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DevQuests

What are DevQuests?link

They're achievement development-related quests that developers can take part in at any time. Each one has a specific goal and upon reaching that goal, the achievement developer will earn the badge.

General Ruleslink

  • All work done for for DevQuests must adhere to the Developer CoC.
  • Put effort into what you do. Submitting shoddy work for the sake of getting a badge ASAP will result in penalties that could lead to disqualifications.
  • All sets submitted for DevQuest must be full sets. No progression-only!
  • By default, hacks, homebrews, prototypes, unlicensed, and subsets do not count. Exceptions vary per DevQuest and will be explicitly stated.
  • Be respectful and responsible. The overall point to DevQuests is to improve existing work as well as generate new content. Let's stick to that.
  • DevQuests do not stack with each other, but may stack with other events such as The Unwanted, Challenge League, or Daily DistRActions. So far, the only exceptions are DevQuest 004 - Veteran Developer and DevQuest 015 - Console Conqueror.

Reportinglink

  • DevQuests that involve making new sets are generally reported by contacting the DevQuest team on site or on Discord.
  • If a DevQuest has a specific contact point, they will be stated.

Schedule and Announcementslink

  • DevQuests do not have a specific release schedule. Typically, they are announced shortly after their badge has been completed.
  • New DevQuests and any updates to existing DevQuests will be announced in #developer-news on the RetroAchievements Discord and site news

The Questslink

Badge Number Name Info
DQ001 001 Ticket Massacre
(Badge-Based)
Resolve/close 50 tickets
• Falsifying ticket closures will result in disqualification
• The following do not count toward the total: Network issues, tickets for achievements you developed, tickets you opened, tickets closed on behalf of Junior Developers, and tickets closed as a result of ticket spamming.
DQ002 002 Summer Set Repair
(Badge-Based)
Repair 3 sets from provided batch
• Upon selecting a game, you will be presented with a list of repairs that need to be made for the set
• This DevQuest follows standard revision procedures
• Resolve any open tickets for achievements that are kept in the set. Tickets for achievements being left demoted can simply be closed with the reason for demotion cited.
• Revisions must fix all broken logic of kept achievements, fix broken challenges, etc.
DQ003 003 Singles In Your Area
(Badge-Based)
Tighten up the logic for 20 single-condition achievements
• Do not just add a bad and/or redundant condition and call it a day. They will be checked.
• These do not require a revision vote since it is only tightening logic
• Achievements cannot be your own; you should fix those anyway!
DQ004 004 Veteran Developer
(Achievement-Based)
This DevQuest consists of several passive goals, each one being their own achievement, which are as followed:
1. Has published at least 1000 achievements and worked on at least 25 sets as the sole or majority developer
2. Has created achievements for at least ten different console IDs
3. Has been an active developer for at least two years
4. At least 85% of sets have dynamic rich presence (Vet Dev I required)
5. Yielded unlocks have exceeded 50,000
6. As a sole developer, submitted one or more sets for code review and received an overall grade of at least 20
7. Has used at least 75% of all currently available flags and features (Vet Dev I and VI required)8. Has obtained at least two DevQuest badges
Note: A constantly evolving toolkit means that these requirements are subject to change at any time
DQ005 005 Trigger Happy
(Badge-Based)
Update 20 sets with the Trigger and Measured flags
• They need to actually make sense
• You can do your own sets, but each one counts as half a set.
DQ006 006 The Unwanted
(Badge-Based)
Develop a set for an unpopular system assigned to you at random
• Eligible systems: PC Engine, PC Engine CD, Sega CD, 32X, Atari Lynx, Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Game Gear, Atari Jaguar, Virtual Boy, MSX/MSX2, SG-1000, Apple II, Saturn, 3DO, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Vectrex, PC-8800, Atari 7800, WonderSwan, and WonderSwan Color
• No hacks or homebrew unless those are the only types of games left without sets.

