Preview: Faction Qu8sts

The faction quests in Absurd Area are mostly based on the original quests, but I made some of them more difficult and interesting. :)

Remember the quest where you raid the Highway caravans? Well, in Absurd Area, the highway passes by Tweestad. So, to prevent it from being an easy quest with no opposition.... The Order of the Snuggly Bunny is here to defend the caravans!

If you're playing as the Order, you get a quest to delve through the lower sections of the Hiemal Holes to root out a band of axe smugglers. This is actually very similar to a Loonyland 2 quest, but in a much more confusing maze environment!

The Supplies quest has you raiding an Order supply depot in the abandoned farmhouse. Very similar to the original.

If you are playing as the Order, you will instead be tasked with digging up and destroying Onion Ring supplies in the Precipitous Precipices. This is much the same as the Order quest in Loonyland 2, where you dig up enemy supplies - except that the Onion Ring will defend their supplies!

The "steal candy from Bobby Joe" quest also is jazzed up with some guards he hired.

If you're the Order, then you get a "smash the out of control Clockbots" quest that is very much the same as the original game.

What? Geoffrey is involved in the illegal weapons smuggling trade? Actually, I think the Loonyland 2 developer commentary mentioned he was planning to do something similar. But then he didn't. So I did!

The Order will send waves of troops to burn down the Storage Huts. Defend as many as you can!

There are 10 storage huts to defend. You don't "fail" the mission of they are all ruined, but you get a bonus reward of 2 random Supreme potions for every hut you protect! You could leave and re-enter the level to "reset" the quest, but that's almost cheatery.

If you are playing as the Order, you will instead have a similar mission replacing the "defend the Highway" quest.You will instead be defending Tweestad, which is under attack from the Onion Ring! There are 10 houses in Tweestad that you cannot enter; again, every one that you protect will reward you with 2 Supreme potions. Just don't accidentally leave the level before collecting your reward!

The Junksmith's quest is massively changed - you will have to Junksmith a magic item (or better) to earn his respect. You will first need to raise Junksmithing to level 4 - don't worry, I doubled the talent XP you get for Junksmithing! Then, find a combination that gives a magic item.

If you're playing as the Order, you instead get a quest to build a special Clockbot. You will need to raise Clockwork to at least level 4, which will let you make a Clockbot with 10 items. You must then make a Clockbot with at least one of each of the 10 Junk items (the ones dropped by enemies, not the minerals dug up by mining). Bring it to the Clockmaker and he will power it up (and complete the quest).

Clockbotting is something I majorly overhauled with this "upgrade a Clockbot" mechanic, so I have included a text file in the docs folder to explain all my changes. If you love Clockbots, give it a read, I made them even better! You might actually even use them later on!

I also included a doc that explains how Junksmithing works, including the effect of each item.

Lastly... after you've completed 3 quests and got your leader's stamp of approval, don't forget to visit the Historian! He will give you a special gift on your quest.

I'm quite happy with this reward. You get to choose between one of 50 different reward equipment, all of which give +3 to a specific skill. Pick your favorite skill and go nuts with it! I also chose the "magic item special effect" for each of the 50 rewards, so read the signs to see if anything sounds Cool. Some of the "lame" skills are given powerful special effects to compensate!

In the next devlog, I will show off the massive overhaul I did to the Rumble quest... it's probably the most ambitious single feature in Absurd Area!