Tip Zero: Why does this quest exist in the first place? What does this add into the game? Why does the player character have to get involved? How will the player be the agent of change?

Ideally you handle this when you are at the planning stage, but you should answer these when you give your pitch to your lead.

Why does this quest exist in the first place? – Games are expensive to make. You need to justify the time and money that will be spent bringing this quest to life.

You can have a number of reasons why. Some good ones are:

- This side quest helps flesh out the story of this map a little more. This adds atmosphere to the game and gives the player a little more lore they might not if they just stick to the main path.
- This side quest sets up an epic event that will unlock (this is good for MMOs, where groups of players work together to succeed at a side quest to get access to a mini-boss and loot).
- This side quest is a tutorial area where the player can hone their skills with an item or under certain conditions. This is useful for starting players to master their combat abilities or to generally get familiar with the game’s mechanics.
– To earn experience points and level up.

What does this add to the game? – This is easy. It can be more than one of these, but you need at least one.

- Lore
- Mechanic familiarization
- Part of a larger task or quest (story or reward based. More below)
- Allows the player to have better access to the map

What I mean about larger task or quest can be found in games with “training grounds” spread through the map, or an NPC who wants you to complete certain tasks all over the world. A good example of this is Moira’s Wasteland Survival Research from Fallout 3. Both the challenge areas and larger tasks typically give the player a sizable reward when completed. But that doesn’t have to be the case. I’ll explain more later.

Why does the player have to be involved?/How will the player be the agent of change? – I’m running these together because one’s answer flows into the other’s. You need to concoct a reason why Master Chief/Nathan Drake/Joel/Kiryu Kazuma/Lara Croft/Ellie/Aloy/Jill Valentine/Commander Shepard is the only one who do whatever the side quest is asking. Without them, this problem/mystery/dilemma won’t get solved. Your side quest should speak to the gameplay mechanics as well as the player’s role in the world. It should be unique, plausible, and challenging. It can be lighthearted or grim, short or long. But what it means be and feel is right, and that the player is the only one who can do this.

So, you pitched your mission and your lead greenlit it. Hooray! Here’s a few more stars I navigate by to guide me where I need to go.

Tip One: A Side Quest Must Not Overshadow the Main Quest

Seems obvious, but it needs to be said. Narrative designersand writers should keep in mind scale and scope when pitching side Quests. They help fill out the world, but they can also get cut if things get too crunchy at the end of development. Instead, think of this as the main quest being the novel and the side quest being a short story.

Side quests can augment the Main Quest, however. Or at least allude to why the player is in the area. When I worked on open-world maps for Guild Wars 2, we would build maps to have side Quests that told a unique of this part of the Tyria, but would also tie into the greater story, reinforcing themes, plot points, and anything else you and the team can think of.

Tip Two: A Side Quest Must Never Outstay Its Welcome

Like in Tip One, you want to keep the side quest short, butmeaningful. All killer, no filler. Check with your lead about how long previous side quests have been and work toward that. If players already expect side quests of a certain length, try not to deviate from that. There are exceptions, which I’ll get to, I promise.

Another way you can find that sweet spot for a side quest’s length: have playtests early and often. A good studio will try to have missions internally playable as soon as possible so devs can play them and give feedback. If the game is farther along, the studio might have alpha testers (outside players bound to NDAs) who will play your stuff and give you fresh insights into what works and doesn’t. If you keep seeing comments about the quest’s length, consider making alterations.

Tip Three – A Side Quest Must Have a Reward Matching Its Length or Difficulty

You can’t have the player accept a quest that takes them allover the map for a crummy dagger, 1 copper, and a dead rat on a stick. You have to keep in mind the player’s patience and expectation and meet it with something equal to the player’s time. Some side Quests have UI or other visual indicators labelling the side quest’s level, how much XP they’ll earn, and what juicy loot they finish the Side Quests.

But no matter how you set up the Side Quest, you need to signal to the player that “this is worth your time.” I mentioned it above, but Fallout 3’s “Wasteland Survival Guide” side quest is rather clever when it comes to incentivizing theplayer with escalating rewards while giving the player harder tasks to perform. It’s probably the longest Side Quest in Fallout 3, but it’s done so well.

