Quests

Quests are the engine that drive all narrative and timed events on the station — from long‑form Patron arcs to small incidents like shipment delays or a visiting celebrity. They are structured as staged timelines, but instead of rigid “missions,” they are flexible story controllers that can touch many different parts of the station’s life.

How Quests Work

• State Machine Core – Every quest is made up of a set of numbered stages.
  Each stage represents a specific point in the quest’s progress — an active situation, a waiting period, or a completed outcome.
• Script‑Per‑Stage Logic – Each stage can have its own script that runs when the quest enters that stage.
  These scripts can:
  • Trigger dialogue
  • Cause environmental changes
  • Update the Story Ledger
  • Prompt other systems to react (delayed ship arrivals, new bulletin posts, special customer visits, changes in available goods)
• Flexible Flow – Stages do not need to happen in strict order; they can branch, skip, or loop depending on story needs or player actions.

Scope of a Quest

A quest can be:

• A Patron Story Arc that progresses across many visits
• A Station‑Wide Event like a festival, docking delay, or power outage
• A Small Favor or Request such as sourcing a special item
• A Recurring Situation that can happen multiple times in different forms (e.g., supply shortages)
• A World‑Driven Unlock – expanding what’s available to the player, such as:
  • Adding a new decorative item, fixture, or product into the shop’s storage as a reward
  • Unlocking a new product, style, or furnishing in the ordering system

What Quests Affect

Quests never “hard‑wire” themselves into other systems — instead:

• The Quest System only tracks current stage and conditions
• The Quest Stage Script is what reaches out to other systems, asking them to change state or display something new
• Other systems (Shop Terminal, Space Station Systems, Customers, PDA) simply respond in their own way to the requested change
• This keeps each system self‑contained, but lets quests weave them together

Example Flow

1. Quest: Docking Delay Mystery
   Stage 10: “Announcement Made”
2. The Quest System moves to Stage 10 after necessary conditions are met (time of day, certain Patron visit, rumor overheard)
3. Stage 10 Script runs:
   • Tells Station Announcements to broadcast a delay notice
   • Updates the Docking Registry with new arrival time
   • Leaves a note in the Story Ledger
   • Adds “Ore Sample” to shop storage as a gift from a prospector, or enables ordering it from suppliers going forward
4. Station Systems and shop life change naturally as a result — quieter foot traffic, certain customers commenting — without the Quest System directly running them.

For Artists and Narrative

• A “quest” might require new visual moments: lighting changes, props appearing/disappearing, special NPC outfits, or environmental cues that signal an event is happening
• Treat quests as story containers — each stage is a place where you can build a vignette, create ambience, or drop story hints that players can notice in passing
• Unlocks that expand what the player can place or order should be framed as natural rewards: gifts left in storage, new stock arriving, or contacts offering fresh catalogue entries

Design Goals

• Keep quests decoupled from core mechanics so they can be reused across multiple projects
• Allow script flexibility at each stage to tie in different systems without forcing changes to those systems
• Make it easy for artists and narrative to attach atmosphere and detail to specific moments in a quest
• Treat “upgrades” as world‑driven availability expansions, not abstract menus or skill trees
• Ensure the Story Ledger remains the player’s in‑world quest log, showing progress, clues, and outcomes without breaking the immersive style