Quests, graphified.
A theater kid turned game dev stares down a mangled mission manager, deadline ticking like a bomb. That’s where SimpleQuest begins—not in some sterile design doc, but in the frantic guts of a game jam entry called USS Proteus. With an hour left, our hero rips out interfaces, tapes classes together sailor-knot tight, and ships. Success? Barely. But that shame-green commented code? It wouldn’t let go.
Twenty minutes post-deadline, the rebuild starts. SimpleQuest emerges from those ashes: a quest system built on directed graphs, where steps point to nexts and prereqs without knowing siblings’ names. Clean. Decoupled. Designer-friendly.
“Just rip the guts out, tape it back up, and ship it already.”
That’s the raw ethos, straight from the dev log. No polish, just truth. And here’s the thing—it’s not just a hack fixed later. This is architecture born from necessity, the kind that indie devs dream of when chaining fetch quests turns into a nightmare.
Why Redesign Quests from Scratch?
Two months pre-jam, questions brewed. What’s a mission, really? Not a linear checklist—think branching paths, optional steps, choices rippling through storylines. Arrays of structs? Too rigid. Indices coupling steps? Clunky as hell.
But graphs? Nodes activate multiples on completion. Gates check prereqs across the web. No central boss dictating flow; steps whisper to successors via soft refs (those bleeding ones from the jam). It’s separation of concerns on steroids—each node oblivious to the big picture, yet the whole blooms complex.
The dev admits it: rediscovering the wheel. “Hey, ma, look! I call it ‘the wheel.’” Directed graphs predate us all, from compiler theory to AI planning. Yet in Unity’s quest scene? Rare. Most indies bolt on plugins like Quest Machine—powerful, sure, but bloated for simple needs. SimpleQuest strips bare.
First iteration: quest as array, steps indexing nexts and prereqs. Functional. Ugly. Then evolution—full graph manager broadcasting state. Dead code shamed away.
Look, this isn’t corporate vaporware. GitHub repo’s open: https://github.com/TheGeebus/SimpleQuest. Fork it. Poke the nodes.
How Does SimpleQuest’s Graph Actually Tick?
Picture steps as nodes. Each holds NextSteps (array of targets to fire on success) and PrerequisiteSteps (what must finish first). Manager tracks active quests, pings UI, NPCs, whatever via delegates.
Branching? Easy—one node spawns three. Convergence? Paths merge at a prereq-heavy boss step. Parallel? Activate multiples at once. Fail a step? Gates block downstream.
No magic. Just data-driven smarts. Designer scripts steps in editor—pick targets by ID, set conditions. Runtime weaves the web.
And the unique twist I see? Echoes of old text adventures like Zork—parsers navigating implicit graphs of commands and states. But procedural. SimpleQuest democratizes that for modern indies, predicting a wave where graph viz tools (node editors in Unity?) make this standard. No more JSON hell for quest trees.
Early version clunked with index refs—tight coupling begging bugs. Now? Soft refs heal it. Manager extracts, broadcasts. Game listens.
Is SimpleQuest Ready for Your Game?
Not yet polished gem—dev log #1 screams iteration ahead. No fancy editor (yet). But essence shines: flexibility without framework weight.
Critique the hype? There isn’t much; this is honest dev diary, not PR spin. Theater background shines—quests as story beats, not checklists. Customer service day job? Builds empathy for scripters.
Test it in Proteus: body voyage guided by mission control. Linear for jam, but graph-ready for branches.
Bold prediction: By next jam season, SimpleQuest forks sprout nonlinear RPGs. Indies tired of linear slogs will graph their worlds.
Wander a bit—could extend to dialogue trees, achievement chains. Why stop at quests?
The Indie Dev Reality Check
Game dev’s theater: improv under lights. Jam hacks birth tools. SimpleQuest? Proof.
No degree needed. Nerd passion suffices.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is SimpleQuest?
Open-source Unity quest system using directed graphs for linear, branching, or parallel missions.
How do you implement branching quests in SimpleQuest?
Nodes list next steps to activate on completion; prereqs gate starts—build webs without global awareness.
Is SimpleQuest free to use in commercial games?
Yes, MIT license on GitHub—fork, ship, profit.
