Quest Creator weekly

Quest creators,

Expedition was at UnPub this weekend, so we have a lot of new players and ideas, but not much new code.

In lieu of new features for the week, some quick reminders:

• Pittsburgh writers: we're having our first quest writing night starting at 5pm this Saturday (March 25th) in Point Breeze. There'll be free food and booze! Email us at Expedition@Fabricate.io to RSVP and get the address.
• There's one week left in the Quest Quest 2! You must publish by midnight EST on the 31st to be eligible. We highly recommend publishing before then so that you can get feedback from other Expedition players!
• Please consider filling out the Quest Creator feedback form. It'll only take two minutes, and it'll help us prioritize how to improve your quest-writing experience!

That's all for this week - we can't wait to see your entries for the Quest Quest 2 - and stay tuned! Along with the winners, we'll be announcing the exciting future for Expedition!

All the best,

Todd & Scott

Quest Creator feature highlight: combat improvements

Quest Crafters,

You may have seen the new Dungeon Crawl featured quest in the updated app. It does some pretty cool new things - and we're here to show you how to utilize them in your quests!

Randomized enemies

Sometimes in a quest, it makes sense for the enemies to be random. Maybe you encounter a group of Bandit thugs, but it doesn't affect the story if they're tier 1 archers or tier 1 footpads. In cases like this, a touch of randomness can increase surprise and replayability.

You can use the following syntax to create random enemies - anything from a totally random enemy, to a random enemy of a specific class or tier, all the way to a random enemy of a specific class and tier:

_combat_
- {{_.randomEnemy()}}
- {{_.randomEnemyOfTier(1)}}
- {{_.randomEnemyOfClass("Bandit")}}
- {{_.randomEnemyOfClassTier("Bandit", 1)}}

Note: you must use double quotes (not single quotes) for strings inside of ops {{}}.

Customizable combat rewards

Next up is the highly-requested ability to customize what happens on combat victories. For example, you might not want to reward players with loot and xp for a battle they shouldn't have fought. Or, maybe they're on the run and don't have time to heal (or only partially heal) after the fight.

To do this, you simply annotate the combat on win outcome. Below, you can see what it looks like to disable loot and xp rewards, to disable healing, loot and xp, and to only allow the adventurers to partially heal (+6 health). Anything you don't define defaults to the normal: heal to full health and gain loot and xp.

* on win {"loot": false, "xp": false}
* on win {"heal": 0, "loot": false, "xp": false}
* on win {"heal": 6}

Note: In cases where adventurers won't heal at the end of combat, it's nice to warn them with an instruction node before combat starts so that they can make better choices - for example: > You're on the run! You won't heal after this encounter.

If you haven't yet, consider checking out the Quest Creator docs (also available via "Help" -> QDL Guide in the Quest Creator) for these and many more powerful features to use in your next quest!

Finally - please take this 2 minute survey so that we can better serve your quest-writing needs :)

Happy adventuring,

Todd & Scott

Expedition Monthly: March

Adventurers and role-players!

This month's update includes new quests, new features, and some quick announcements. 

Quest highlight

JanoNath published a fantastic 3 part quest - the Landfaria Chronicles. If you've been wondering what longer quests might look like in the Expedition RPG system, check it out! And many thanks to JanoNath for the amazing work and dedication in putting them together!

New features

• Dungeon Crawl! New on the app homepage - how deep can you delve? (Quest creators - in our next email, we'll cover some of the new tools and features used to make Dungeon Crawl that are now available to you).
• Improved loot balance: less loot is rewarded for large encounters to make loot easier to manage. Quest creators can now also set encounters to not reward loot, so that you don't draw a ton of loot after a boss fight, just to have the quest end.
• Improved app interface on larger displays + tablets.
• Streamlined combat flow: you can now tap 'win' and 'lose' without having to set the numbers all the way to 0 each time.

