the process of object creation Structural Patterns
Deal with the composition of classes and objects 12

•

Behavioural Patterns
Deal with the interaction of classes and objects

Agerbo & Cornils (2000) did a significant analysis of the Design Pattens that will strongly reduce the number of Fundamental Design Patterns and show that the forming of Design Patterns should be restrictive. This can be done by defining a list of design patterns exist in the Library of Design Pattern (LDP). main advantage of using such LDPs is that one doesn’t have to copy the structure of the Design Pattern anew each time a Design Pattern is applied in a new context. Finally this leads to a conclusion of the use of LDPs will ensure the third benefit of Design Patterns claimed which is to “improve the documentation of software designs” (Gamma et al., 1995). After researching into the basics of design pattern, it is suffice to say that our Quest Design Patterns analysis is considered as a part of structural pattern because it deals with the composition of the story parts which consists of smaller parts of tasks described by the quests. It is also important to say that a number of cases of quests in role-playing games are a part of the discovery of design patterns based on similarity of problems and solutions. And finally it is important to group them into a minimum number of patterns since it will lead into the area of Quest Design Patterns easier to classified by the designers.

2.4 2.4 Previous Works The most related approach to address the quest design patterns in role-playing games is provided by Doran & Parberry (2010). In their research paper named Towards Procedural Quest Generation: a Structural Analysis of RPG Quests the authors clarified a quest structure model in current online role-playing games which consists of a sequence of player actions. Their analysis has also shown that NPCs with similar motivations will demand the quest to be finished in a similar way. Based on these premises, the authors can provide a procedure on how to generate quests in online multiplayer role-playing games which will lead to a more accessible quest generator provided by the players themselves without having to wait for an additional content from the creators. This approach however, differs from the one analysed by this project. The central of our discussion is mainly single-player role-playing games and offers a deeper quest pattern breakdown from quest design patterns, main quest stages, quest starting and ending points, to the details of quest results. Another similar approach is done by Smith et al., (2011) by describing quests are critical to express the game’s story and how they also order the situation of the level as well. The authors argued that there is a very strong correlation between level design and quest design. the quest and level pattern are being described by collecting similar events happening in the sample games. In particular, the discussion of quests design pattern is discussing arrowhead questing pattern and boss battle pattern. This approach however is different with what our project is doing because the analysis is done from a more general point of view. Instead of doing phases of quest patterns, our approach offers a

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more structurized and detailed quest design patterns which can be easier to implement in the future development. An implementation of quest patterns for computer games has been done by Trenton et al. (2010). In this paper the authors discussed the implementation of patterns where it is used to control plots and make quest scriptings easier to a degree which the creators don’t need to learn about knowledge of computer scripting. The quest patterns are gathered in a scripting code called ScriptEase, where the authors can construct new patterns in it and add them to the pattern library and is usable for future re-use. While the authors also describe the use of quest patterns in a simple structure, they differ from what this project does in terms of the depth of quest design pattern structure. It is possible to see a future development of the ScriptEase application on our quest design patterns, where it is going to be included in the future implementation of our quest pattern model.

3. Quest Design Pattern In this chapter we are going to get a better understanding of how quest works in a sample of selected role-playing games. We are hoping to see and analyses these titles to see the common quest elements to be found and therefore we can build the intended quest design pattern. These can be achieved by first describing the elements from some quests in the role-playing games.

3.1 Role Roleole-playing Game Quests Quests Analysis The analysis is done with a play testing of several role-playing games and we will analyse a few examples of quests implemented in the game. While these games are ranged from 1999 to the quite recent 2009, they are a compiled from a variety of roleplaying game developer studios to give a better perspective from several different game designers. Some examples of the quests found in the game are:

3.1.1 Might & Magic VII: for Blood and Honor The first game that we are going to analyse is titled Might & Magic VII: for Blood and Honor (1999). Might & Magic series has been around ever since 1986 and always been very strong part of classic computer role-playing games. In this seventh installation, the game tells us the story of a group of adventurers (which usually called a party) who are happen to be the winner of a scavenger hunt held by Lord Markham. The party then become the rulers of Harmondale and is given a castle there. After a few months pass, they have to choose between the dark and the light forces in order to save the world (or destroy it) by providing a suitable replacement for the dead arbiter. The story itself is nothing but a long and mixtures of fantasy and science fiction, but the experience of playing this game is truly addictive and the level of immersion provided is quite deep.

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Figure 2: Might & Magic Magic VII - Fighting skeleton warriors

One of the simple quests which can be found in the game requires the party to deliver an item and then bring something in exchange back for a sum of money. Norber Thrush, a historian and a collector of rare historical item in Steadwick in Erathia wants you to get a historical Quill which is owned by Lord Markham. He will give you a sealed letter to be delivered to Lord Markham in Tatalia. After delivering the letter to him, he will in return give the party the quill and all you need to do is bring this item back to Norber. In the end, he will reward you with 2000 gold. From the quest we can see that the quest giver demands us to do something and this is most of the time is a mark of a quest giver. Each quest also provides a number of rewards and possibly changing the elements of the game.

3.1.2 Neverwinter Nights Second example for the quests description is taken from a game named Neverwinter Nights developed by Bioware (2002). While Might & Magic VII utilizes first person view for its exploration, Neverwinter Nights utilizes third person point of view which gives the player a better sense of surroundings ultimately useful when we are in a battle with the enemy. The plot centers on the main character who is totally costumizable and serves as the hero of the story. The main storyline revolves with the hero saving the city of Neverwinter by finishing a series of main quests and also some side quests. Despite the main storyline is considerably short for a role-playing game, this is compensated with many additional contents available thanks to Bioware’s Aurora toolset. With the Aurora toolset players are free to create custom content based on the game engine.

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Figure 3: Neverwinter Nights

One of the quests found in the game is a killing request given by Cendran in No-man’s Land. No-man’s Land is found between the Blacklake District and the City Core District and Cendran is standing close to the entry point to the area. He tells you about a half-orc Loxar who has been causing trouble and chaos by killing and looting people in the middle of the plaque crisis. Cendran will ask you to kill Loxar and bring back his head to him as a proof of Loxar being dead. After doing the deed for Cendran, he will say thanks to you for restoring the area back to its peaceful state. There is no obvious reward for this but the character will gain 100 experience points and gain 3 points towards good alignment. This quest is a simple kill-an-entity type quest and this is the most common quest found in most role-playing games.

3.1.3 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Third example comes from the game of the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind developed by Bethesda Softworks (2002). It is the third installation of the Elder Scrolls series which has been around since 1994 starting with The Elder Scrolls: Arena. All Elder Scrolls games offer non-linearity in their gameplay and players are free to explore anything, anywhere, at any given time. The world of The Elder Scrolls is known for its depth in details and content such as providing lore, histories of the religion, politics, societies, and different cultures. This is no different from Morrowind, where the player is controlling a totally customisable character with different number of races, classes, zodiacs, with a unique set of abilities and skills. The story began where the character is a released prisoner and he is recruited by the order of the Blades to work as a spy for the the emperor and the empire. This is followed by a series of quests and events which will lead to the character fulfilling the prophecy of The Nerevarine, who is prophesied to oppose and defeat the rise of the wicked deity Dagoth Ur and the remnants of his followers.

