right now i have only made 18 mission, so i'm not an expert, but it looks to me that the actual mission mechanism is a bit plain. I mean that even good ideas are belittled by the fact that in theory you can do a mission without reading a single description. So, i think that some generic steps(adaptable to different mission) mostly based on logic or practical puzzles and tricks will greatly enrich the game experience, making more interactive missions gives also the opportunity to reward better the mission (or punish stupidity)by connecting part of the prize, or add a bonus to certain steps.
For example, in the last mission i made (i think is the hospital 3rd)i had to go save two kids barricated in a closet. it would been nice if, once located the kids, in front of the closed door i had to choose
1) talk to the kids
2) break the door
3)shoot the lock.
the consequences of the choice can be very different form mission to mission. Again for example,
1) the kids are scared and their shouts attracted a zombie (fight)
2)you open the door and your battered epic war gear convince them you're trustworthy.
3) You severely injured a survivor and you need to cure it asap(sp damage)
but can be also
1)the kids open the door and you discover that they were ready to unload a nice bunch of 9mm in your face through it.
2) the kids thinks that a pedrobear zombie is trying to enter and shoot through the door. Is super effective. (health damage)
3) One of the kids was wielding a gun, and your shot scared him. Now cure is foot wound, rambo. (sp damage
Also inserting many steps in every mission gives you the opportunity to spend sp in a more entertaining way and mission can be located in nearer places (because spending almost 150 sp to go to the mission location, press a button and come back sucks.badly.)also with the consequences sistem the sp(and hp) penalty will be variable and more realistic.
Sadly i don't remember all the old mission, but i think i can think about different steps for the next missions i'll do.
in the meantime i'd like to listen to the community comments and ideas. Bye

i rewritten the 4th hospital mission with the suggested mission mechanism, and i have to say that it looks good (expecially in a situation in wich the missions are necessarily repetitive) but, it takes a HUGE AMOUNT of time to make, creative writing in a foreign languge is hard even for a grammar nazi. I think that the best solution to make possible the mission enrichment is adding 1 multiple step to every mission and then restart from the first until every step is multiple and novelled. also giving only 2 choice is a way to save time.dear devs, you really need to get some enthusiast writer somewere somehow, or give small ingame prize to people that submit usable material, cause this game is great because is infinite, but that's the size of the stuff you have to make :_(
anyway, this is what i thought for hospital mission 4
hospital mission 4
start: nd
mission:
You arrive at the apartment building the professor described. The complex is big and unstable and will not be easy to locate the survivors.
1) what will you do now?
-a) Stand to listen carefully for any signs of survivors activity, babies are noisy afterall.
-b)Enter the building and search floor by floor.
-c) walk around the building to understand which part of it can be occupied

consequences
a)You hear just distant shots and screams.They're hiding afterall. (back to 1)
b)Even if You've just entered, the smell of charred corpse almost knock you down. While you turn around to exit a charred zombie jumps on you from the crumbled ceiling, smashing into the ground. You use his skull as a starting line to run out of here (-5hp and back to 1)
c) At the same time you realize that the building isn't habitable, you hear something coming from the nearby service backdoor (go to 2)

2)As you carefully approach the door you clearly establish that the noise you hear come from the survivors.
You stand in front of the door and?
a)you just pulls the handle and open it
b)you gently knock the door and say with firm but low voice " Hey,i'm here to rescue you, can you hear me?"
c)You broke down the door and enter pointing your weapon

consequences
a) The door is barricated and the mother tired and chocked. she starts to shouts in panic attracting the nearest zombies (fight and back to 2)
b)After a short silence the woman answer to your question and opens the door. She looks desperately wasted and you wish she can walk till the hospital.
c) The woman collapses in fear. Great job. Now you have to awake her and sustain her for the entire travel back to the hospital (20sp damage or worse)
3) Finally you rescued the survivors, and ,after a fast briefing, you're ready to escort them back to the hospital
4) Finally after a very tense travel you arrive at the hospital. once inside the exhausted mother watches you and say " I don't have anything to thank you but..."
you interrupt the mother and say
a) "I know what can you do to thank me "
b) "Oh, never mind, i'm just happy to have more women roaming around"
c)" That nurse will assist you and give you a place to live. Take care of the baby"

consequences
a)I'm disappointed. So, thinking like you, I decide that you've consumed 40sp because i can do it. Problem, bro?
b)Maybe a bit rough, but good actions have to bring you something, right? (some bonus)
c)Yeah! Like a Boss.(some bonus)

5) Now go to the lab to speak with the doctor.

6) You tell to the doctor what happened and he thanks you warmly while he gives you the agreed reward. Good job!

Good idea bro. But with the time, there will be the answers of the questions on the internet, unless that every time the right answer is different.

well i think that is not a big problem, i mean if someone get stuck, or choose always the wrong answer and get frustrated is a good thing to have walkthrough around. people that enjoy the question challenge will instead try without help at all cost. everybody's happy ;-).
Thank you for your comment.

Hm... I get. Would be nice
It would be nice also to have clan missions.

Piuma, did your missions ever make it into the game?

i don't have the least idea, and i can't check. probably if the suggestions are accepted, they will add them inside a bigger "missions update", just to get one thing at time and concentrate better the work (by them and comunity). changing a lot only 1 mission looks bad i think. i try to help the best as i can, and wish my work is not wasted, but definitely is devs choice to use\discard suggestions.

What if you add a sort of "fear level" for children involved in a quest that will affect their behavior while one takes them back to a safe location?

For instance:

If children are hiding in a closet then they are already scared enough. To walk the streets, filled with zeds, is even more scarring and terrifying voyage for them even in a company of an armed adult.

And every combat of their savior (random encounter or "attack at will") would scare children more and more. A gunshot would scare them slightly, but if their rescuer has to go to melee (which means that undead got very close to children too) then their fear would be boosted up.

When that fear level gets to its "critical point", children would run away in panic, and once their rescue finished to deal with zeds, he/she would have to look for them again (with the same Smart difficulty check) (and probably he/she will get to another random encounter) and persuade them to follow him/her once more, but this time a "check roll" could be harder and it could also (but not necessarily ) depend on how badly he/she is wounded.

The initial "persuading" roll would depend on that too. I mean that to persuade children that you are their rescuer and they have to follow you when you are bleeding, it's not that easy...

It would be natural, wouldn't it?
Or would it not?

Posted By John Tramp on 13-02-2012 06:21 AM
What if you add a sort of "fear level" for children involved in a quest that will affect their behavior while one takes them back to a safe location?

For instance:

If children are hiding in a closet then they are already scared enough. To walk the streets, filled with zeds, is even more scarring and terrifying voyage for them even in a company of an armed adult.

And every combat of their savior (random encounter or "attack at will") would scare children more and more. A gunshot would scare them slightly, but if their rescuer has to go to melee (which means that undead got very close to children too) then their fear would be boosted up.

When that fear level gets to its "critical point", children would run away in panic, and once their rescue finished to deal with zeds, he/she would have to look for them again (with the same Smart difficulty check) (and probably he/she will get to another random encounter) and persuade them to follow him/her once more, but this time a "check roll" could be harder and it could also (but not necessarily ) depend on how badly he/she is wounded.

The initial "persuading" roll would depend on that too. I mean that to persuade children that you are their rescuer and they have to follow you when you are bleeding, it's not that easy...

It would be natural, wouldn't it?
Or would it not?

I like this idea.