If you've played a game like Grand Theft Auto (GTA) then you'd already know what I'm discussing. I think it'd be great with FPSC Reloaded allowed you to draw and render one big world where there are basic NPC's with default AI like waypoints and random chatter within multiple cities, and you can set in certain parts of your world the trigger to a mission, or a level if you will.



Basically, (maybe) you could include something in the editor like 'Mission Trigger' that you drag to a certain area. When placed, these settings could possibly display:



-Main Mission? (YES / NO)[if 'NO' the engine casts it as a non-important side mission]



-BEGINNING CUTSCENE: (file attach)[Basically, if you want to show a cutscene before the mission begins]



-ENDING CUTSCENE: (file attach)[Cutscene file to play when you Successfully complete the mission]



-Mission Objective: (name)[The entity to pick up, kill/destroy, or meet, or the waypoint to go to. Once the player manages to go there, or does whatever with some entity, the mission will be complete]



-Mission Number: (number)[This sets the number as to what this mission is. To have a good story, you should let's say start from mission 0 then maybe have a final boss at mission 50. Other missions will not be available to trigger unless the main mission before it is completed]



-Unlock Sub-missions?: (list numbers)[List the number of the sub-missions to unlock when this main mission is completed. Sub-missions will be marked with LETTERS instead NUMBERS so Main Missions are named by 0, 1,2,etc. and SUBMISSIONS are marked with A, B, C, D,etc.]



-Mission Reward: (reward)[Maybe set if the player gets a certain amount of in-game currency or a special item or something for beating said mission]



Now! Aside from the Mission Trigger, I want to talk about another idea for it: the Mission Editor. Basically, you could have a button called 'Mission Editor' somewhere in the software's GUI that the user can click. When this button is clicked, mission triggers will show as circles, squares, etc., overlaying your terrain. From the mission edit, you can choose a specific mission or sub-mission. The editor zooms down into the mission area range. Now, you can edit the trigger range of this mission (similar to how you edit light range in FPSC).



Also, you could say do things like add enemies and special items into it that appear in that area ONLY WHEN THEIR MISSION IS triggered. Confusing? Here's an example:



I make a basic terrain. One little town surrounded by mountains, the only way to leave is the boats by the dock in the river that streams out of it. In the town, there are 7 houses, one alley. In the one alley, when you haven't triggered a mission all there is are a couple of trash cans and some brambles, and no body is there. What the player DOESN'T know is that this is mission #1's trigger area. So, the player goes to the trigger for mission #0 by the mountains, and kills the target. Mission complete. Now when the player goes back to that alley, the #1 mission will begin and certain enemies and items I sat there for that mission will appear. This mission ends up leading me into my second suggestions..



So basically, that's my suggestion for missions. I think it'd be a great way to have story progression in your game.

*EDIT*



Along side with setting which enemies, NPCs, items and more will appear in certain missions, the same is done for waypoints. You can have the main target be in the mission area in the beginning, but have him head towards a vehicle and drive away, to keep the mission interesting.



CHASE DOWNS:



My second suggestion is 'Chase downs.' Basically, if we are given the option to operate vehicles, boats, bikes and more in the future then I think this will be really helpful. So, let's say the player strolls up to an enemy camp, and shoots up all of the guards leaving just 8 men left. There are 3 four-seat military jeeps with no hoods. You know your running low on ammo, so you run out and get into one of the jeeps, and begin to drive off. What this suggestion is, is that FPSC Reloaded can add 'Chase Down' AI to enemies, so if the player is escaping in any sort of vehicle, boat, bike, etc., the enemy(s) will look for the nearest vehicle and take control. If the vehicle has space defined in it, then more then one enemy we'll fit into the vehicle. So now, the 8 guards have taken up the last two jeeps and are driving jeeps to catch up to me, their AI helping them avoid all terrain and entity obstacles as it follows me down. When enemies in vehicles get to around, maybe 20 feet of my moving vehicle either the driver, the passenger(s), or both can begin opening fire on me.



Of course, the player is given the option to open fireback, as they drive. *EDT* Also, if no vehicles are available for the enemy(s), they'll just try and "run 'n' gun" you, or if they have heavy artillery like an RPG they'll wait for the right distance to fire.



Those are my suggestions for FPSC Reloaded, I think they'll help people make awesome games with a good story and intense drive-by action!



*EDIT* Another suggestion..

DIALOGUES:

Dialogues, whether your game has voiced characters or not, are a very important part of any game. We should have the option on entities to set dialogues, and yes that means set them for both Items and People.



For item dialogues, it'll basically be used to let the player speak to themself about the item. For people, it could be multiple lines that keep the game alive. When you are prompted to talk to a NPC with dialogue, like press the 'Enter' key, they look at you, and then their lips move as the dialogue words are written out. Dialogues, if incorporated, could also work with the Missions editor I discussed. So, certains NPC's can speak only certain dialogue when in the middle of certain missions.