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Figure 4: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

An example of quest found in the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a quest titled “Death of a Taxman”. This quest starts when we are conversing with the people in Seyda Neen saying that a local tax collector has not been seen for days. When we discover the body of Processus Vitellius on the north of the town, our hero then have to make his way to report this matter to Socucius Ergalla in the census and excise office. Ergalla will then ask the hero to investigate this matter. When we are asking around the citizen, we will learn that Vitellius has a girlfriend who resides in the lighthouse. After some investigation on Vitellius’ girlfriend Thavere Vedrano, we will learn that he recently had a big argument with Foryn Gilnith. We then confront the murderer Gilnith on his shack and he will admit he killed Vitellius and tells us that he has been a corrupt tax collector and often keeps the extra gold for himself. Then the choice is yours to report him to the guards, or spare Gilnith and he will thank you for the sympathy. Whichever our choice is, both sides offer different types of rewards and results. This quest depicts the more recent types of single player computer role-playing game quests, where it is more complex than a classic RPG quest would be. This quest can be divided into several stages of actions and involves a lot of information gathering.

3.1.4 Dragon Age: Origins Dragon Age: Origins or DA:O is another role-playing game developed by Bioware (Dragon Age: Origins, 2009). BioWare describes Dragon Age: Origins as a "dark heroic fantasy set in a unique world", and a spiritual successor to their Baldur's Gate series of games, which took place in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise (Bioware, 2009). DA:O took the approach of having a character to begin with, but as the story progress the player will be able to add 3 customizable characters to the party. The gameplay may sound like similar to Might & Magic VII, but the difference is that game is seen and played from a top-down point of view.

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DA:O offers up to 6 possible starting points which included human origins (for Human Warriors or Rogues), mage origins (for Elven or Human Mages), Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf Commoner, or Dwarf Noble. Whichever option the player chosen, they will eventually become a grey warden, an ancient organization of warriors of exceptional ability dedicated to fighting darkspawn in the Dragon Age universe. The game will follow the journey of the main character to the ultimate goal which is killing the leader of the darkspawn invasion, The Archdemon.

Figure 5: Dragon Age: Origins on Xbox360

One of the quests found in the game is titled “Lost to the Curse”. Player starts this side quest by talking to Athras in the Dalish camp. He will tell let the party know that his wife, Danyla, has been infected with the werewolf disease. Athras believes that she is still alive, but has become a werewolf. He asks for a help finding her when the party venture out into the forest. Danyla can be found in the east brecillian forest. When the party encounters her, she is already fully transformed into a werewolf. After doing some conversation, Danyla will ask the warden to kill her because she cannot handle the pain and the torment, and then deliver her scarf to Athras. After killing her, we searched the body for Danyla’s scarf and then we delivered it to Athras. After delivering the bad news, the warden will be rewarded with Athras’ Pendant which is an amulet with a 4% spell resistance stats. This is another basic search and rescue quest with an exception of the victim did not survive as the quest giver want. The quest starts and ends with the NPC Athras, which will give the player a reward for his deeds.

3.2 Quest Pattern Model Based on the analysis of the given examples, we have gathered a list of several important features which usually exist in a role-playing game quest. We then classify the features as the basic of quest objects which is can be used as a skeleton structure needed in building a basic quest pattern. Features such as quest pattern, quest giver(starting point), quest end point, a many other elements possible, are important to differentiate one quest to another in the implementation phase. 18

As a result of the identified features found, we have constructed a set of quest pattern model which allows us to define each small piece existed in a quest made for a roleplaying game. This model contains structured elements of quest objects which is necessary to create a quest class in the intended quest design pattern.

19

Section 1 2 3

Quest Elements Quest Name Quest Pattern Quest Giver

Possible information The name of the quest Overall type of the quest Game System NPCs Objects

4

Quest Action Sequence

moveTo getObj giveObj interactObj talkNpc

5 6 7 8

Quest Stages Quest Object What the world does Quest End Points

attackEntity Phases done in sequence Item/Entity which the action does to Self-explanatory NPCs Objects Collected Entity Destroyed Game system Location

9

Quest Results

Game Progress Character’s reputation & fame Character’s inventory Character’s Position Dead Entity Location state changed Objects position changed New allies/party members

10

Quest Rewards

Items Money Experiences  Level Gain skill, abilities

11

Quest Prerequisites

12

Quest Success Condition

knowledge,

or

Appearances/looks Things to accomplish before initiating this quest. The most significant part of the quest needed to be done.

Table 1: Quest Pattern Model

20

3.2.1 Quest Name This element is showing the quest name or quest title. This is usually used in a quest log or a quest journal where all the quests are organized. This part is the easiest element in quest used to distinguish one quest to another, despite of not all quests having it. Some of earlier role-playing games made did not have a proper quest log yet, thus making the quests to have no title to show.

3.2.2 3.2.2 Quest Type Pattern After some observations on our sample of role-playing games, we conclude that there are several quest type patterns which can be found from our quest samples. More explanations about Quest Type Patterns will be discussed further in a later section.

3.2.3 Quest Giver Quests also involve several types of quest giver where an entity will assign a sequence of tasks need to be completed by the main character. Some of the quest giver entities are: •

•

•

Game System Quests can be earned by fulfilling a script trigger coded within the game system. Some examples of this condition are the game location and game time. Game location involves visiting or reaching a specific game location in the game. Game time on the other hand, involves of a quest to be given when a specific in-game dates, days, or, months are reached. NPCs Non-playing Characters is the most common quest giver in most of role-playing games. Because of amount of the content available in this topic is quite detailed, the nature of this entity will be discussed in its own section later in this report. Objects In-game objects can trigger a quest starting point. These objects include weapons, artefacts, plants, and even animals. Quests can be triggered when a player touch, kill, or collect an object.

3.2.4 Quest Action Action Sequence Quests actions is the lowest level pieces can be found in role-playing game quests. These action sequences describe specifically what a player has to do in a sequence of actions in order to finish the quests. More about this quest action sequence will be explained later more in section 3.3.

21

3.2.5 3.2.5 Quest Stages A more recent collection of quests in newer role-playing games can be divided into several stages before it reaches to the quest end point. The amount of stages found in a quest usually determines the complexity of a quest. Stages in a quest can be separated by an NPC or objects which serve as a connector between two stages. Each quest stages contain one determinant quest action which describes the nature of the stage. An example of this quest stage can be found in a quest titled The Beauty and the Bandit in the Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The quest starts by talking to Aurmine on the road to Balmora from Seyda Neen. She wants you to bring her gloves to Nelos Onmar as a token of her love. After you found Nelos Onmar and give him the gloves, he then replied by telling you to give a love note back to Aurmine. If you return to Aurmine she will be overjoyed and will actually attempt to set you up with someone else. If you are male, it will be Emusette Bracques at the Plot and Plaster in Tel Aruhn, or if you are female it will be Barnand Erelie at Sethan's Tradehouse in Tel Branora. This quest can be divided into three stages: • • •

Bring Aurmine’s gloves to Nelos Onmar (quest main action: giveObj) Bring Nelos’ note to Aurmine in return (quest main action: giveObj) Travel to Tel Aruhn or Tel Branora for the reward promised by Aurmine (quest main action: talkNpc)

3.2.6 Quest Object Quest objects are the list of items what the actions do to in the quest. This includes a list of items that is affected by all the actions done in a particular quest.

