GameSpot Designer Diary: Mission Design

**Vlad Tzepes** · 09-28-2006, 14:31

Originally Posted by Tamur

Very odd. This is a repeat of a dev diary that went up on the .com on August 25th. Must be a slow week in the Marketing department.

Yes, I agree, I read this and kept wondering - well this is not new?

But it's clear again, you can get missions form 4 entities, at least: Pope, Guilds, Nobles and other factions.

In another thread started on this topic people wondered if you could get some missions from AI characters as well - that should have added tension to the game... Such as an unhappy heir willing to get at least something from papa's empire, before he gets 100 years old, and asking some help from you, The Masters of Assasins, muahahahaha...

I like the ideea of more missions - it sounds closer to real life, where everybody wants something from you and you have to deal, one way or the other, with all of them.

**Myrddraal** · 09-28-2006, 15:29

It seems to me that factions do not assign you missions directly and out of the blue. It seems that if you make a deal with a faction whereby you do something for them and they then reward you, that deal then becomes a mission. For example:

Italy wants France to attack the Swiss, sends a diplomat to ask them to attack in return for a lot of money.

If the French accept, they get a new mission saying - attack the Swiss. If they complete the mission, the money is then transfered.

**SpencerH** · 09-28-2006, 15:42

Originally Posted by Myrddraal

It seems to me that factions do not assign you missions directly and out of the blue. It seems that if you make a deal with a faction whereby you do something for them and they then reward you, that deal then becomes a mission. For example:

Italy wants France to attack the Swiss, sends a diplomat to ask them to attack in return for a lot of money.

If the French accept, they get a new mission saying - attack the Swiss. If they complete the mission, the money is then transfered.

That sounds reasonable.

What I dont want to see is while I'm busy putting down Irish rebels that I'm supposed to start a crusade to punish the Venetians. 'Do this or else missions' should require an AI that can evaluate what I'm doing and generate appropriate tasks that enhance the variability of gameplay. Somehow I doubt that's in the cards but there's always hope.

**Myrddraal** · 09-28-2006, 15:59

'Do this or else missions'

I wonder how big the 'or else' factor will be. If it's minimal then you could just ignore all missions if you wanted to. Then again, civil war and rebellions due to not taking enough notice of your nobles sounds like a cool challenge..

**Myrddraal** · 09-28-2006, 16:01

hmm this seems to be the relevant section:

The player will also receive demands or requests from other factions. These can come from individuals within the faction, seeking external help to further themselves within the faction, or from the faction as a whole. If the player makes an agreement with another faction to carry out a certain action in the future (for example, attack another faction), this agreement will become a mission, and players will receive their rewards when the action is completed.

So it seems what I said above it true, but at the same time you can get missions from individuals in the faction. I'm curious.

**scourgeofrome** · 10-04-2006, 23:48

Originally Posted by Vlad Tzepes

In another thread started on this topic people wondered if you could get some missions from AI characters as well - that should have added tension to the game... Such as an unhappy heir willing to get at least something from papa's empire, before he gets 100 years old, and asking some help from you, The Masters of Assasins, muahahahaha...

.The assasins guild missions should be fun.