Note: Yeah, yeah, sort of need to dust the cobwebs off of this thing. I have both the Design Documents done now (including 80+ Simpson NPCs and their in-game fighters), still need somewhere to upload them. It will be sorted soon, and then I'll finish up some more ideas.
This game idea is a bit meta. The name is sort of a joke on "quest item" (a term used to describe an important game item) and the various "_____ Quest" games that are emerging or have been around for a while, which tend to be a little experimental. Most notable of which would be Progress Quest: an online RPG that is entirely automatic and continues to run without player input, though still employs the usual "fight, collect, return to town to sell stuff, repeat" pattern. Though I should also mention here the wonderful new DS game Puzzle Quest, which is basically Zookeeper with some interesting modifications to the gameplay, including a large range of abilities/spells you can use on the puzzle grid.
The idea of this game is to have a huge installed inventory database numbering in the many thousands, including - but not limited to - sets, collections, figurines, postcards, etc. - the works. A lot of my games tend to have a collection subquest of some kind in them, but the intention here is to blow it up to extreme proportions and have fun with it. The game would have fairly standard dungeon crawling, with all manner of places to visit, and to cope with the scope of the amount of items and places in the world to find said items I was thinking something like a 16-bit SNES-era-esque 2D game with top-notch pixel/sprite graphics, with which to detail all the stuff you can find or fight. I could make it something huge and 3D like Oblivion, but I have a feeling this isn't the kind of experimental meta-game that developers would be willing to throw that kind of money at. Plus, making it a simple 2D program will allow it to be easily played over an internet-ready computer or on an online handheld/virtual arcade type deal, which would mean additional item packages can be continually produced and downloaded by players.
The story would be based on the common "adventurer looking for his fortune" story in a world where possessions = power. As you collect items and sell off spares (since having two of the same kind is generally pointless), you can upgrade your home base to include more buildings/wings/facilities for showing off your spoils to interested parties. As you upgrade and build up your base of operations, certain items will start appearing in the dungeons you're taking out (so without a portrait museum room, for example, you won't find nearly as many portraits). What little treasure you find that you're unable to display will be sent to your vault.
You also have adventurer peers working against you. They are also similarly building up collections, which you can observe if you wish. They may even be willing to swap their duplicates for yours, depending on their disposition towards you. Of course, you'll also have them attempting to thieve (or hiring folk to thieve for them, depending on their wealth and interest in your stuff) which you have to fight off or help the police/guards to arrest. You could even be challenged in direct battle for your possessions. The spoils go to the victor, and you could end up inheriting the collections of adventurer NPCs you fall in battle. If the game ends up being online, these peers could be other players and you can see your friend's collection of stuff. You'd obviously have the option of not accepting challenges or letting them theive off you (like a non-PvP thing). It's sort of like seeing other peoples' Animal Crossing houses or their rare drops in World of Warcraft, taken to the nth degree.
Another factor in your collecting is the age-old "good vs evil" aspect in RPGs. Certain.. items (slaves, trophies, stolen goods... demonist/necromancer iconography?) become available only to evil players, and its up to the player to decide how badly he wants a full set of items. This is sort of calling into focus the general misanthropy that people who prefer things over other people feel, though we don't want to concentrate on that too much as those folk will be the game's main market. The game would open up some interesting new avenues for item collections, including some very seedy contacts to buy/sell from.
The actual battle aspect should be relatively simple, but interesting enough to keep people wanting to keep playing and finding new stuff for their collections. Dungeons would be found by scouting areas, and you can even hire scouts to check places for you while you scout elsewhere. After finding a dungeon and doing a preliminary search of the surroundings, you will get a short blurb with details about that dungeon for you to check and decide whether or not to hit it. I'm thinking dungeons could be displayed by:
A) Their type - This may define the treasure/monsters they're likely to have. For instance, a Cave-type may be more likely to have natural treasures like gems and would also generally have more wild animals rather than undead or bandits.
B) Their total total treasure value - This gives you some idea of how worthwhile a place is to hit without giving too much away about what you could find. A high treasure value might just mean a huge pile of less valuable items, or one or two really priceless ones. This value will be more exact, to the closest 10000, 1000 or 100, depending on your scouting skill or the skill of the scout you hired.
C) Their total list of creatures - you would use this to judge your chances of victory. If the enemies sound a bit tough (and they usually have some hint, maybe color-coded like FFXII's wandering monsters) you can mark it and leave it until later. The clarity of this list is again dependent on your scouting skill, like the treasure value. At early levels of scouting you may just get a general monster class ("undead") or even an incomplete list (which may lead to a nasty surprise).
Battles would be automatic, and would determine your success on some variables: the opponents you're facing, your equipment and level and a few additional "decision" modifiers you can toggle on or off. These modifiers include the decision to be sneaky (if you pull it off or are a generally sneaky character class, several unobservant creatures could be taken down without a fight, though really observant creatures could get the jump on you while you're trying to sneak past them) or the decision to pack weapons that have been blessed by the local chapel (the donations to receive them would be costly, but beneficial if you're fighting a lot of undead). These decisions could be either beneficial or disadvantageous, so it will be up to the player to decide on what to use.
After the automatic battle, you will see the results. Generally, if you lose, you will retreat with whatever treasure you managed to find and will need to rest a few weeks to get your strength back to try again. If you win, you claim all the treasure in the cave and may even find a second level to the dungeon, which would be scouted for you instantaneously and ready for your next sortie (after sorting out your spoils, of course).
You will also find a lot of money, as well as duplicate items. As stated, you can sell off these duplicates, either to the local stores or a fellow collector (sometimes in exchange for other treasure, the rarity of which is based on what you're offering). The money can be used for upgrading your base, purchasing new equipment or purchasing new means to carry treasure from sacked dungeons (which range from pack mules a la Dungeon Siege to a device that transports it all back home instanteously).
Though doing away with the actual battling might sound like a duff move, I think it would help in the long run. People get tired of continually whacking monsters, and the strategic element of only taking on what you can manage (and using the modifiers correctly) will give players sufficient challenge to keep them entertained. Having these huge displays should be interesting too, since games with collection subquests (Katamari Damacy, CCG games like Megaman Battle Network, some Zeldas) or a large range of collectibles which you can show off and personalise (Animal Crossing, The Sims) tend to be absurdly popular. Like most of my ideas, I also intend to have lots of humor and in-jokes regarding the items you can find, so it could be good times for all concerned. Maybe.