3.2.7 What the world does This section will mention what the world does while the character is in the process of finishing a particular quest. Some of these events can be involving a situation change or appearing obstacles in the game.

3.2.8 Quest End Points This section will enlist the quest end point of a particular quest. Although the elements are mostly the same with quest starting point/ quest givers, it has to be defined because of the possibility of having different end points and the player does not have to report to the initial NPC of origin. The following are several entries which can be included in this category: • • • •

NPCs Objects Collected Entity Destroyed Game system 22

•

Location

3.2.9 Quest Results Quest results and rewards are both similar products that happened after the player finishes his particular quest. Quest result describes the mechanical changes happened in the game as the story progress. For example, because the hero has given the proof of a tax collector goes corrupt to the King; the king then ordered the tax collector to be executed. This evident change is affecting the gameplay because in the future the player won’t be able to contact this NPC anymore.

3.2.10 Quest Rewards Rewards are similar with quest results, except for the changes are happened and it is perceived by the character in the game. For instance, after a player has dealt with the local bandit, the main character receives 500 gold and a magical pendant from the mayor which is the quest giver.

3.2.11 Quest Prerequisites These part describes the list of prerequisites need to be done or owned before initiating a particular quest. For instance, before initiating a quest to The Blind Date inside Fable II, the player has to finish Cold Comfort Farmer before going into the spire. This has to be done because Farmer Giles will be gone from his farm when the player does not help him with finishing Cold Comfort Farmer. When the prerequisite has been done, Farmer Giles will stay in his farm after the player came back from the spire, and he will ask more help to look for a wife for his son.

3.2.12 Quest Success Condition A quest success condition is the most significant required events which will be needed in order for the quest to be finished. While the steps of the quest are described step by step in the quest action sequences needed to be done, most of the time the NPC will recognize a trigger-coded item or a key event to be presented and the quest end point will inform the player that the quest has been finished.

3.3 Quest Actions Actions We believe that quest action sequences are the underlying platform for quests, as every sequence in the computability theory has an algorithm to describe its structure. This collection of actions is obtained from our observation on several games on earlier section. The following actions listed are the most basic actions an RPG game can be described with. To preserve generality, it is important for us to define all the basic objects involved in the quest actions. Objects such as NPCs, monster, or anything which the player does a 23

particular action towards it, can be referred as an entity. Objects such as letters, potions, treasures, weapons, or anything which the player can keep in the inventory, can be referred as an item. The sequence is presented with a brief notation which will underline basic actions found on the quests. We are using curly brackets { } for any repeatable piece of sequence that is possible to happen in the quests. We are also using square brackets [ ] for possible branching options are available while doing a form of actions separated by | notation. For example, a moveTo {attackEntity, moveTo} [attackEntity, getObj | sneak, getObj] moveTo giveObj quest means a hero has to move to a particular place, attacking and killing several monsters, and then he has a choice between kill the NPC who owns the item or he can go into a sneak mode and steal the item, and finally he goes back to the quest giver to get his reward. The following part consists of brief explanations of available quest actions.

•

Move The most important action is moveTo because it serves as the basic connecter between any other actions provided next. The character makes a move from point A to point B in the game. The medium character used in order to reach the destination point is either by foot or transportation media. Walk Run Sneak Vehicle (Horse, Car, etc.)

•

GetObj The character has to get an object and put it in his inventory.

•

GiveObj The character has to give an object from his inventory to the intended NPC.

•

InteractObj The character will make an interaction with an object or a location within a game. Use Destroy Pick up

•

TalkNpc The character is initiating an interaction or more to an entity depending on the sequence of the conversation. The conversation will be a media between the player and the NPCs where it allows them to exchange information and learn more about the progression of the game. It is also to be noted that sometimes the NPC will not provide us with the information that we need. Hence, it is required to do some sub-interaction types which are useful to encourage the target NPCs to change his mind and be totally open towards us. Here are some of several types of interaction talking: Persuasion 24

Bribe Lie Threat/Intimidate Flirt

•

AttackEntity The character will initiate a type of aggression on an entity with a purpose of killing them or until a period of time. An example of a purpose of attacking an entity without killing them is usually used for a master conducting a test for his student, conducting an interrogation to NPCs, or a situated scenario where the character is not supposed to kill the targeted entity. Kill Defeat Destroy Item

3.4 3.4 Quest Type Pattern Quest type pattern element is the most important elements compared with all the elements because they determine the flow of the quests. Although some parts are similar with quest action patterns, they both serve different purpose in the game. A particular quest type pattern could possibly be made from a sequence of Quest Actions available. Another important factor that we have noticed from these types is that these also serve as the part of storytelling in a particular game. They are mostly categorized as the quest giver’s motivation in the storyline. Each of these quest types will be described in a separate subsection below.

•

Interaction with NPC The most basic or the easiest quest is an interaction with other NPC. These interactions can varied from a simple chat for exchanging information, telling a lie, persuading, etc. Some forms of the interaction: o Lie o Threaten o Bribe o Persuade o Flirt

•

Investigation As the name implies, investigation consists of several interactions with certain NPCs in order to gain knowledge about current issues and problems. Sometime to gain information the character has to do lie, threatening, bribing, or persuasion depending the type of NPCs interacts with.

•

Deliver Item Delivery is also known as a FedEx quest or fetch-carry quest. The character is being sent to deliver an item from one NPC to another NPC. The character may sometimes need to collect the item first instead of being handed the item to deliver when starting the quest. These quests are made challenging by asking the 25

character to journey through unfamiliar or dangerous terrain, sometimes while facing a time limit.

•

Obtain Item Obtaining item or items can either be obtained from a location or environment, or require the character to kill creatures in order to collect the required items. Another way to obtain an item is by sneaking or stealing without the guarding NPC notice. o Gather Item Gathering requires a character to collect a number of specified items. The quest may also require the character to collect a number of different types of items, for example to assemble a device.

•

Defeat Entity o Kill A kill quest will put the character out to kill either a specific number of named creatures, or a specific non-player character or NPC. These often require the character to bring back proof of their work, such as the girl’s diary for a NPC kill quest, or the tiger’s pelt from killing a pack of tigers. There are also quests to kill other players. o Fight A fight quest is similar with a Kill quest but does not always end with the target dead or disappear. Fighting an NPC is usually being done until the target yields or giving up important information. This fighting sequence can also be used to prove our worthiness with a Master or a trainer.

