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Overview
The book begins with an introduction to the theory and history of quests in games, before covering four theoretical components of quests: their spaces, objects, actors, and challenges. Each chapter also includes a practical section, with accompanying exercises and suggestions for the use of specific technologies for four crucial aspects of quest design:
• level design
• quest item creation
• NPC and dialogue construction
• scripting
This book will be of great interest to all game designers looking to create new, innovative quests in their games. It will also appeal to new media researchers, as well as humanities scholars in the fields of mythology and depth-psychology that want to bring computer-assisted instruction into their classroom in an innovative way.
The companion website includes lecture and workshop slides, and can be accessed at: www.designingquests.com
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780367686079 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | CRC Press |
| Publication date: | 04/25/2022 |
| Edition description: | 2nd ed. |
| Pages: | 222 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
1. I. DEFINITIONS, THEORIES, AND HISTORIES OF QUESTS. II. BEGINNING QUEST DESIGN. 2. I. THE SPACES OF THE QUEST. II. LEVEL DESIGN. 3. I. THE CHARACTERS OF THE QUEST. II. NPC CREATION AND DIALOGUE TREES. 4. I. THE OBJECTS OF THE QUEST. II. DESIGNING QUEST ITEMS. 5. I. THE CHALLENGES OF THE QUEST AND QUEST SYSTEMS. II. SCRIPTING . 6. QUESTS AND PEDAGOGY.What People are Saying About This
"Howard impressively handles bridging the gap between interactive fiction and classical literature with a thoroughly researched and well-argued treatise that focuses itself squarely on the two mediums' connections and similarities."--(Daniel Erickson, Principal Lead Writer, BioWare Austin)
Certain scholars like Jeff Howard ... and Matt Barton ... have written rich, analytical, and well-annotated books on the subject, and I will use both in my course.
—Michael Abbott, Brainy Gamer, April 2008
It's an unusual book, but an illuminating one within these areas.
—Clay Spinuzzi, May 2008
According to Jeff Howard ..., 'a quest is a journey across a symbolic, fantastic landscape in which a protagonist or player collects objects and talks to characters in order to overcome challenges and achieve a meaningful goal.' The most important part of this definition comes at the end, as I believe the foundation of the quest journey is 'to overcome challenges and achieve a meaningful goal.' Developing a successful quest means creating a meaningful interaction for the player.
—Andrew Dobbs at Design(ish), May 2008
Quests is an excellent tool ... for teaching games, media, writing, or other areas that include theory and application. ... Quests would also be an excellent choice as a supplemental text for more advanced classes, helping graduate students or faculty connect their research areas to new ways to represent, research, and teach using games.
—Gameology, February 2008
Quests is an incisive and highly accessible book that leads the reader on an exploration of literature, computer games, and a connection between them.
—grand TEXT auto, February 2008
Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narrative is an exploration of ... quests in both literary and gaming contexts, comparing and contrasting their appearances in each medium and striving to bring the two worlds closer together by imbuing game quests with more meaning. ... I look forward to the dialog his book will inspire. He would have us re-examine the game quest in terms of the narrative quest, and apply those lessons to gaming. The book is well worth a read, both as a lesson plan for making the activity of questing more meaningful, as well as a first step towards giving games that rely heavily on quests—especially MMOS—more meaningful goals.
—Michael Fiegel, Slashdot, September 2008
You might be surprised as to the breadth of material covered by the book, and indeed just how much needs to be covered in order to comprehensively understand [quests]. ... For me, this book is an invaluable resource, as it poses many questions that I haven't considered, and then continues to answer them.
—Steve Vink, The Game Creators Newsletter, October 2008
"Howard is a true Renaissance man in these electronic times. He merges his knowledge and love of literature with his enthusiasm for computer games and the unexplored possibilities of the new medium. Human intellectual activity has a common base, be it expressed in the form of poems or computer games, and Howard shows us some of the most stunning connections between the old form of quest literature and the new challenges of games."--(Dr. Susana Tosca, Associate Professor, IT University of Copenhagen)
"Jeff Howard's Quests is an incisive and highly accessible book that leads the reader on an exploration of literature, computer games, and a connection between them. Howard includes valuable tutorials and exercises which draw on literary works, including Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, while also dealing with the specifics of how to use tools to create computer RPG modules. The book offers useful discussion of the history of adventure games and detailed analysis of quest elements using concepts from narrative theory, poetics, game studies, and other fields. Quests equips students and scholars as they journey onward to read, play, and fashion games and narratives."--(Nick Montfort, Assistant Professor of Digital Media, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)