Chad Verrall

So how DOES one become a quest designer? What is this role all about? What disciplines do I need to learn to do your job? I get asked this A LOT, so here is my attempt at a thread addressing these questions.

To start, some disclaimers. - I am but ONE quest designer, and I do not speak for ALL quest designers. - My experience is primarily geared toward MMO's, I cannot speak for single player games or other narrative-focused games. - I am not a hiring manager. Got it? Let's go!

I'll start with the easiest of the three questions. What, precisely, do quest designers DO? In my experience, Quest Design is a cross-discipline role. Yes, we write. But we also build. Some of us populate the world itself with NPCs that do things that enhance the story.

Some of us build the bones and tech behind complex narrative sequences like WoW's scenarios or single player dungeons. Many of us build the set pieces that allow narrative moments to play in real time, in game. Think of any time an NPC does something in response to your actions.

We also write character dialogue, item descriptions, name creatures and NPCs, write long lore dumps in the form of journals and notes left by NPCs, and quest text itself. MOST of the time, it is a mix of all of those things. If this seems like a lot, you're right! It is.