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Hey guys, I'm currently working on a flash game similar to my OHR game: The Long Journey Home. Part of what I wanted to include in this game is a bunch of side-quests that are added randomly at the beginning of every game. I've already got a bunch coded, but I worry my ideas are running thin, so...
I was wondering if any of you might have some neat ideas for side-quests. The premise is pretty basic: You are among the last surviving humans helping a coalition of friendly aliens fight a strange extra-dimensional race that is invading the galaxy. As you do this, you are also exploring various star systems, and hopefully finding interesting things, including side-quests.
The engine is currently built so that choose-your-own adventure type situations (ie descriptive text and a series of choices linked together) are extremely easy to code. I can also code minigames, but I'm hoping to avoid anything too complicated.
So... I'd love to hear any neat ideas you might have! Brainstorm away!
Game design help!
Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:18 pm 
Side Quests
Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:03 am
We haven't seen your game yet but plan to download it. Still if its a sci-fi why not help someone trapped get off a planet near a supernova that is ready to explode? They could have engine trouble or need fuel you could help with.
Or maybe meet up at a supply depo in space and find out they need ore from some planet which you can choose to negotiate or fight for.
Just two ideas, hopefully others can think of more or better ones.
The high and mighty confused queen of the thirteenth tile on the bathroom floor
Or maybe meet up at a supply depo in space and find out they need ore from some planet which you can choose to negotiate or fight for.
Just two ideas, hopefully others can think of more or better ones.
The high and mighty confused queen of the thirteenth tile on the bathroom floor
Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:49 am
What about visiting a planet where the locals refuse to believe there can be life on other planets. They assume that you must be members of their own species, who are trying to play some kind of trick or scam on them. They have an easier time believing that you are very strange looking Glarfians than that you are "Humans" from someplace else (madness! someplace else doesn't exist!)
Another idea, you could visit a planet where they have advanced civilization, but spaceflight is illegal because when their civilization first developed spacecraft they were misused to bombard enemy countries with asteroids from orbit. They arrest you for possessing a vehicle capable of spaceflight, and you have to convince them to let you go
Another idea, you could visit a planet where they have advanced civilization, but spaceflight is illegal because when their civilization first developed spacecraft they were misused to bombard enemy countries with asteroids from orbit. They arrest you for possessing a vehicle capable of spaceflight, and you have to convince them to let you go
Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:56 am
*You and your party are worshipped as gods by the primitive culture on a planet you visit. Everything is going swimmingly until you find out that essential parts of your ship have been taken to be preserved as "artifacts".
*One of your crew members suffers from space sickness and locks down a crucial part of the ship.
*Strange beings with psychic powers cause hallucinations that make you feel as if you are back on earth in the 21st century.
*One of your crew falls in love with a native and refuses to leave.
*You have a stowaway, the problem being that the (cute, adorable) creature feeds on whatever fuel powers your ship.
*One of your crew members suffers from space sickness and locks down a crucial part of the ship.
*Strange beings with psychic powers cause hallucinations that make you feel as if you are back on earth in the 21st century.
*One of your crew falls in love with a native and refuses to leave.
*You have a stowaway, the problem being that the (cute, adorable) creature feeds on whatever fuel powers your ship.
Fri Jan 14, 2011 2:22 pm
Interestingly, I've been brainstorming ideas for a similar game of my own inspired by Long Journey Home. Here's a few things I've come up with.
The player comes upon a world oppressed by a cruel despot. Through multiple choice questions, you can raise any army and overthrow him. Then the planet could become a port or a mining colony or offer you some other benefit. Or you could become the despot.
You crash and must get money from a loanshark to fix your ship. Then you have to do dangerous (or tedious) jobs to pay him off such as acting as his collection agent or some other drudgery.
Your ship's computer gains sentience and begins to act like HAL. You've got to talk him down from obliterating you.
One planet is the home world of an ancient extinct alien race. Valuable technological artifacts can be excavated, but a mysterious automated alien ship guards the planet killing intruders and must be defeated. This is a swipe from Master of Orion, if you've every played that game.
