Deer Hunting Quest Overview

Deer Hunting is the first side-quest that players can experience immediately after exiting the "Tutorial Cave" while playing as Bhishma. If they follow the road south from the cave, they will reach a small tent by the entrance to "Hastinapur Forest", where the quest takes place. It begins when the player speaks to the Woodsman inside of the "South Tent" and accepts his request to deliver 5 Deer Pelts. It ends when they speak to the Woodsman again with the requested items in their inventory. This quest is missable, due to a dramatic jump forward in time that occurs in Bhishma’s core-questline after The Royal Wedding, which leads directly into a linear final quest.

Level Details

This quest is easy and self-paced, designed to allow players to practice combat skills against a non-threatening enemy, Deer. They can be encountered within "Hastinapur Forest" and will always drop a Deer Pelt when defeated. Ranged attacks are ideal since they evade when the player approaches too closely, but melee attacks can also be used if players chase and trap them using the environment. While hunting, players must also evade ranged attacks from isolated Bandits. There are a few items that can be found within chests throughout the forest, as well as an optional Secret Cave that can be found by cutting through tall grass. The cave has a simple push block puzzle and reward, independent of the quest.

Players are free to hunt the Deer however they wish. The map has a simple ring layout surrounding a small island haboring Bandits, with 2 areas scattered with trees and 2 short side paths covered with tall grass. A Deer can be seen as soon as the forest is entered, which will run south across a bridge after the player steps towards it. This encounter is designed to give players a starting direction, but they do not have to follow it, given that the first Deer is also baiting them into running within range of Bandit attacks. Either way, defeating the Bandits right away will simplify the hunt.

Rescue Roshni Quest Overview

Rescue Roshni is an early game side-quest that is available in "Hastinapur Capital" after Bhishma speaks to his father, Shantanu. It begins when players speak to Rahul near the front gate that leads back to "Hastinapur Province" if they agree to rescue his daughter, Roshni, who has been taken by Bandits. It ends after they open the prison gate below the "Bandit Hideout" and speak to Roshni, triggering a scripted event that returns the player to Rahul in "Hastinapur Capital", with Roshni. The quest is missable, due to a dramatic jump forward in time that occurs in Bhishma’s core-questline after The Royal Wedding.

Level Details

The quest has a low-moderate difficulty. Rahul guides the player south-west of "Hastinpur Capital", but does not know the location of the "Bandit Hideout". If players follow the road they will be attacked by a Bandit hiding behind a tree, near a bridge that was not there before accepting the quest. Crossing this bridge will lead them to the hideout, but will also put them in range of multiple Bandits and a few evil Asura. They could choose to fight through the gang or run through to the hideout entrance while evading attacks. Once inside, they will be immediately attacked by 2 more Bandits in a much smaller space. There are several bags of loot throughout the room as a reward, and a ladder leading to the basement.

Upon entering the basement, a Bandit will warn his comrades of the players presence but will not be within range to attack. The Bandits here are scattered, so they won't be able to mob the player as easily as they did before. There are only 3 short dead-end paths, and the player must find which path leads to Roshni and which path has the impact switch needed to open the prison cell holding her. Regardless of whether all the Bandits are defeated, the quest will end when the player speaks to Roshni. I decided to fast-travel the player back to Rahul instead of having them escape, since making Roshni a follower could have caused defects with the core-questline, and updating the events needed to avoid that was out of scope.

Riverside Swamp Overview

The Riverside Swamp is an extra area requested by the producer to extend total gameplay time, but its placement in-game was not specified, which made it challenging to gauge how well it balances with the broader player experience. The impression was that it would be included late-game, so I designed it for the player character Abhimanyu. Its inclusion was unconfirmed at the time I left the project, so I left its entry/exit connections unlinked to other maps. This area is designed to be a transient map with an optional interweaving sub-dungeon map, and through its environmental design it tells the story of a marooned river pirate crew that now live in the caverns beneath the swamp.

Level Details

The level is difficult but fair, with times of both casual and intense exploration due to environmental hazards. The player enters into a swampy labyrinth bisected by a river, scattered with pools of poisonous water. The swamp has a mostly linear layout with a critical path and several parallel paths, which offer a variety of risk-reward choices that often provide discoverable items. To ensure players have a reasonable opportunity to replenish healing resources without becoming trapped by poison water, enemies have a 34% chance of dropping Medicinal Herbs on average, and most enemies do not use ranged attacks. There are also 3 push blocks that allow for safe backtracking, just in case.

The underground caverns can be entered near the swamp's exit, which interweave back into the swamp from several interconnected paths. It has a network-hub layout with several dead-end paths and a single evacuation route that reconnects to the critical path above ground, using an impact switch that raises a bridge. These caverns do not contain poison water, but instead they host a greater variety and concentration of dangerous enemy types, many with ranged attacks. The average drop-rate of Medicinal Herbs is also only 19%, to balance difficulty against the lack of hazards. Aside from the many items that can be found in chests, players can still try to farm resources above ground.

The major reward for exploring the caverns is the Potion of Mammoth, which increases the player character's max HP. However, testing revealed a defect in which the item only affected a specific character (out of 9 total), and I did not know which character would play this level. I reported the issue and emphasized its priority, since it would seem like a basic high-level reward for every character, and would have a significant impact on balancing and character growth.