Announcements

• One month left in the Quest Quest 2! Try your hand at writing your very own quest, and have a chance to win some sweet loot!
• Conventions: Expedition will be at UnPub in Baltimore next weekend, and at GenCon in August. If you'll be at either, drop us a line via email or Twitter so that we can meet up!
• Game stores: If you'd like Expedition available where you live, consider approaching your local game store. Expedition was just picked up by several game store distributors, including ACD and GTS Distribution (USA), Universal Distribution (Canada), Brave New World Distribution (Europe) and Hit Point Sales (Worldwide).
• Contributing: we've just released guides for writing quests and contributing to the source code. If you want to help make Expedition even better, check them out!

May your sword be sharp on your next adventure,

Todd & Scott

Quest Creator Feature Highlight: Context Explorer

Quest Creators,

For this update, we'll be exploring the Context Explorer, a recently-launched feature on the Quest Creator. Also, we've fixed two bugs!

Context Explorer

You may have noticed this new bar on the bottom of the screen labeled "context explorer"...

What does it do?

If you're adventurous enough to click on "CONTEXT EXPLORER", you'll find:

To really get the hang of this window, we'll need to understand a few Quest Creator terms:

Context

Context lets you keep track of variables during your quest. For example, you can save how much gold your adventurers have, or if they've found the key.

You can then use that context to change what they see - for example, not showing "unlock the chest with the key" until they find the key:

* {{haveKey == true}} Unlock chest with key

MathJS

MathJS is the language used to set context variables. To use MathJS, simply wrap whatever operation you're doing in {{double curly brackets}}. For example, {{gold = 10}} will set gold to 10, and "Your party has {{gold}} gold" will show them how much gold they have.

Note for the programmers out there: MathJS is very similar - but not quite identical - to JavaScript. If you're having problems getting it to do what you want, try running your command in the demo console on the MathJS page and see if it's doing what you expect!

Initial context

When players first open the quest (or you click "play from cursor" in the Quest Creator), the context is empty. This is known as the "initial context". However, it can be annoying to have the context start as empty when you're trying to test something that's happening in the middle of your quest. Maybe you need to assume they've already found the key, or that they have {{gold = 20}} from slaying the dragon. No worries! Now, if you define those variables in the left hand side, they'll be automatically assigned to the scope when you click "play from cursor".

Scope history

As cards make changes to the scope, each card's scope is recorded in the "scope history" on the right, making it easier for you as a quest creator to keep track of what's happening in the context as you play.

Putting it all together

Here's a quick example, showing what happens if you use the context explorer to set the initial state to {{haveKey = false}}, then watching the history as you navigate to a card that sets haveKey to true:

Bonus trick: you can also drag to resize the context explorer, making it larger or smaller as needed!

We understand that context can be tricky to fully grasp - please don't hesitate to email us if you have questions or ideas on how we can make it better!

Bug fixes

Thanks to your feedback, we were able to locate and fix two bugs:

• variables equal to 0 now appear as zero in the app, instead of disappearing
• the quest creator no longer freezes when you try to create a new quest (was an issue with spellcheck)

If you encounter other bugs, please let us know at Expedition@Fabricate.io and we'll get them fixed ASAP!

Keep calm and adventure on,

Todd & Scott

February Quest Creator Update: Spellcheck!

Quest Creators,

As a reminder, Quest Quest 2 is happening now. You have until March 31st to publish your quest for a chance to win some fantastic loot!

To help you write the best quests possible, we're excited to share with you a highly-requested tool that'll make your life MUCH easier: Spellcheck!

That's right - now, while writing your quest, misspelled words will be highlighted automatically. It's a brand new feature, so we'd love to hear from you about how we can make it even better - just email us or drop an issue on GitHub: https://github.com/ExpeditionRPG/expedition/issues/new

We also made two smaller improvements:

1. Hide the annoying "you're logged in" message that blocks the bottom of the screen for a few seconds when you first open the page.

2. Your quest title now gets included in the tab title, making it a bit easier to keep track of and find quests when working on multiple at once.

If you haven't yet, check out the community on GitHub. There, you can propose new ideas, chime in on feature requests and let us know if you encounter any issues.

Keep up the awesome work!