•

Protection o Rescue The Rescue quest is a process of moving into a certain point where the NPC has been held captive and do whatever it takes to ensure the captured NPC return home safely or simply just unlocking the jail gate for him to escape. o Defend The defend quest is wider than Rescue and Escort quests because the quest demands the character to protect a point, a place, an object, or a leader from the attack of enemy horde. This also differs from the other protection quests simply because the character is not needed to travel to other places. o Escort The Escort quest is a process of protecting an NPC while transporting from point A to point B. Most of the time the quest will require the player to kill and dispose monsters and enemies to ensure the safety of the NPC.

3.5 3.5 Generic Example of Use The pattern model then can be used for describing quest details and its components. It will be used as a tool to analyse quest sample taken from our list of games in the next chapter. An example of the use of this model is to be implemented to a simple quest such as “Go kill and get some wolf pelts”. 26

The hero went over to Gustav the blacksmith in the armoury to buy some leather armour. But it is too bad that the blacksmith has run out of wolf pelts to make the leather armour that the hero requested. The blacksmith then told the hero to kill some wolves and collect some wolf pelts from the closest forest available. The hero then had to go to the forest and hunt some wolves. When the hero acquired 20 wolf pelts he then went back to the blacksmith and gave the pelts to him. After waiting for a day, the wolf leather armour is ready and the blacksmith gave it to the hero. The following will be an example of implemented quest to our quest pattern model:

1.

Quest Name Wolf Hunting

2.

Quest Pattern Gather Item

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Gustav the Blacksmith in the Armoury

4.

Quest Action Sequence moveTo {attackEntity, getObj, moveTo} moveTo giveObj

5.

Quest Stages Talk to Gustav the blacksmith to get the quest. (talkNPC) Go into the forest and kill some wolves. (attackEntity) Bring the pelts back to Gustav for the leather armour. (giveObj)

6.

Quest Object Wolf pelts

7.

What the world does Wolves trying to attack the hero

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Gustav the blacksmith

9.

Quest Result Wolves died Stock of leather armour

10.

Quest Rewards Leather armour

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition Bring Gustav 20 wolf pelts

27

4. Quest Design Pattern Analysis Result The analysis was done by observations on a collection of sample games available. It is completed by doing some play testing to determine the important elements found in the quests. Although the time available to do the project is limited, we are able to analyse these games up to the point where several quests were finished from each game. The bases of quests chosen were selected on different varieties of quest types. The results then were recorded and analysed to provide any important characteristics and evidence. After examining several samples of role-playing games, we have come up with the following characteristics of quests which are extracted from the side quests found. These characteristics are then implemented using the model we have just described earlier to demonstrate the important features of quest design patterns. Several games that have been examined in the testing phase are: • • • • • • •

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002) The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) Dragon Age: Origins (2009) Neverwinter Nights (2003) Neverwinter Nights 2 (2006) Might & Magic VII: For Blood & Honor (1999) Fable II (2008)

4.1 Quest Patterns Model Implementation The following is the lists of the games observed in testing and evaluation phase. These games are grouped by the title and also they are to be put in order of the complexity of the quest, in other words, the amount of the quest stages that it has. We are using these implementations to test our model whether it can be applied whole fully or partially. We are going to start this evaluation by discussing Neverwinter Nights 2.

4.1.1 4.1.1 “Neverwinter Nights 2” Neverwinter Nights 2 is a sequel to Neverwinter nights developed by Obsidian Entertainment in 2006. Before the game begins, players have to build a player character by selecting a race and class, then assigning skill points. The player character may gain up to four or more party members, who can be controlled by the player or given orders on how to behave in combat. Neverwinter Nights 2 takes place in the city of Neverwinter. During the campaign, the player has the opportunity to recruit party members to aid in the cause, including the fierce dwarf Khelgar and a cunning young tiefling (Neverwinter Nights 2, 2006). The following is a quest example from Neverwinter Nights 2:

Natrisse’s Request This is quest is chosen because it is the simplest example to be found. There is only one stage in the quest and it is quite straight forward because the flow of the game will guide

28

you to the quest end position point sooner or later. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name Natrisse’s Request

2.

Quest Pattern Delivery

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Natrisse in the Temple of Lathander

4.

Quest Action Sequences getObj {moveTo attackEntity} talkNpc giveObj

5.

Quest Stages Deliver the tithe box to Brother Merring in West Harbor (giveObj)

6.

Quest Object Tithe Box

7.

What the world does None

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Brother Merring

9.

Quest Result Object Position Changed Character Position Changed Character disposition +1 evil if he/she opens the box

10.

Quest Rewards Experiences: 1500xp

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition Box delivered to brother Merring

4.1.2 4.1.2 “Dragon Age: Origins” A brief explanation about this game can be found in chapter 3.1.4. 3.1.4.

Negotiation Aids This is quest is chosen because it is quite a simple example. There are two stages in the quest and it describes an example of gathering one or more objects. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name Negotiation Aids

2.

Quest Pattern 29

Gather Item

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Bartender of Gnawed Noble Tavern

4.

Quest Action Sequences moveTo {getObj} moveTo talkNpc giveObj

5.

Quest Stages Gather 15 Toxin Extracts (getObj) Go back to the bartender to collect the reward (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object 15 Toxin Extracts

7.

What the world does None

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Bartender of Gnawed Noble Tavern

9.

Quest Result Character’s inventory: Lost 15 Toxin Extracts

10.

Quest Rewards Money: 95 Silver Coins Experiences  Level

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition Giving 15 Extracts to the bartender of Gnawed Noble Tavern

A Last Keepsake This is quest is chosen because it represents a little bit more complex in the stages. There are three stages in the quest and it involves a multiple {moveTo, talkNpc} actions. Player is required to interact with several NPCs to learn about where was Sartha to be seen last time. The quest also shows that although it is mainly interactions, some fighting will still be needed because of the wolves are in the character’s way. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name A Last Keepsake

2.

Quest Pattern Interact with NPC

3.

Quest Giver Object: The Chanter’s Board

4.

Quest Action Sequences talkNpc {moveTo, attackEntity} getObj moveTo giveObj

5.

Quest Stages 30

Search for Sartha’s whereabouts which is located north of Lothering. (moveTo) Retrieve Sartha’s Keepsake from her body (getObj) Return the keepsake to Chanter Devons for the reward (giveObj)

6.

Quest Object Sartha’s Keepsake

7.

What the world does A group of 13 wolves is guarding the area surrounding the body.

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Chanter Devons in Lothering

9.

Quest Result Keepsake moved to Chanter Devons.

10.

Quest Rewards Gold: 50 Silver Coins

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites Completed the quest Bandits, Bandits, Everywhere.

12.

Quest Success Condition Bring the Sartha’s Keepsake to Chanter Devons.

An Unlikely Scholar This is quest is chosen because it is an example of variation in the type of “interact with NPC” sequence. There are four stages in the quest and it differs from “A Last Keepsake” because it only needs the character to persuade the ruler of the Circle Tower to accept Dagna. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name An Unlikely Scholar

2.

