Friends at the end: Help Liam dig a grave for Chris, serves as a tutorial

[I-am-Erk]

Summary

Content "Friends at the End: Dig a grave for your old friend Chris."

Purpose of change

Liam's scenario, Friends to the End, opens with him having de-zombified your mutual childhood friend Chris. Liam has been waiting for closure on this for a few years. My kid is now a huge Liam fan, and I gave them the choice for what content to add next, this is what they picked.

Describe the solution

This adds a series of missions which serve as a tutorial/intro to the game and also will have some nice charcater building for Liam, and possible the player. Also solves some minor bugs with Liam.

• [x] Quest 1: get a pair of shovels from the back room
• [x] Quest 2: dig a pit under the elm tree out back
• [ ] Quest 3: Drag Chris' body to the pit
• [ ] Quest 4: Construct an earthen grave for Chris
• [ ] Dialogue: Perform last rites for Chris by reminiscing about your past with Liam, and thereby getting to know your own character better

Infrastructure needed

• [x] Change Liam's backyard to have an elm tree to mark the spot where you should bury Chris
• [x] Add an 'earthen grave', a grave construction without a coffin or cairn, just a body in the ground and a marker
• [ ] Make Chris' body a unique item so that we can track it more easily for the quest

Adjacent fixes:

• Liam's car is now a unique vehicle named after my first car, the Rusty Duck. It's still just a hatchback, but it never spawns with a security system (or a working heater). I may someday give it a unique skin.

Describe alternatives you've considered

I considered having this just be liam asking you to do the thing, and then an EOC allowing you to talk to Liam over the grave and perform last rites, but I think making it a quest is a good way to help Liam be a tutorial character. The quests should be quick enough that you can get it done pretty quickly.

Testing

Still in draft, working on it

Additional context

I considered adding some sequential time-based dialogue for Liam, or giving him more mission-specific stuff, but like I said, this is what my household Liam fankid requested, so here we are.

[PatrikLundell]

Sounds like a good addition.

A quick tutorial quest that doesn't get much in the way for repeat players is a good thing.

One thing that bugged me a bit was that the Liam start described his car as being beat up, but it spawned in perfect condition. If you're making it into a custom vehicle, would it be possible to make it actually beat up but without any risk of it not being usable? If damaged parts cannot be assigned, it might be possible to remove a few non essential parts instead?

Note that it's not really important, as I tend to replace that car with one with a larger cargo capacity as soon as I can find a decent replacement.

[I-am-Erk]

Sadly there currently isn't a way to have it spawn witg some damaged panels, without risking it being undrivable. That's why I'm having it spawn without a heater

[PatrikLundell]

I was afraid that was the case. What about removing the panels over the wheels (damaged wheel houses, basically)?

[I-am-Erk]

Honestly I'd be more inclined to add the code support to either pre-damage panels, or to mark a specific system as "never damage this one". Or, more within my wheel house, I might just make some custom art for the car that looks rusty.

[ashGlaw]

Love these ideas. Love your kid's taste, Erk. The earthen grave and the quest to bury Chris, shovels included, will improve the scenario substantially. Love the rusty duck, too