You meet Moira, a resident of Megaton (a settlement you runinto early in the game - you can’t miss it as it’s part of the Main Quest… Hey, Tip One in action!) who dreams of writing the definitive survival guide, but she’s stuck in Megaton so she ropes you into being her field researcher.

She sends you on a series of tasks that escalate in danger, but also will increase in reward. You can back out at any time, but you know by your previous rewards that completing the whole quest will give your low-level character a boost, making the game easier for a while. Perfect for getting breathing room as you navigate a new game’s world.

Exception to the rule: Now, you can screw the player over in a side quest with a long, drawn-out affair with terrible rewards in the end…if the context is appropriate. The best example I can think of is the long GTAV side quest “The Truth.” It’s a beefy one, made up of eight missions that have you donating your more and more of your money to a quasi-religious cult (THAT IS NOTHING LIKE SCIENTOLOGY), stealing cars, absurd fetch quests, being forced to wear an outfit for 10 game days, wear the same robe and walk five in-game miles in the desert, and deliver a huge amount of cash to the people who have been putting you all through this.
 

And your reward? A rusty tractor.

As a satire of how people get bilked by cults and shady televangelists, it’s perfect as a way to demonstrate through gameplay and narrative how people get targeted and drained by charismatic predators.

Of course, in the final mission, you can skip the tractor,kill everyone, escape a high-speed pursuit, and make off with the $2 million you were about to hand over. It’s a perfectly valid response coded into the mission, something that Rockstar knew their players would probably do since gunning and running off with the cash is something absolutely fitting into the GTA world they made.

Tip Four – A Side Quest Must Either Introduce or Reinforce a Game Mechanic or Skill

This is invaluable at the start of a game or whenever the player gets their hands on a new item or unlocks a new skill. You want to give them a space to practice that newness in a way that will help them not only grow confident in it, but also see how useful the mechanic or skill or item can be. Usually this happens immediately after one unlocks (“Hey, adventurer. You think you can sneak like a thief. Show me. I’ll make it worth your while.”).

However, you can have side quests that act as “challenge areas,” where a player has to use a certain spell only, a certain weapon, no weapons, stealth… anything is up for grabs as long as the quest is worth it for the player.

Good examples of these are the challenge dungeons from Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom.

An excellent example is how Portal 2 teaches you how to use the different gels. In keeping with the environmental puzzles that makes up the Portal games, It allows you to discover it through gameplay.

Tip Five – A Side Quest Must Reveal More About the World

Side quests cannot exist in a vacuum. They take place in the game’s world, so make them part of the game’s world. Is your world a sleazy criminal cesspit, then have a side quest embracing that. Explore how criminal gangs operate, the allure of fast cash through crime, someone going through an ordeal like your main character that acts as a reflection of the player’s struggles.

GTAV, The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077…. Just any well-done open world game is loaded with examples of this. When I worked on Guild Wars 2, I was part of the team that fleshed out the part of the game’s world called “Fields of Ruin.” We built every quest to reinforce the larger stories we were telling: Humans and the Charr are in an uneasy peace after warring for years. We explored how two bitter enemies were trying to put their violent past behind them, which was easier said than done.

We deliberately started the races apart on each side of themap. Through side quests, players explored what peace would look like and if it was possible in their generation. Gradually, the races had to intermingle and partner up to survive a greater threat. The mood was tense and messy and we tried to give the sense this would all go wrong. Only through the effort of the players did the Humans and the Charr start to have a grudging respect toward one another.

Which brings me to…

Tip Six – A Side Quest Must Reveal More about the Player’s Place in the World

A side quest doesn’t exist in a vacuum and neither does the player. Any opportunity you can to have the game recognize the player character and their efforts is welcome. This can come from friendly or enemy NPCs. A faction you burned bridges with through a game’s choice could mark you for death and will randomly ambush in the open world.

Good example: Getting Caesar’s Legions pissed at you in Fallout New Vegas after to side with the NCR or reject Caesar’s overtures.

It doesn’t have to be that extreme, but you should reinforcewhy the player is important in the scope of the game. A word of advice: if you can try to avoid overdramatic “By Thou Must” hooks. If you pour the player’s place in the world too thickly (unless played for a laugh), then it’s going to feel false. The player needs to feel as if they are the only one who can do what needs to be done, and if they don’t it’s going to have a negative effect. Make it feel natural. Have fun with it.

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