Is there a trading element to the game? If not, it might be fun to implement a market and different planets that could form a trade route or something. Imagine elements of Gazillionaire. Have you ever played that?
The player comes upon a world oppressed by a cruel despot. Through multiple choice questions, you can raise any army and overthrow him. Then the planet could become a port or a mining colony or offer you some other benefit. Or you could become the despot.
You crash and must get money from a loanshark to fix your ship. Then you have to do dangerous (or tedious) jobs to pay him off such as acting as his collection agent or some other drudgery.
Your ship's computer gains sentience and begins to act like HAL. You've got to talk him down from obliterating you.
One planet is the home world of an ancient extinct alien race. Valuable technological artifacts can be excavated, but a mysterious automated alien ship guards the planet killing intruders and must be defeated. This is a swipe from Master of Orion, if you've every played that game.
Is there a trading element to the game? If not, it might be fun to implement a market and different planets that could form a trade route or something. Imagine elements of Gazillionaire. Have you ever played that?
Fri Jan 14, 2011 4:10 pm
guo wrote:
*Strange beings with psychic powers cause hallucinations that make you feel as if you are back on earth in the 21st century.
*Strange beings with psychic powers cause hallucinations that make you feel as if you are back on earth in the 21st century.
Has someone been watching Red Dwarf: Back to Earth? :P
Here's one:
* You spend time on a planet of friendly aliens, who fully refuel your ship and restock your supplies, however during your visit you gain a most unusual accent that makes it very difficult for others around you to get a word you're saying.
Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:09 pm
The colony has to build a space station to use as a temporal home while they search for a more suitable planet to move to. Problem is, if they use the wrong parts, they run the risk of the station falling apart, or exploding, or attracting anti-Chinese drywall activists. Whatever they choose, they need to find a scientist who can evaluate the parts being used, haggle with different planetary colonies for the best technician to test the station's inner workings (some of the colony's lesser community members may need to be traded for slave labor to earn one decent space tech), and find a group of adequate space engineers who can make the most of the parts that are actually being used. Then, once the station is built, they have to scour the galaxy for the best cooks and hotel staff who can run the place.
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Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:38 pm
Space Cooks gives me an idea.
The betentacled Chefs of Xplork prepare food which is deliriously ecstatically orgasmically delicious to human taste-buds-- but one problem. Due to the differing Xplork biochemistry, all of their food is highly radioactive! During your stay on Xplorkia, how do you make sure that your crew does not sample the deadly delicacies? Your troubles are complicated by the fact that all you have to feed the crew with is bland tubes of nutrition-paste and freeze-dried cans of space-spam.
The betentacled Chefs of Xplork prepare food which is deliriously ecstatically orgasmically delicious to human taste-buds-- but one problem. Due to the differing Xplork biochemistry, all of their food is highly radioactive! During your stay on Xplorkia, how do you make sure that your crew does not sample the deadly delicacies? Your troubles are complicated by the fact that all you have to feed the crew with is bland tubes of nutrition-paste and freeze-dried cans of space-spam.
Fri Jan 14, 2011 6:56 pm
guo wrote:
*One of your crew falls in love with a native and refuses to leave.
James Paige wrote:
The betentacled Chefs of Xplork prepare food which is deliriously ecstatically orgasmically delicious to human taste-buds-- but one problem. Due to the differing Xplork biochemistry, all of their food is highly radioactive! During your stay on Xplorkia, how do you make sure that your crew does not sample the deadly delicacies? Your troubles are complicated by the fact that all you have to feed the crew with is bland tubes of nutrition-paste and freeze-dried cans of space-spam.
These 2 are great ideas. I might steal these for my own game in the future. Camdog, do not neglect to include these scenarios or the whole game will be forfeit. Seriously!
Fri Jan 14, 2011 9:49 pm
more explosions
Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:22 pm
Awesome, thanks for all the ideas folks. I'm currently trying to figure out how to incorporate some of these into the current game framework. Hopefully I'll have something you can check out soon.