Quests
Learning paths through this topic
Count "play on five different days this week" without cheating or off-by-one
Players open a puzzle app three times a day and the counter jumps, or the week is one day too short or too long. Here is how to count real days, which days fall out of the window and when, and what to do when the phone clock lies.
Decide when a quest's counter resets: this level, this run, or forever
"Collect 10 coins in one level" and "collect 10 coins in total" read almost the same but break differently when the player loses, quits or restarts. Here is a small rule set that gives each quest its own reset moment and keeps a finished quest finished.
Check that no open quest is cut off by a later change to the map
After the bridge collapses, the quest that sends you to the village across the river cannot be finished any more, and nobody noticed. Here is how to test every quest against every stage of the world, with the connections that remain.
Check that "kill 20" is possible on every difficulty, not only on the hardest
On hard mode a level has plenty of enemies. On easy mode it has fewer, and the quest asks for more than exist. Nobody notices until a player on the gentlest setting cannot finish. Here is a check that compares every target with what each setting can really supply.
Show "time left" for a slow quest that never says done too early or "0 minutes"
The label says ready or zero minutes while the bar is still short, or it shows two minutes when only one second more was needed, because of tiny errors in decimals. Here is how to round, when to switch to days, and what to print when nothing is moving.
Find quests that wait for something which can never happen
Quest C needs B, B needs one of A or D, and D needs C, so a whole corner of your quest log quietly never opens. Here is the way to find every quest that cannot unlock, with the reason, and not only the ones in a plain loop.
Handle quests where taking one closes another
Siding with the guild must end the smugglers' job, but only if that job was not already done, and should it come back if you later quit the guild? Here are the states, the rules for each case and a check that your exclusions agree with each other.
Let a quiz quest be retried without repeating answered questions or hiding the failed ones
After a failed try the same questions come back in the same order, or the player gets only questions already answered right and wins by memory. Here is a draw that serves new questions first, then the missed ones, and a pass mark that rounds correctly.
Schedule one reminder before a quest ends without waking the player at night
A reminder one hour before the deadline lands at three in the morning, or arrives after the quest is over because the quiet time pushed it back. Here is how to move it the right way, how to limit it to one a day, and when to send none.
Cap the experience from repeatable quests per day and per week
Players who grind one easy quest all day outrun everyone, but a cap that resets at the wrong moment either blocks honest players or lets a night owl collect twice. Here is a two-level cap, with the week counted from a fixed starting day.
Pay less each time a level is replayed, yet pay fully for every new star
If replays pay the full reward, one easy level becomes the whole economy. If they pay nothing, players have no reason to improve. Here is a payout that fades with repeats, never reaches zero, and rewards only the stars that are really new.
Claim all at once when one reward finishes the condition of the next quest
The player taps claim-all, and only some rewards arrive because the money from the first one is what unlocks the second. They have to tap again and again, or the list depends on how it was sorted. Here is a loop that settles to the same result in any order.