Quests
Learning paths through this topic
How to Build Quests That Do Not Get Stuck
A quest gets stuck when a step needs something that is gone. Model who holds what, and a checker shows the exact path to each stuck quest.
Quest state machine
Keeps track of every quest: what stage it is at, which facts of the game are true, and which quest depends on which. Because quests are written as plain lists, your AI can show you exactly why a quest will not start, and hand you the list of what depends on what as proof.
Quest order check
Your AI walks every order in which a player can do your quests, and finds out whether each quest can still be finished. If doing one thing first locks a quest out for good, you get the exact moves that cause it, so you have proof you can replay in your own game.
Quest Log
A quest log tells the player what they are doing and how far they are. It has to be right at every moment: the numbers count what the player did, finished quests stay finished, the tracker never points at something that is over, and a long list of tasks stays small enough to manage.
Measure an "80 percent accuracy" objective when one trigger pull fires many pellets
A scatter weapon fires eight pellets and three hit. Is that a hit rate of three eighths or a hit? And the player who fired once and hit has a perfect score. Here is how to count shots so the number feels right and cannot be cheated.
Check that a player cannot run out of ammo before a mandatory fight is won
The gate opens only when four tough enemies are down. The player arrives with a handful of bullets after wasting the rest, and there is nothing left to finish the job. Here is how to estimate the shots a fight really needs and how much to top up.
Show one honest progress bar for a quest that needs "all of these" or "any of those"
A quest asks for two tasks together, or any two of three, and the bar either sits at zero for a long time or shows full when one part is missing. Here is how to combine the parts so the bar moves, matches the rules and is full only when the quest really is.
Count "collect every coin in the bonus room" when coins return on each visit
The bonus room refills each time the player enters. If progress is added up across visits, a few quick runs through finish the challenge. If it is lost on every exit, nobody ever completes it after a death. Here is what to count and when.
Credit a temporary boost only for the time it was really active while away
A double-speed boost ended in the middle of the night, or two boosts overlapped, and the player comes back to either too much or too little. Here is how to measure the covered time exactly, including boosts that started before the player left.
Complete the "defeat the boss" quest only when the last phase really ends
A boss that changes form dies several times on screen. The quest pays out after the first fall, or after a scripted fake death, and the real fight goes on with the reward already spent. Here is how to tell a true ending from a costume change.
Let a boss retry start at the phase already reached, with a fair reward cut
Dying in the last phase of a long fight and starting over from nothing makes players quit. Letting them restart exactly there, for free, makes the fight a formality. Here is a middle way that respects both the time spent and the challenge.
Let a bounty target that ran out of range come back wounded, not fully healed
The target is nearly dead, runs off, and the level unloads it. When the player comes back it stands there at full strength, and the long fight must start over. Or it never returns at all. Here is how to remember its state and let it recover only a little.