I've been working on the quest model recently, and it's coming along very nicely. By the next release, quests can consist of the following:
Killing x monsters
Bringing x items to an NPC
Talking to an NPC
These are all goals for quest nodes, and a quest can consist of several nodes. In other words, a full quest can require you to kill 4 snakes and 3 goblins, or talk to a gnome and give a dwarf a pickaxe, or any other combination of the three basic tasks. Also, a quest node may have the completion of another node as a requirement, so you can have quests where you need to do one thing, then another, then another (rather than being given several objectives that can be completed in any order).
Conversation has been expanded a bit as well. Responses can be based on items that the player has, quests that have been completed (or not yet started, or even in progress), attributes or skills that the player has, or the type of monster that is being spoken to.
Quests and conversations are very tightly linked. The conversation sets up all the requirements for the quest (you might have to have something achieved before the response that launches a quest shows up), and quests in turn can determine what choices you have when talking with people.
Two things need to be accomplished before (what I hope is) the final release for this subversion, v0.3. The first is proper saving of quests, especially partially completed quests. The second task is to populate the dungeon with a wide variety of monsters and items. Right now there's a decent monster density up to about level 12 or so, which then tapers off until level 22 and beyond where there are no monsters at all. Obviously, this needs to change.
The next subversion, v0.4, will be a lot of interface and engine adjustments to convert Labyrinth of Reptoran from a tech demo to a playable game. The following additions are planned:
overhauled speed system
converting LOS from raycasting to shadowcasting
lots of combat tweaks and improvements, like natural armor, critical hits, blood, two-handed weapons, and more
enhanced skill system, with provisions for partial tasks (interruptions) and weapon type redefinitions
interfaces improvements like filtering out extraneous messages
improved AI
compressed save files
I'm going to be posting a planned features list on the main site soon, and hopefully I'll have a new release by the end of the month.
Labels: quests, reptoran
