This page is currently under development, and more content will be added as discussion continues.
This page is a list of community-suggested features, game modes, etc. as suggested on Voxel Quest's forums. While this is by no means an official "design document," some of the features and ideas listed here may be considered in Voxel Quest's development. All suggestions listed below are credited whenever possible and link to the original discussion in the forums.
The suggestions below are generally broken up into two categories: design suggestions (how to best implement a certain aspect of the game) and feature suggestions (mechanics, effects, and new systems that augment gameplay).
Artificial Intelligence[ | ]
Gavan stated in an early draft of the Kickstarter page:
The core functionality of the AI is driven by needs and wants - called motivations. Most of these motivations actually wind down to very few common human desires - to stay alive, and to reproduce. To reproduce, you need to find an ideal mate. To do that, you must appear "alpha", which means you must be beautiful or wealthy or something. To stay alive you need to not die of hunger. To do that, you need food. To get food you need money. And so on. These are all handled by backward chaining[...] Each need is weighted under the current circumstances - if you are starving, food becomes much more valuable/important. AI will calculate the move each turn which generates the highest score - which action will result in the best events.
Community Design Suggestions[ | ]
As of November 2014, two different approaches to artificial intelligence have been discussed: randomized learning algorithms and a chess-like system of leaf evaluation.
Randomized Learning Algorithms[ | ]
Talvieno suggested an algorithm that involves taking slightly random actions and measuring how the character's survival score has changed. If an action improved the character's situation, the character becomes more likely to take that type of action again.
For a detailed explanation of how it could be applied to combat, see here.
For full text of post, see here.
Leaf Evaluation[ | ]
PreacherJayne suggested a method of evaluating the potential of possible moves similar to the one used by many computer chess programs. Leaf evaluation involves analyzing the results of several possible actions and choosing the one whose potential for future success is greatest. To implement weak AI, reduce the amount of time that a character can process options or increase the probability that a character chooses a less-desirable option.
For full text of post, see here.