Quest Pattern Interact with NPC

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Dagna in the Orzammar Commons

4.

Quest Action Sequences talkNpc moveTo talkNpc moveTo talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Talk to Dagna to get the request about her dreams (talkNpc) Travel to the Circle Tower after the Broken Circle quest has been done. (moveTo) Depending on the decision made by the player earlier, Knight-Commander Greagoir or First Enchanter Irving will decide if Dagna can study at the tower (talkNpc) Go back to Dagna with the news (talkNpc) 31

6.

Quest Object None

7.

What the world does None

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Dagna in Orzammar Commons

9.

Quest Result Dagna could be moving to the Circle Tower. Dagna’s Father will refuse to trade with the warden.

10.

Quest Rewards Item: Greater Lyrium Potion or Dweomer Rune Experiences  100 xp

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites Broken Circle Quest

12.

Quest Success Condition Bring the required news to Dagna on whether she can join the Mage Circle or not.

The Crimson Oars This is quest is chosen because it provides the character with a choice to get rid of the bandits. There are four stages in the quest. Sergeant Kylon just wants the bandit of Crimson Oars to be gone from the the Gnawed Noble Tavern, no matter which method the player chose. In the second stage the interaction will involves a choice of lie, persuading, or attack straight away. Depending on the player’s skill to communicate, the outcome can be different for each choice. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name The Crimson Oars

2.

Quest Pattern Interact with NPC

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Sergeant Kylon

4.

Quest Action Sequences moveTo talkNpc [persuade|threaten|lie] {attackEntity} moveTo talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Move To Gnawed Noble Tavern (moveTo) Persuade the Mercenaries to leave the Tavern (talkNpc) If persuasion fails then you have to kill them (attackEntity) Go back to sergeant Kylon for your reward (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object 32

Crimson Oars Mercenaries

7.

What the world does Possibility of attacking player

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Sergeant Kylon

9.

Quest Result Dead Entity: Possibility Dead Crimson Oars

10.

Quest Rewards Money: 3 Gold Coins Experiences  Level

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition The Crimson Oars moved away from the Gnawed Noble Tavern

4.1.3 4.1.3 “The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind” A brief explanation about this game can be found in chapter 3.1.3. 3.1.3

The Price List This is quest is chosen because it is an example to “obtain item” type quest. There are two stages in the quest. Player will have the choice on how to obtain the letter from the locked chest. The first method is to sneak in carefully and steal the letter, or player can just barge in and kill the guards who keep the key to the chest. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name The Price List

2.

Quest Pattern Obtain Item

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Mevure Hlen in Vivec's St. Olms Cantons

4.

Quest Action Sequences moveTo [sneak|run] {defeatEntity} getObj moveTo talkNpc giveObj

5.

Quest Stages Obtain the letter from a locked chest at the East Empire Company Hall (getObj) Return to Hlen for a two point bonus to the Mercantile (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object Price List Letter

7.

What the world does 33

Guards keeping the locked chest protected

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Mevure Hlen

9.

Quest Result Objects position changed: Letter of Price List

10.

Quest Rewards Gain skill, knowledge, or abilities: 2 points of Mercantile Skills

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites Have finished Dredil’s Delivery Quest

12.

Quest Success Condition Bring the letter price to Mevure Hlen

The Beauty and the Bandit This is quest is chosen because it is a variation example to “Delivery” type quest. Similar to the first quest that we did “Natrisse’s Request” from Neverwinter Nights, it involves the hero to deliver a particular object to another target. This quest however, requires the hero to do double delivery, where the first target of delivery asks the hero again to deliver a letter back. Quest actions are describing a sequence of attackEntity because there is possibility of the character being attacked by monsters while delivering the objects. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name The Beauty and The Bandit

2.

Quest Pattern Delivery

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Maurrie Aurmine on the road to Balmora from Seyda Neen

4.

Quest Action Sequences getObj {moveTo attackEntity} talkNpc giveObj {moveTo attackEntity} talkNpc giveObj {moveTo attackEntity} talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Bring her glove to Nelos Onmar (giveObj) Bring her a note in return (giveObj) Travel to Tel Aruhn or Tel Branora for a reward (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object Maurrie’s Glove Nelos’ Note

7.

What the world does None

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Emusette Bracques in Tel Ahrun (Male Character) 34

NPC: Barnand Erelie in Tel Branora (Female Character)

9.

Quest Result Character’s reputation & fame: +20 Disposition to Emusette Bracques or Barnand Erelie Character’s inventory: 3 Exclusive Restore Health Potions Character’s Position: Tel Branora or Tel Ahrun Objects position changed: Maurrie’s Glove & Nelos’ Note

10.

Quest Rewards Items: 3 Exclusive Restore Health Potions

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition Delivering Maurrie’s Glove to Nelos Onmar Delivering Nelos’ Note to Maurrie Aurmine

4.1.4 “The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion” A brief explanation about this game can be found in chapter 2.1. 2.1

The Desolate Mine This is quest is chosen because its complexity. There are four stages in the quest. Player will have to deliver a set of weapons to the desolate mine. But after the player delivered them, he is asked to assist the miners to dispose the goblins as well. This quest consists of two stages: delivery and attack entity. However, because of the quest giver’s main intention is only to deliver the weapons, it is considered as a “delivery” type quest. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name The Desolate Mine

2.

Quest Pattern Delivery

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Burz gro-Khash at Cheydinhal Fighters Guild

4.

Quest Action Sequence getObj {moveTo, attackEntity} {talkNpc giveObj} {moveTo, attackEntity} talkNpc moveTo talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Deliver the weapons to Rienna in Desolate Mine (talkNpc) Give the weapons to the members (giveObj) Escort the miners to slay the goblins (attackEntity) Return to Burz gro-Khash for reward (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object 35

Weapon Shipment

7.

What the world does NPCs waiting for the delivery

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Burz gro-Khash

9.

Quest Result Character’s reputation & fame: Fame +1 if all other members survive Character’s Position: Possible promotion in Fighters Guild Rank Dead Entity: Goblins

10.

Quest Rewards Money

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites Fighters Guild Member with Rank: Apprentice

12.

Quest Success Condition Weapons delivered All the goblins in the desolate mine dead

The Ghost Ship of Anvil This is quest is chosen because it is an example of a complicated “obtain item” quest. There are six stages in the quest. Player’s main objective is just to get the crystal ball. In order to reach the crystal ball, player have to defeat some monsters before gaining access to a room where the key is kept in a body, and then using the key to reach the room where the crystal ball is kept inside a chest. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name The Ghost Ship of Anvil

2.

Quest Pattern Obtain Item

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Varulae in Anvil Docks

4.

Quest Action Sequence moveTo {attackEntity} getObj {moveTo, attackEntity} getObj moveTo talkNpc giveObj

5.

Quest Stages Move to the haunted ship (moveTo) Defeat the spectral sailors (attackEntity) Get the door key from the captain’s body (getObj) Defeat more spectral sailors (attackEntity) Get Varulae’s crystal ball from the chest (getObj) report back to Varulae to finish the quest (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object 36

Varulae’s Crystal Ball

7.

