The life and autobiography of Scott Mark Huelsman (Waunakee, WI).
Overview
BrowserQuests is an online role-playing game (RPG) I developed wholly from scratch beginning in 2014. Not only is the game itself played online but it also encompasses an online author’s toolset which is used to build and manage the various “modules” (stories) within the game.
Players visit the site, create a new hero, then interact with a virtual gamemaster to explore the world of Sisalus. The story is told through text, custom graphics, location-based maps, background music and simulated interactivity via the gamemaster.
BrowserQuests was released to players in 2016, then rebuilt and re-released in 2019. Today, thousands of players from all over the world enjoy the game!
Project at a Glance
- Intended Audience: Players, Authors, Developers and Marketers
- Delivery Modes: Interactive Role-playing Game (RPG) and Non-Interactive (linear) Novelization
- Development: Microsoft Visual Basic (VB.NET) and SQL Server sitting atop a DNN (DotNetNuke) application
- Delivery: Custom UI (via responsive CSS), database-driven text, thousands of graphics, nearly 200 music clips
- Ruleset: Game rules generally based on the Basic Fantasy RPG system (and heavily modified for online play)
- Fantasy World: All game play takes place in the fantasy world of Sisalus, also developed wholly by myself
"The Sorrow of Sisla" Campaign
An initial “campaign” (overall storyline) was developed for BrowserQuests, one that all players of the game had to follow. Additional campaigns were intended but were never actually implemented. “The Sorrow of Sisla” campaign was implemented across eight modules (each taking five to seven hours to complete):
- Registration & Tutorial: Allowed players to register with the game and play through a small “rat quest” tutorial.
- Module #1 – “Coming of Age”: The player is recruited by the Sislan Temple to investigate some caves north of the small village of Tabin, only to discover a conspiracy that threatens the very life of Inner Circle Representative Margaret!
- Module #2 – “To Watch It All Burn”: The player journeys to Kathaleen and recruits a small party to retrieve the Lyfeshard, stolen by Sandaria (the Angel of Death) and her undead army. Sandaria is defeated but a new Age of Damnation begins.
- Module #3 – “Visions of Apocalypse”: The party is sent to the front lines where the demonic hellions are escaping through the Onyx Seal that was opened at the end of module #2. Afterwards, the party investigates a manor overrun with infernals.
- Module #4 – “Dark Injustice”: The party finally reaches the capital city of Nace, only to find it overrun by cat-like humanoids called felein. Can the player find a way for the humans and felein within Nace to forgive one another and find justice and peace?
- Module #5 – “Lost Tears for Blu”: After helping some local bandits rid themselves of a deadly necromancer, the party reaches the dwarven desert city of Blu and must determine how all their water has suddenly stopped flowing within the city!
- Module #6 – “Mark of the White Rose”: Sent to the Capital City of Eaa–where men are not allowed–to find a human wizard named Lowdiz, the party must ultimately help destroy an entire army of swamp monsters being led by Lowdiz himself!
- Module #7 – “Assault on Chegoria!”: The party is sent on a daring raid into the wicked country of Chegoria to find and neutralize the One Plant, which is used by the Ultimates of Chegoria to sustain their evil magic-like powers.
- Module #8 – “Wizardbane”: Captured and nearly destroyed by the Inner Circle, the party is teleported to Grim-Tir where they must quest for the Wizardbane, a mythical blade capable of destroying any magic-user it strikes (and hiding the party from the Circle).