- Todd & Scott

Expedition Monthly

Adventurers,

January's been a busy month for the Expedition community! Here's the latest and greatest:

Quests

We're excited to share some great new quests that community members wrote this month (in the app -> advanced -> community quests). Make sure to check out:

• The winners of the first ever Quest Quest
  • Bridezilla by Daniel Riddle
  • A Weird Encounter in the Dungeon by NrFive
  • Staircase Ascension by Daniel Wiktorcyzk
• Going on a Bear Hunt - saving a village from the local wildlife... with a twist.
• Survival - showcasing what's possible with the Expedition Quest Engine, see how long you can survive in the desert.

We also just announced the second Quest Quest. Now's the perfect time to try your hand at writing a quest and winning sweet prizes - including a signed battle axe!

The App

We've also been working hard to make the app better, including numerous new features and bugfixes:

• Quest feedback: after completing a quest, you can now send feedback to the quest author.
• Keep screen on: on Android and iOS, the screen will now stay on while the app is open (no more fiddling with display settings!).
• iOS users: the iOS app is now updated to match the web + Android apps.
• Android users: the APK is now available at expeditiongame.com/app for Android users who are unable to access the Android Marketplace.
• Tablet users: the app UI now does a better job of supporting larger tablet screens
• Solo players: we've updated the quest setup page to automatically display the single player rules variations when you start a quest with only one player.
• Vibration: Added vibration on button taps to make the app more tactile. This can be disabled in settings.
• Touch bugfix: fixed a bug where sometimes multiple touches would trigger in rapid succession, causing multiple card-swipe animations.

Amazon and App Reviews

Expedition is now available for sale on Amazon, and has apps in the Android and iOS App Stores. In each of these marketplaces, reviews have a huge impact on visibility. If you want to help the Expedition community grow, please consider leaving an honest review of your experiences to help others decide!

If you've run into bugs or defects, please contact us directly at Expedition@Fabricate.io so that we can sort out your issue as fast as possible, before leaving a permanent review.

As always, you can email us any time at Expedition@Fabricate.io.

Happy Adventuring!

Todd & Scott

P.S. If you want to share this news, it's also available on the Expedition Blog!

Announcing Quest Quest 2: The Search for More Quests

"Another quest? So soon?" you ask the wise, bearded wizard.

"Indeed. The world is in need of adventure. Only through your creativity can they have fun with family and friends. Only through your storytelling can they explore fascinating and diverse worlds! Only through your..." he pauses, "Sorry, I got a bit carried away there. But, yes, we're having another quest writing contest! It'll be a bit different this time around..."

Do you:

Take up your pens and keyboards, and prepare for battle?

OR

Get distracted by printing a free copy of Expedition?

Quest Quest 2: The Prizes!

Should you choose to accept the Quest Quest, you could win:

Two copies of Expedition: The Roleplaying Card Game

OR

A BATTLE AXE, signed by the creators of Expedition (as seen in the How To Play video)

The Categories

To win your own battle axe (or two copies of Expedition), you'll need to write an awesome adventure in one of the following categories:

• Adventurer vs Adventurer - The Expedition system is incredibly flexible. So flexible, in fact, that not all adventurers have to cooperate. Two teams fighting each other? An evil mastermind? Secret identities and a hidden traitor? You decide!
• Most Dynamic Quest - We've been working hard on new tools for quest writers to create complex and dynamic stories capable of being truly different each time you play, and giving your choices real consequences down the road. Showcase this ability if you want to win "Most Dynamic Quest!"
• Crowd Favorite - Once all the submissions are in, Expedition fans will be able to vote on their favorite quest. If they love your quest the most, you'll win!

Winners will be selected by a panel of judges consisting of both new and experienced role-players. Quests must be submitted by March 31st, 2017 at midnight Eastern Standard Time to be eligible.

Ready to write a quest? Get started with the Expedition Quest Creator now! Hit a snag (or have a suggestion)? Send us an email at Expedition@Fabricate.io.

To quest writers, world builders and puzzle builders everywhere.... good luck! And may the winds of fortune blow in your favor!