What the world does Monsters attacking player

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Varulae

9.

Quest Result Character’s inventory: added Redwave Enchanted Cutlass Dead Entity: Spectral Sailors Objects position changed: Varulae’s Crystal Ball

10.

Quest Rewards Items: Redwave Enchanted Cutlass

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition Giving back Varulae’s Crystal Ball

Vahtacen's Secret This is quest is chosen because it is another complicated example of “obtain item” type quest. There are five stages in the quest. The structure of the quest involves an interaction type sequence where player has to solve the puzzle first before gaining access to the gate of the ruins. We can see from the example that it utilizes most of our pattern model elements perfectly.

1.

Quest Name Vahtacen's Secret

2.

Quest Pattern Obtain Item

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Burz Raminus Polus at the Arcane University

4.

Quest Action Sequence talkNpc talkNpc {moveTo, interactObj, talkNpc} {moveTo, attackEntity} {interactObj} getObj moveTo talkNpc talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Talk to Irlav Jarol to get the assignment. (talkNpc) At Vahtacen, solve a puzzle to gain access to the inner depths of the ruin. (interactObj) Explore the ruin and retrieve an Ayleid artefact. (getObj) Take the artefact back to Irlav Jarol (giveObj) Report to Raminus Polus for your promotion. (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object Ancient Elven Helm

37

7.

What the world does NPCs waiting for the delivery Providing traps and puzzles

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Raminus Polus

9.

Quest Result Character’s reputation & fame: Fame +1 Character’s Career: advance to the rank of Conjurer in Mage Guild Dead Entity: Undeads

10.

Quest Rewards Robe of Conjurer

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites Mage Guild Member with Rank: Evoker

12.

Quest Success Condition The artefact (Ancient Elven Helmet) is delivered to Irlav Jarol

4.1.5 4.1.5 “Might & Magic VII: for Blood and Honor” A brief description of the game can be found in chapter 3.1.1. 3.1.1

Get Parson’s Quill ffor or Norbert Thrush This quest is chosen to show the simplest “obtain item” type quest. The quest proceeds with the described sequence to go to the target NPC to get the intended object. We can see that our quest pattern model can be implemented perfectly for this quest.

1.

Quest Name Unnamed

2.

Quest Pattern Obtain Item

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Norber Thrush in Steadwick in Erathia

4.

Quest Action Sequence moveTo talkNpc getObj moveTo giveObj

5.

Quest Stages Travel to Tatalia and give the Sealed Letter to Lord Markham. (giveObj) Lord Markham will give you Parson's Quill. (getObj) Bring the quill back to Norbert for a reward. (giveObj)

6.

Quest Object Sealed Letter Parson’s Quill

7.

What the world does 38

None

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Norber Thrush

9.

Quest Result None

10.

Quest Rewards Money: 2000 gold Experience points: 5000

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition Norber Thrush gets Parson’s Quill

4.1.6 “Neverwinter Nights” A brief explanation about this game can be found in chapter 3.1.2. 3.1.2

Samuel's Rescue This quest is chosen to show an example of “Rescue” type quest. The quest requires the player to go to the specified area and search for clues on how to release Samuel from the prison. The attackEntity actions are required because in the area we encountered a number of enemies guarding the place. We can see that our quest pattern model can be implemented perfectly for this quest.

1.

Quest Name Samuel's Rescue

2.

Quest Pattern Rescue NPC

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Thurin in the Board Lade Bare

4.

Quest Action Sequences talkNpc {moveTo attackEntity} getObj {moveTo attackEntity} interactObj moveTo talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Go into Meldanen’s Estate (moveTo) Take the key from a chest in the prison cell and open Samuel's cell door (interactObj) Return to Thurin in the Board Lade Bare for a reward (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object Samuel

7.

What the world does

39

None

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Thurin in Board Lade Bare

9.

Quest Result Object Position Changed Character Position Changed

10.

Quest Rewards Gold: 300 Experiences: 225xp

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None

12.

Quest Success Condition Save Samuel by opening his cell

4.1.7 “Fable 2” Fable II is an action role-playing game in the Fable game series developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. It was released in 2008. The game takes place in the fictional land of Albion, five hundred years after Fable's original setting, in a colonial era resembling the time of highwaymen or the Enlightenment. The world in Fable II is dynamic, interactive and offers free exploring. The game takes place over a hero's lifetime, with the many things are changing over the time. An example is a trade camp that the player could either help or destroy. Trading in such camps would increase their profit, resulting in a small town growing around them (Fable 2, 2008).

Rescuing Charlie This quest is chosen to show another different approach to “Rescue” type quest. The quest action sequence is similar to the quest “Samuel’s Rescue” except that in here we have to escort Charlie safely back to his grandmother. Escort is a sub-type of protection action which requires the player to move together with the target NPC and kill any monsters we encountered during our way back, making sure the target is safe. We can see that our quest pattern model can be implemented perfectly for this quest.

1.

Quest Name Rescuing Charlie

2.

Quest Pattern Rescue NPC

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Granny Miggin's in the Gypsy Camp

4.

Quest Action Sequences

40

talkNpc {moveTo attackEntity} getObj {moveTo attackEntity} interactObj moveTo talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Go to tomb of heroes near the lake to look for Charlie (moveTo) Give Granny’s Letter to Charlie (giveObj) Defend and Escort Charlie from acquiring the treasure chest (attackEntity) Exit the cave and bring Charlie back to his Grandmother (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object Charlie Treasure Chest

7.

What the world does Monsters appearing to prevent you from getting the treasure.

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Granny Miggin's in the Gypsy Camp

9.

Quest Result Monsters Dead Charlie’s back to his grandmother

10.

Quest Rewards Renown: +5000

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites This quest is accessible after returning from the Spire

12.

Quest Success Condition Escort Charlie back to his grandmother

Blind Date This quest is chosen to show an example of interaction quest. The quest is interesting because the hero becomes a matchmaker to find the farmer’s son a wife. This quest’s sequence consists of several interactions with NPC to persuade them becoming the farmer’s daughter in law. The quest is also fits perfectly to our model.

1.

Quest Name Blind Date

2.

Quest Pattern Interact with NPC [Persuasion]

3.

Quest Giver NPC: Farmer Giles in Brightwood

4.

Quest Action Sequences talkNpc getObj {moveTo, talkNpc} giveObj moveTo talkNpc

5.

Quest Stages Get the photograph from Farmer Giles (getObj) 41

Chat with the Farmer’s son in the south field (talkNpc) Go to Bowerstone and find the future wife by giving the photograph (giveObj) Bring back the target back to Farmer Giles (moveTo) Talk to Farmer Giles and Rupert to complete the quest (talkNpc)

6.

Quest Object Rupert Rupert’s Photograph

7.

What the world does none

8.

Quest End Points NPC: Farmer Giles in Brightwood

9.

