Kristen Yu: Video Game Quest Theory for Improved Procedural Content Generation
58will present my work on general video game quest theory. Specifically, I want to have an in depth discussion of my proposed definition of a quest, as well as a new paradigm for classifying quests which can replace the old side/main quest model.
I believe this is relevant to the rogue-like community and in particular those who are interested in procedural quest generation because my quest definition is the first technical definition of a quest in academic literature. A technical definition like mine better supports technical applications of quests, and adoption of the definition in the PCG community could foster better collaboration within the community. The new paradigm that I would like to introduce allows for more flexibility in characterizing the constraints of the quest and purpose of the quest within the design space. I believe those interested in procedural quest generation can leverage this paradigm to better specify the kinds of generation they are aiming for. This is useful because it can help set the expectations of the system more appropriately, rather than a system producing main or side quests that do not fully meet the expectations of the user due to the baggage that the main/side quest terminology carries.
Additionally, this work is already being used in my company at improbable to better design quests and understand the design space we are working in, and has already proved useful in the practical development of our game.