The Ocularis-series goes on, this time about quest design in an open world.
Open World Quest Design
Quests, by their very nature, are in tendency more linear in style since they are based on dependencies between events/goals (at least in my conception). And even though quests with small depth and/or great width are possible (e.g. quest hubs), the story-style quest is more widespread.
But how do both types and perhaps also the differentiation into side/main quests fit into an open world, where exploration and diverse spaces are dominant?
This talk tries to answer aspects of these question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs-SKSbx-4k
A major learning from this video is about how the main stories jumps from major hub to major hub in the various districts of the open world – giving the player always a strong center to return to and simplifying access to those local districts. There one might find local sidequests expanding on the main themes, branching out from it.
Ocularis: Wilderness
While Ocularis doesn’t have a quest system or any UI way of communicating predefined goals, it of course does have an ending and a sensible way of traversing the map. In the tutorial (see the last post) this isn’t really a problem because the level is very small and linear. But when we arrive in the area we call Wilderness, things get different. This map should illustrate why:
On the left end you can see the cave level and its exit. The rest of the landscape so far is the Wilderness, a small open world area. The difference is of course the size and the nonlinearity of movement: There are several crossings and ways to get from one place to another. So which quests without quest system can be found here and how do they work?
The idea for all quests/dialogues is for them to be as voluntary as possible while also offering a nice coherent story if one decides to go through them. Thus only information that is needed to understand and experience the core goal and gameplay is provided without opt-out. These moments happen at choke points in the level: The beginning, where dialogues were forced through fall damage, the transition from orange to green forest, where no other passage is possible, and at the gate to the as-of-yet non existent mountain pass.
However there are some “tricks” that might lead the player into pursuing more than a barebones playthrough.
- Story sometimes happens on-location, when a player has cleared a place from enemies or entered a certain area. There might be a dialog between avatar and NPC, or a monologue or simple environmental storytelling.
- There are hubs for experiencing story content: At the two crosses avatar Leonora and the NPCs joining her group set up camp around a larger bonfire. It is here, that the player can pursue optional main story talks.
- Exploring the world reflects in the “quest hubs”: If you enter e.g. the graveyard on the bottom left, you’ll get a chance to talk about it at a camp fire.
- There are lots of higher view points allowing you to see the scope of explorable places which might potentially feature story content or be discussed at the hub.
- Having specifically modelled, fully voiced 3D characters and a more than barebones dialog system might reduce the feeling of a “low-quality, dismissable” narrative.
One question surely remains, because – this open world quest design until now mainly depends on the player’s drive to explore and some very few enforced encounters. How will players with more need for guidance get around? What if some interesting places, places to visit as a quest of seeing them, are not obvious enough? This is a level design problem on the one hand, but can also be understood in quest design terms: Who gives the player the quest to visit the small valley between orange level and sea at the foot of the mountains?
I’m not entirely sure yet how to solve this problem without taking away too much of the un-guided style is was very much intended, but here are some ideas.
- A map with the player position where the player can set markers
- A mechanic where she can let avatar Leonora speak of some possible goals
- A minimap showing side paths more distinctly than the 3D environment
Options 1 and 2 seem the best to me – I’d really like to preserve the player autonomy in her exploration.
Suggestions for Feedback
- What other principle for organizing a story in an open world can you think of?
- Do you intuitively think the main story is too far stretched in Ocularis?
Conclusion
The Ocularis blog post series continues and who knows, maybe I’ll find another topic that is interesting to discuss regarding its quest design. This one, surely, was one of my favourites! It combines two of my most beloved aspects/figurations findable in video games: Open worlds and quests.
I hope you’re having a good time!
Gregor Sönnichsen 