In my last post I stated that I would be finishing outpost attacks and lootable bosses very soon. However, in the last couple of days I've noticed that the implementation of these two systems has a lot of cross-over, since they will both essentially be global events that happen at set times and places. After a bit of thinking I came to the conclusion that it would be better to combine both things into the same system, and expand the design further.
A lot of people have mentioned that one the major things lacking in DF is a proper storyline. I had always planned to make some kind of story-based missions in the future, but it was something I was going to put off until "all the other crap is done". Now, with the way that the other systems are shaping up, I've come the realization that putting a decent story into the game wouldn't be so hard. At least not on a coding level anyway.
So, my new plan is to take what I have with lootable bosses and OAs, and combine them into a single events system. I'll then make it so each event can have it's win conditions, rewards and area 'effects' heavily customized. Finally I'll set things up so each event can be given a proper plot.
Once complete we'll have a mix of random daily events (like OAs, and boss spawns) combined with hand designed, plot driven, mission style events. Hopefully it will give Dead Frontier more goals and purpose, whilst also making the game world come to life. I want to make Fairview feel like a real place.
The hardest part in all of this will be the actual writing for the plot. At the moment I'm leaning towards the possibility of taking submissions from the DF community, but I'm not totally decided at this stage. The other option is that I convince Ian (Xaelath) to do it, since he did such an awesome job with the Outbreak mini-games.
Of course expanding the design will mean more time, but not too much more. As I mentioned before, some of the work is already done so I'm thinking it'll be ready in 2 weeks. Please don't lynch me if I'm wrong though.
