[crossfire] Quests ideas, continued

[Nicolas Weeger]

Hello.

I thought about the upcoming quest system, here are things i'd like to
see. Feel free to comment, change, and so on (like a wiki :p)

Quests are subdivided in "tasks". You don't need to complete all tasks
to complete the quest. So for instance if you ask an ncp you'll get to
know the shortcut to the big manor with the villain you're supposed to
kill, but you don't require it.

Quests/tasks should be able to interact/start/end when player:
* takes an item
* talks to a npc/...
* goes to a specific place
* activates an altar
* kills a monster
* is doing a specific quest/task
* ...

Basically we want to be able to override everything:
* add items when a monster is killed / a chest is opened
* what an npc will say
* what a magic ear / detector will react to
* where a teleporter will lead
* ...

Quests rewards:
* items
* skill
* experience (either some levels, some rough exp, a percentage of exp
needed to level, ...)

Implementation proposals:
* create a "quest_element" archetype. It uses different subtypes
(start/end quest/task, item appears only if player is doing quest,
override item field, ...).
* put those archetypes in items/monsters
* check quest status at any monster kill, altar activation, button
trigger, item take, ...
* store quests in player's inventory, tasks in quests's inventory
* store quest/task reward in quest_element's inventory
* meaning of quest_element fields depends on the subtype and the item
it's inserted into (eg msg for magic ear, ...)
* when the quest is completed, keep tasks for later referral. Or maybe
remove some?

Performance issues: many inventory checks required. Move quests items in
a specific sublist at load time?

Ryo