Recently I have been looking at several game job listings from various websites, mainly focusing on the design side as this is my passion. I've noticed that many companies offer positions as a "Quest Designer" and would like applicants to submit a quest desingn doc along with the implementation criteria. Does anyone know what the typical format or have an example for such a document, and what does it mean by implementation criteria? Thanks for all the help.

This is one of those "if you need to ask...don't bother" type of things.


I think there are resources on this website about design docs, or you can google it.

Quest design is one of the few entry-level positions for Game Design jobs. They're very common in MMOGs, and to a certain extent normal RPGs as well.

The Quest Designer's job is basically to outline mini-quests for the character ('my puppy has been stolen by the evil bully, return it to me and I'll give you 5 gold'). The job requires writing ability, some game design instincts, and often a touch of scripting.

A Quest Design document highlights a single quest; the ones I've seen often look a lot like theater scripts.

- Outline the principles and setting (quest giver, henchman, etc); usually involves stats, rewards, locations, etc

- Outline the stages of the quest (receive, travel to school yard, confront BULLY and SYNCHOPANTS, etc)

- Dialog ('PLAYER: unhand that puppy, you dasterdly sociopath')

- Script logic ('BULLY: drop PUPPY when defeated. PUPPY: Play 'pee on BULLY animation'. Walk to PLAYER. Disappear. Add PUPPY to inventory)

As you can imagine, a game like WoW needs hundreds and thousands of these little quests, and it's a good place to see if a designer has what it takes. A good place to hone those skills is playing with the Neverwinter Nights editor.

Best of luck;

Allan