Quest Result Rupert is with the future wife

10.

Quest Rewards Renown: +3500 Farmer Giles’ Farm is now available for purchase

11.

Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites completed the Cold Comfort Farmer Quest before going to the Spire

12.

Quest Success Condition Bring back a willing NPC to marry Rupert back to Farmer Giles

4.1.8 4.1.8 Model Implementation Summary Overall the Quest Pattern Model we described has been tested with a number of quests found in the role-playing games. Given more time the model will be more perfected by testing more role-playing games and continue our in-depth analysis in finding more various quest types. Despite of limited time, we believe that our pattern model can be used to describe almost all quests in other role-playing games as well. We can say that we have a working model to be used as a structural design pattern.

4.2 Implementing Quest Pattern Model for Main storyline storyline While initially our Quest Pattern Model was designed for describing the pattern of side quests in role-playing games, further research shows that it can be implemented to the core structure of the whole main storyline as well. We believe that any RPG game can be put into a hierarchical model which consists of numerous quests tied together to become a guidance for the main character. The structure of the main quest in role-playing games can be described in the following table:

42

Main Storyline Part 1 Quest 1

Quest 2

Part 2 Quest 3

Quest 1

Quest 2

Part 3 Quest 1

Quest 2

... ...

Figure 6: Main Storyline Hierarchy

From figure 6 we can see that main storyline is located on top of the hierarchy and its purpose is to connect all the parts together. The parts can be seen as continuous substories which function similarly to chapters in literatures or novels. The parts are connected continuously while they describe the storyline with different settings, such as locations or timings. In order to get a better understanding about the hierarchical structure of a role playing game main quest, we are going to analyse a brief part of Dragon Age: Origins. The game consists of several parts differentiated by location where the character is taking quests for a period of time before moving on to the next destination. Example of Main Quest Breakdown: “Dragon Age: Origins” Dragon Age: Origins main quest consists of several parts which then consist of a few stages. These stages are mostly sub-stories which are encountered by the character while progressing through the main story. The structure is as follows: Part 00: Introduction: Human Noble

1. Daytime at Castle Cousland 1.1. Quest Name 1.2. 1.3. 1.4. 1.5.

1.6. 1.7.

Daytime at Castle Cousland Quest Pattern Interact with NPC Quest Giver Bryce Cousland Quest Action Sequence {moveTo, talkNpc} interactObj attackEntity {moveTo, talkNpc} Quest Stages Talk to Ser Roderick Gilmore about chaos in pantry (talkNpc) Talk to Nan to be able to enter the pantry (talkNpc) Interact with dog (interactObj) Kill the giant rats (attackEntity) Go find Fergus to end the arc of this quest (talkNpc) Quest Object none What the world does 43

Enemies: giant rats NPC Interactions 1.8. Quest End Points Fergus in southwest room 1.9. Quest Result Dead enemies: Giant Rats Companion added: Dog 1.10. Quest Rewards None 1.11. Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None 1.12. Quest Success Condition Deliver the message from Bryce Cousland to Fergus 2. Night at Castle Cousland 2.1. Quest Name Night at Castle Cousland 2.2. Quest Pattern Interact with NPC 2.3. Quest Giver Game System: automatically retrieved after previous quest ended 2.4. Quest Action Sequence {moveTo, attackEnitity} {moveTo, talkNpc} {attackEntity} getObj {moveTo, attackEntitiy} talkNpc 2.5. Quest Stages Fight through your way to get to the Queen (attackEntity) Interact with mother (talkNpc) Kill few more enemies(attackEntity) Recover your family's heirlooms, including their sword and shield (getObj) Go find Duncan to end the arc of this quest (talkNpc) 2.6. Quest Object Family Heirloom 2.7. What the world does Enemies: Howe’s Soldiers NPC Interactions 2.8. Quest End Points Meet Duncan 2.9. Quest Result Dead enemies 2.10. Quest Rewards Family Sword and Shield Heirloom 2.11. Quest Preconditions/Prerequisites None 2.12. Quest Success Condition Get recruited by Duncan to become Grey Warden 44

Part 01: Ostagar Part 02: Interlude and Lothering

Part 03: The Broken Circle Part 04: The Arle of Redcliffe Part 05: The Urn of Sacred Ashes Part 06: A Paragon of Her Kind Part 07: The Nature of the Beast Part 08: The Landsmeet Part 09: The Final Onslaught From the structure we can see that the main story is divided into several parts from the introduction (Part 00) to the last chapter (Part 09). In (part 00) we can see that the introduction consists of two phase of quests: Daytime & Night time at Castle Cousland, which can be implemented to our quest pattern model. The rest of the parts are similar with the introduction part except they are more into the storyline and have more quests to finish in a particular part. It is to be noted that part 03 up to part 07 can be done without following any specific order, and then the flow continues back to part 08. In summary, this example clearly shows us that using our quest pattern model is also possible in the hierarchy of the main storyline.

4.3 4.3 Result Summary We have described implementations from various quests available in the games. By showing the quests inside our pattern model, we can see that all of the cases fit perfectly to our Quest Pattern Model. It is also shown that a variety of quest type patterns are fitting perfectly to the model. Although these action sequences are probably limited to our game’s observation list, it is proven that it can describe all the quests tested in the analysis. Further implementation also shows the construction of the whole main storyline from quest parts in a role-playing game by using our quest pattern model as the base of the hierarchy.

5. Possible Usability The case of Quest Design patterns is proven to be a success. We believe that this Quest Design Pattern will be useful for game designers who are planning to design quest implementation in the game. By acting as a universal language for discussing quests creation, game designers can work together with the game code writers easily. It is also possible for game designers to utilize the design patterns to plan quests by using available building blocks in a structured way. Because of the nature of our quest design

45

patterns of defined into objects in the implementation process, this can be also used by amateur game designers without any knowledge of code writing. Another possible use of the game design patterns is to implement it in a Pattern Library Database. By using this library, we can construct a form of automated quest builder particularly useful in big Role-playing games such as Elder Scrolls series. This also translates as a possibility in the future implementation of quest script application where the model can be exported to various role-playing game engines such as Aurora from Neverwinter Nights, TES Construction Kit from Elder Scrolls series, and many other RPG engines. And finally because of the nature of good examples of role-playing games being rich in content such as the Elder Scrolls series, the Quest Design Pattern will be useful to help game story writers to translate the complexities of both main story and side quests into a universal language which is easier to understand by fellow technical group mates. The simplification of communicating process will benefit the company by cutting production time and provides simpler method for game designers working together.

