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Age of Conan: Quest Story Boards
Szark
News ManagerMember Posts: 4,420
Funcom gives us a behind the scenes look at what goes into making a quest with a peek at some comic book style quest story boards.
This week we take you into the world of quest-making, as we show you one of the in-game storyboards for a relatively simple quest.
When playing Age of Conan, you'll come across hundreds upon hundreds of quests that are scattered across the world. These will range from epic adventures to simple tasks, but a common nominator for them all is that the development team put a tremendous amount of effort into making it balanced, rewarding and not to mention entertaining.
As a part of creating a quest, the designers often put together a storyboard comic using in-game screenshots to give a better overview of how the quest flows.
"The comic storyboard is a visual representation of what we have imagined the quest to be," says Age of Conan designer Joel Bylos. "Essentially the comic is a tool that follows the Conan tradition, and allows people to see what a quest is about, which characters it involves and how it ties into the overall storyline without having to load up the client an play through the entire thing themselves".
Read the full story here.
Comments
After seeing the board...
That simple quest, just seems so typical in recent games. Plus, the way the quest goes just feels like rush, rush, rush: Go here, do this, collect that. Hopefully they show something better next time, because that wasn't very appealing...
I agree, it resonates with so many other typical MMO feels. I hope they become more complex, for example, leave a half dead survivor lying amongst the camp to add more depth to quest like this one.
Personally, I hope travel in this game makes the time investment in quest much greater. I hate it when in other games quest are simply composed of task requiring me to go across the world which typically takes a matter of minutes, via some teleporting spell or device. I hope that in Conan if a Quest requires you to go from point A to point B thousands of virtual miles away, than I will literally have to mount up on horseback and start riding across zones, maybe even bring a couple guildies along. AoC developers say they are shooting for more realism so I see no reason to call it a Quest unless it is really a FREAKING Quest you know what I mean?
Make me stock up on supplies or hunt for food or fight through a forest full of bandits and beasties with my buddies, make us camp out at night and stand watch. It is just disappointing to me, because when you read books like The Hobbit or Conan, you can really identify the essence of questing.
This storyboard here just leaves many things to be desired in my opinion. Rename monotonous quest like this, errands or something because it is no quest imo.
WAR quest system reference (you can also find similar links at the news section):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ZqAS64Lg0
Amusing, I liked the 'Crom's balls' phrase
But I have to wonder whether Conan ever bothered to gather wood planks? They could have just had you killing the monsters that are slaughtering people as if that wasn't incentive enough.
I must admit to not understanding the negative comments that have been posted here - or indeed the general criticism of quest lines that are made on a regular basis.
Nobody starts out as a level one King of the World with everybody fawning at your feet in adulation. Nor, if you want to try to place it into some role-play / fantasy storyline context, does any "hero" start out as being treated as such. Almost every story has a character gradually becoming more poweful, more cognisant of their potential, to gain gradual recognition over and above the general populace as a "hero".
And surely when you are starting out trying to make a name for yourself, you perform some more menial tasks - in this case a menial task with added danger that none in that immediate surroundings are prepared to tackle. Although basic it is providing some context against which you are singled out from the general population by your willingness and ability to tackle the task, and the fact you succeed.
Providing this type of service over a consistent period of time allows you to prove your worth, make a name for yourself, and stand out as "hero" potential.
Would Conan have done something like this? Why not - he had to develop his skills and realise his potential in some way.
Show some understanding and appreciation for the process and the way in which it develops.
Xanklar got it right, or at least offers a nuanced opinion.
Computer RPG's are fraught with clichés and the quests that you perform are a contributing part of this. Killing rats in the basement, helping the old man gather fire wood (or, indeed planks) and delivering pie to the watchmen are just some examples that we've all encountered in some variations. The problem is that it's not hero work, and one important incentive to play a rpg is to be the hero. The story based reasons that Xanklar gives could be one answer, but it does not quite cover it. I believe these mundane tasks serve another purpose apart for building trust and goodwill with a community. They serve to reveal the world around you. In this quest, the forest is there to provide a stage far from the security of the town. The planks are there, because no sane person would fight monsters for nothing. (Before you speak, xp doesn't count!) The monsters are there because of the challenge. As to why they are actually monsters in the lumber camp, the developers leave that question unanswered. Perhaps to be revealed in a follow up quest? If the situation didn't exist you would never have had the incentive to speak to the refugees and to venture into the woods, missing that part of the story/world.
However, as a longtime tabletop GM, I would never have my players gather planks and fight monsters for the privilege. As part of a bigger story it's forgivable, but as a stand alone quest it's rather poor. Just imagine if in the middle of the lumber camp you come across a carved idol, covered in half-dried blood. Is it the idol that draws the fiends from across the veil? Who made it? Why did they put it in this spot? Could the idol be destroyed or would that bring about unforeseen doom?
My whole point is that game designers should really make mundane tasks like this quest unfold into heroic and unexpected sagas to give the players the chance to be true heroes and not just errand-runners.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
QFE
The hook...alot of what mmorpgs lack atm... If their head isn't in the game, it's not fun...
Edit: I'd like to point out that even Dungeons and Dragons Online didn't have this... which is sad... but its whole design was bad anyways...