I think events would be a good addition to the game. It would allow variability in servers and give people more of a reason to build capable ships besides PVP. More PVE events would add more co-op opportunity as well.
That said, I think there would need to be an adequate framework for these events to be created. There would need to be programmable AI and a rewards system in place. There would need to be a way to detect WHO takes part in the event as well. Also, I should note that I see "events" and "quests" as the same thing. A quest being more player initiated, events being more server initiated.
So, toward this end, I have some suggestions on how this could be framed in such a way that everybody could make their own events/quests. There would need to be new blocks in the game to assist in creating these events. This would also allow these quests/events to be brought in using blueprints/admin loading. I think there should be layers of complexity to the process, to allow for more easily created simple events and for creating more complicated events that require LUA scripting. In-game blocks could be used for both simple and complex projects. The difference to this and and a full-fledged API is that it would involve in-game blocks and would not be a complete modding system and would have certain pre-set conditions and actions available without always requiring scripting. It would have a clear purpose, events. So, that said, here are some of the core components I believe would aid in a good event system. This is NOT a complete list of needed components, but it will give you an idea of what I'm imagining here.
1. Make an admin block called an "event block" that can be placed onto an entity. It would have various abilities, such as detecting nearby players within a certain range and reporting that back to the script handling the event. This block would also have the ability to do certain, pre-set functions, such as spawning in pirates, or maybe loading a blueprint of a station into a certain sector, or it runs one or more admin commands to do various other things. This block would be accessible via a GUI when pressing R on it. Admins could make this only spawnable by admins or through admin loading of a blueprint with this block on it. It would use an "If/than/or" system with conditions and responses. For example, "If [player detected within 2 sectors], THEN [spawn one wave of pirates appropriate to the size ship the player is in]. " Another example, "If [player detected within 1 sector], THEN [mark player as active in event, "Defense of the Homeworld", visible to player and other players], AND THEN [activate event, "Defense of the Homeworld"] (The "Defense of the Homeworld" script would then handle things like spawning in entities, etc.)
2. Players would need to be able to be set as having the status of doing a quest/event. Depending on the quest/event, this may or may not be visible to the player or to other players. This would be similar to how a player is taking place in a race in the game currently.
3. Give windowing controls to the scripting/event. If someone wins an event, then perhaps a window pops up with a "Congratulations, you have won! You will now be given 20 million credits!" window. Upon closing the window, 20 million credits is deposited into their inventory.
4. Give dynamic commands to the server. For example, a server might have a custom command set up for players who would like to take part in an event. Perhaps periodically the server initiates an event and players can type "/quest" to take part. The server teleports the player to coordinates. When a certain number of players are taking part, it spawns pirates in. Or perhaps it teleports the player into a room that has clues, and they have to press buttons in a specific order to get out. Or.. whatever is set up as the win/loss/abort condition.
5. Add a "Quests" or "Events" window, similar to the faction menu, where players can see what quest(s)/event(s) they are currently taking part in.
6. Give the ability to create scripting that handles the event as is present with Lua, but document it well. Give players a few tutorial events that demonstrates how the scripting works, so other players can learn from it and adapt their own events.
7. Allow sectors to be marked as "event sectors" and disallow other players from entering them, either by moving or jumping in. Alternatively, also allow a private sector to be created for the event.
So, with these tools available to the players, here's an example of an event, broken down.
EXAMPLE # 1 - Quests:
-The server periodically displays a message in general chat, "Type /quests to get a list of quests available on this server!"
-The player types "/quests"
- A pop-up window comes up and displays a list of various quests. If the player clicks on one, it displays the details and gives an "accept" and "back" button.
- When the player presses the "accept" button, the player is set as active for that quest. This particular quest can only be completed by 1 person at a time. So it clears a sector of all spawned in entities, spawns in a blueprint of the quest, and marks the quest itself as not available to other players. (So if other players bring up their available quests, it simply does not show up as an option). It then gives the player the coordinates of the quest and tells them they have 20 minutes to complete it.
- The player jumps over to the coordinates, and when they arrive, a message indicator pops up in the top-right, saying "A communication is incoming.." A few seconds later, a pop-up window comes up with the dialogue, "Who are you?! Why are you here!" The player can then select different dialogue options. If they select the wrong option, the base they are in front of turns hostile and starts attacking them.
- If they select the right options, the dialogue box pops up, telling them to come inside the base and they collect a mysterious item.
- If they select the wrong options and the base attacks them, perhaps they can still raid the base to steal the mysterious item.
- Upon removing the items from the storage, the quest detects this using an event block and a message tells the player "Great, you got the item, please bring it back to Trader Joe at -4, 2, 1." Upon speaking to an NPC at a base in those coordinates, the player gets 10 million credits and a blueprint for a small fighter ship. If they stole the item, perhaps the NPC adds, "I never liked those guys anyhow." The quest is marked as completed, and the sector with the quest in it is cleared of all spawned in entities. "Congratulations, you have completed a quest." displays to the player.
EXAMPLE # 2 - "Pirates are coming to gobble your turkey!" PVE faction event.
- The server is set to perform an event once per day at a random time, within a certain time of day. Let's say, at some point within 2pm and 9pm EST, an event "Invade a faction" happens.
- When initiated, the event looks at all the players online and chooses a random faction that has at least 2 players online.
- The event spawns pirates two sectors away from a the faction home base, the size determined by the number of players in that faction online at the time, and directs the ships to move toward it.
- The players in the targeted faction are marked as "active" in the event, whether online or not.
- Each online faction member receives a message, "Pirates have found you, and they are going to gobble up all your turkey! Kill or be killed!"
- The player's faction home is removed from being invulnerable.
- The sector, in which the faction home is located, is marked as being an event sector and no other players other than those taking part in the event can travel there. If a player not taking part in the event tries to go there, they are turned away, similar to how ships are turned away when trying to leave a test sector. If trying to jump in, they will not be allowed to jump.
- The event may allow allies of the faction to enter the system, or maybe not.
- When the pirates arrive, they will either kill the base, be killed, or run away if time runs out. If in two hours, neither side is destroyed, the pirates are told to turn around and run from the station. After getting a sector away, they are despawned and a "draw" is declared. Or a "Win". The players online get a message, "You have successfully saved your turkey!" and they are given 1 million credits. Or perhaps a medium-sized ship is spawned in at their faction base and they see a message saying, "For your valiant efforts in defending your empire, I bestow a gift upon you."
So, in conclusion, the important part here is to give the necessary tools necessary so that people can make interesting and varied events, using their own creativity. I believe a hard-coded solution, which only has a small handful events would not be customizable enough for a sandbox game of this nature.
Thank you for your time.