6. Conclusions The idea behind this project is simple to understand but it is hard to be implemented to most games. Our main purpose is to discover the underlying structure of quest design patterns in role-playing games. This purpose is achieved by: (1) researching quests and their relevance in role-playing game genre, (2) analysing sample quests from several RPG games, (3) defining our Quest Pattern Model, and finally (4) Test implementation of the Quest Pattern Model. Our Quest Pattern Model was achieved by researching several literatures to gather important characteristics of role-playing games. We believe that role-playing games is a difficult genre to be described properly mainly because most RPG games involved complicated designs which clashed with another genre’s designs. Then we defined the important elements found in several quests from our sample RPG games. This was done in order to get a better understanding on important elements needed to form a quest. The second phase was to develop a quest pattern model to describe the building blocks which game designers could use in the future. Finally we test the Quest Pattern Model by implementing it to a number of role-playing game quests. Quest Design Patterns has a very good potential to be useful by the world of game designs particularly in role-playing game genre. As it is explained in the possible usage section, the model can be used easily as building blocks to construct a full schema of quests and improved storytelling in larger scales. The benefit will be useful to not only mainstream or big time game studios but also to indie game productions to amateur game designers.

46

References Adams, E. & Rollings, A., 2007. Fundamentals of Game Design. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. Agerbo, E. & Cornils, A., 2000. How to preserve the benefits of Design Patterns. Denmark: Computer Science Department, University of Aarhus. Ashmore, C. & Nitsche, M., 2007. The Quest in a Generated World. Procedings of DiGRA

2007, September. Bethesda Softworks, 2011. Elder Scroll's IV: Oblivion. [Online] Available at: http://www.bethsoft.com/eng/games/games_oblivion.html [Accessed 24 October 2011]. Bioware, 2009. Dragon Age: Origins FAQ & Specs. [Online] Available at: http://dragonage.bioware.com/dao/game/faq/ [Accessed 5 November 2011]. Campbell, J., 1949. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Dietz, J., 2011. MetaCritic. [Online] Available at: http://www.metacritic.com/feature/best-video-games-of-2010 [Accessed 8 November 2011]. Doran, J. & Parberry, I., 2010. Towards Procedural Quest Generation: A Structural Analysis of RPG Quests. Denton, Texas, USA: Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of North Texas.

Dragon Age: Origins. 2009. [Video Game] Publisher: Electronic Arts. Developer: Bioware. Entertainment Software Association, 2011. Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry. 2011 Sales, Demographic, & Usage Data. Entertainment Software Association.

Fable 2. 2008. [Video Game] Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios. Developer: Lionhead Studios. Freeman, E., Freeman, E., Sierra, K. & Bates, B., 2004. Head First Design Patterns. Sebastopol: O'Reilly Media, Inc. Gamma, E., Helm, R., Johnson, R. & Vlissides, J., 1995. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software. Portland: Addison-Wesley. Gartner, 2011. The Gaming Ecosystem. Research Report. New York: www.gartner.com Gartner, Inc. Grace, L., 2008. Scriptwriting for Games: Part 1, Foundations of Interactive Storytelling. [Online] Available at: http://aii.lgrace.com/documents/IDGA_Foundations_of_Interactive_Storytelling.pdf [Accessed 27 October 2011]. Grace, L., 2008. Scriptwriting for Games: Part 2: Advanced Plot Story Structures. [Online] Available at: http://aii.lgrace.com/documents/Scriptwriting%20for%20Games_Part_2_Parallel_OO.pdf [Accessed 27 October 2011]. 47

Griffiths, S.O.R., 2009. An Appraisal of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion through Patterns in Game Design. [Online] Available at: http://steffangriffiths.com/es_iv_oblivion_patterns_in_game_design.pdf [Accessed 26 October 2011]. Hitchens, M. & Drachen, A., 2009. The Many Faces of Role-Playing Games. [Online] Available at: http://marinkacopier.nl/ijrp/wpcontent/uploads/2009/01/hitchens_drachen_the_many_faces_of_rpgs.pdf [Accessed 23 October 2011]. Kacmarcik, G., 2005. Question-Answering in Role Playing Games. Redmond, USA: One Microsoft Way Microsoft Research. Martin, R.C., 2000. Design Principles and Design Patterns. [Online] Available at: http://www.objectmentor.com/resources/articles/Principles_and_Patterns.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2011].

Might & Magic VII: for Blood and Honor. 1999. [Video Game] Publisher: 3DO.Developer: New World Computing. Miller, M., 2005. informIT. [Online] Available at: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=378141 [Accessed 8 November 2011].

Neverwinter Nights 2. 2006. [Video Game] Publisher: Atari. Developer: Obsidian Entertainment.

Neverwinter Nights. 2002. [Video Game] Publisher: Atari. Developer: Bioware. New World Computing & 3DO, 1999. Might and Magic VII: for Blood and Honor Player's Manual. [Online] Available at: http://hideout.dvru.ru/Games/570/Files/mm7_man.pdf [Accessed 28 October 2011]. Smith, R.W., 2004. Side and Promotion Quests. [Online] Available at: http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/mm7/quests.shtml [Accessed 28 October 2011]. Smith, G. et al., 2011. Situating Quests: Design Patterns for Quest and Level Design in Role-Playing Games. Santa Cruz: Center for Games and Playable Media.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. 2002. [Video Game] Publisher: Bethesda Softworks. Developer: Bethesda Game Studios.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. 2006. [Video Game] Publisher: Bethesda Softworks. Developer: Bethesda Game Studios. Trenton, M., Szafron, D., Friesen, J. & Onuczko, C., 2010. Quest Patterns for Storybased Computer Games. In Sixth Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment Conference. Palo Alto, 2010. AAAI Press. UESP Wiki, 2011. the Unofficial Elder Scrolls Pages. [Online] Available at: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Category:Oblivion-Quests [Accessed 11 November 2011]. Weiss, M.M.A., 2010. NCH Healthcare System. [Online] Available at: http://www.nchmd.org/default.aspx?id=519&rid=135 [Accessed 8 November 2011].

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Wesley, D. & Barczak, G., 2010. Chapter 10: Game Development and the Rise of Casual Games. In Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Industry. Boston: Gower Press. pp.171-94.

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Appendix Metacritic Platform Comparison Table (2010) 2010) Metascore Distribution

Avg. Metascores

Platform

Scored # # Good Games* Great** Exclusives**

All

Exclusives

% % Good Mixed

% Bad

Consoles: PlayStation 3

231

7

12

70.0

66.2

44%

46%

10%

Xbox 360

260

9

13

67.8

64.0

39%

48%

13%

Wii

156

2

19

64.6

64.8

29%

54%

17%

PC

182

4

18

71.3

68.6

42%

54%

4%

Nintendo DS

127

1

24

69.4

71.1

35%

61%

4%

PSP

73

1

9

70.4

70.6

33%

62%

5%

Other:

* Games with 4 or more reviews in Metacritic's database released between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010. ** Excludes games with fewer than 7 reviews; also excludes expansions, collections, and reissues. All Metascore data is from January 24, 2011. The # Great indicates the number of games released during the year with a Metascore of 90 or higher, while # Good Exclusives indicates each platform's exclusive titles with a Metascore of 75 or higher. The % Good reflects the percentage of games receiving a Metascore of 75 or higher (indicating positive reviews). % Mixed shows the percentage receiving a Metascore of 50 - 74 (indicating mixed or middling reviews), while % Badincludes games receiving a Metascore of 49 or below (indicating negative reviews). Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

50