- The Expedition Team

The Rules

To be eligible to win, you must:

• Publish your quest(s) using the Expedition Quest Creator (Quests.ExpeditionGame.com) between the dates of February 1, 2017 and March 31, 2017, midnight Eastern Standard Time.
• Include your name and email address as part of your quest metadata before publishing.
• Quest must have a minimum play time of at least ten (10) minutes.
• Have your quest be selected by our panel of judges as the best quest in one of the three (3) provided categories. In the case of two or more quests equally fulfilling a category's primary, ties will be broken by the quest with the longest average play time.

Additional notes:

• Winners will be announced on the Expedition Mailing List in April. Subscribe to be notified
• No payment or purchase necessary to receive or claim a prize.
• Each quest entry may be considered for all categories, but may only win one (1) category.
• A maximum of three (3) quests will be considered from any contestant. If a contestant publishes more than that, they should email Expedition@Fabricate.io before the deadline to indicate which quest(s) they would like to submit.
• All contestants have an equal opportunity to win, regardless of race, gender or location.
• If a winner does not respond within seven (7) days of being selected at the email address provided in their published quest with their acceptance, they forfeit their prize and another winner will be selected.
• As required by law, the list of contest participants and winners will be kept for a minimum of four (4) years from the date of prize redemption.
• By entering the contest, you agree to by added to the contest mailing list (which you can unsubscribe from at any time without affecting eligibility), and that your quest, name and likeness may be used by FabricateIO for free as part of the Expedition App, and for future marketing and promotional purposes.

Winners of the First Quest Quest

Last weekend marked the close of the first ever Expedition Quest Quest, with many great new adventures published and available on the Expedition App. Our judges spent the week deliberating between escaping from staircases and slaying bandits, to planning royal weddings and exploring forests, and here's what they have to say!

The Prompts

• Most interesting world - A quest isn't just about the adventurers and their choices - it's also about the world around them. To win this award, write a quest with a many-layered world for adventurers to learn about and explore.

• Most thoughtful choices - Expedition quests aren't just stories - they're worlds where adventurers' actions have consequences. To win this award, show us a quest where adventurers have to make a variety of interesting and difficult choices that have a clear impact on the story and the world.

• Best puzzle(s) - Quests shouldn't just be hacking and slashing your way through foes - they can also include puzzles, challenges and riddles. If you want to want to win this award, write a quest with at least one challenging puzzle - but make sure to provide adventurers with enough information to solve it (i.e. no guessing a safe combination without any hints)

The Judges

Before we get to the awards, a special thank you to our amazing judges!

• Tom Wells - Most interesting world - Published author of the guide to world building The Realm Apparent, we were lucky enough to get Tom to judge quests on their worlds!

• Lee Ngo - Most thoughtful choices - A long time Expedition super-fan, Lee has a lot of experience in knowing what it takes to make an interesting - and fun! - adventure.

• Audrey Grace - Best Puzzle(s) - A student of literature and non-fiction writing

And now, the winners!

Though it was a challenging decision amongst so many great adventures, the winners are:

• Most Interesting World - Bridezilla by Daniel Riddle. In a genre full of quests to save the princess, you find yourself in the world that takes place after the adventure usually ends - planning the wedding! That, and many more twists make Bridezilla a fun and fresh world to explore. Keep it up, Daniel!

• Most thoughtful choices - A Weird Encounter in the Dungeon by NrFive. We're so used to writing linear stories that one of the most challenging parts of creating an Expedition adventure is creating choices that move the story forward, yet give players the opportunity to take diverging paths with meaningful consequences. Though you might not catch it on your first play, there are several fantastic moments in A Weird Encounter that take you down unexpected paths. Nice work NrFive!

• Best Puzzle(s) - Staircase Ascension by Daniel Wiktorcyzk. You're locked under a staircase. How do you get out? (And more adventures if you do escape). A great example of the puzzles possible with Expedition quests. Congratulations Daniel!

Again, a HUGE thank you to all of the quest writers who participated, and our panel of judges - and congratulations to the winners! (we'll be in touch shortly to get you your prizes)

Excited to write your own quests? Check out the Expedition Quest Creator: quests.expeditiongame.com - and stay tuned for our next Quest Writing Contest!

Want to play these quests at your next game night? Open the Expedition App on your phone, tablet or computer and head to advanced -> public quests. Note that some quests require at least two players to play.