There are two ways to be able to re-spin:
1. If your selected console is Atari Jaguar, Sega 32X, or Sega Saturn. The first two are fairly problematic to dev for and the last is a resource hog that many people have trouble running just to play, much less dev to set
2. If your claim expires or you drop your claim. The penalty for dropping a set is still having to wait until the claim would have expired before getting a re-spin. For example, if you claim a set on September 1st and drop it on November 1st, you'll still need to wait until December 1st before the re-spin. You can only do this once
DQ007 007 Most Wanted
(Badge-Based)
Develop a set for one of the most requested games. Must be in RANews at the time of claiming it
• If you already have one claimed you must be under 50% progress for it to count
DQ008 008 World Traveler
(Badge-Based)
Develop two sets for games that were never officially released in English
• Games with translation patches DO count!
• Hacks and hombrew do not count. Unlicensed titles may count as long as they are not blatant bootleg ports or hacks of another game. If you're unsure then ask!
• If a game was released in English on another platform with RetroAchievements support, half credit may be granted. Games that only released in English on unsupported platforms will receive full credit.
DQ009 009 Launch Party!
(Badge-Based)
Develop a set for a newly supported console within 6 months of RA support
• PSP window: 2021-10-01 through 2022-04-01
• Dreamcast window: 2022-02-12 through 2022-08-12
• Amstrad CPC window: 2022-03-28 through 2022-09-28
• Arduboy and WASM-4 window: 2022-05-08 through 2022-11-08
DQ010 010 It Takes Two
(Badge-Based)
Join forces with other developers to publish two collab sets
• Sets must have a fair share of the work done by each dev involved
• Each developer must publish at least 20 achievements to count
Achievements must make sense; no fluff to fulfill requirement!
DQ011 011 Happy Birthday RA!
(Badge-Based)
Develop a set for the Mega Drive/Genesis to celebrate the anniversary of RA's first achievement
• Must be either full sets or a major/significant revision
• Sega CD and Sega 32X games are not eligible.
• Neither are those Sega 32X CD games (nice try!)
• If you already have one claimed, you must be under 50% progress for it to count
• Collabs are allowed so long as the work is visibly split.
DQ012 012 Hacker's Habit
(Badge-Based)
Create two new sets for robust hacks.
• Sets intended for this quest must be complete and encompass all notable content specific to the hack.
• Acceptable hacks must be either complete overhauls that drastically change the level design, or introduce new mechanics that greatly change how you progress through the game.
• Meme hacks, single-level hacks, and other small modifications aren't eligible.
• You're limited to one hack per franchise. As an example, if you create a set for an SMW or Mega Man 2 hack, you can't make a second one for SM64 or Mega Man 3.
DQ013 013 complete.me
(Badge-Based)
Provide significant content to three sets that are progression-only or were demoted due to being incomplete.
• Choose from a provided list or grab one from a hub, just make sure you let us know when you start so we can mark it!
• Must go through the revision process as per usual!
• Make sure you take care with the set and don't just throw in a bunch of filler
• Don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or suggestion
DQ014 014 Laudable Leaderboards
(Badge-Based)
Create leaderboards for 10 games that currently do not have any!
• Cover different game modes/difficulties when applicable.
• Try to cover leaderboards that make sense for the game. Some examples:
- For Arcade-type games it is fine to just add High Score leaderboards, possibly highest in a single life
- For Racing games time trials for tracks are pretty standard
- Speedruns for Platformers
- Minigames that track high scores or time are good candidates
- And so on. Reach out if you have any questions about a specific game
• You can do your own sets for half-credit as long as they were published prior to this DevQuest (2022-03-02)
• Please leave comments on set page for what you added for log purposes
DQ015 015 Console Conqueror
(Achievement-Based)
Publish a set for every supported console on RetroAchievements
• Each console ID will have an achievement associated with it. Newly supported console IDs means new achievements!
• Contact us to opt-in to being tracked for this. There will generally be no need for reports.
• The only requirement for an unlock is that you are the sole or majority developer of a set on that console ID. Collabs require at least 20 achievements made. For the more dire consoles, specific requirements are in the achievements themselves.
• This DevQuest is 100% retroactive! Potential future revisions of your work will not count against you, so no worries about losing eligibility for an unlock.

Suggestionslink

  • If you have suggestions for a DevQuest, send a message to the DevQuest account with the following info:
    • Quest Name
    • Award Type - If there is one specific goal then you would want a badge-based award. If there are multiple goals then you would want an achievement-based award.
    • Game Type - State whether hacks, homebrews, prototypes, unlicensed, and/or subsets are allowed.
    • Goal(s) - A brief description of the DevQuest. Examples: "Develop a set for such-and-such console," "Develop a Holiday-Themed Set," "Create Dynamic Rich Presence for 10 Games," etc.
    • Rules - List any specific guidelines and criteria that submissions must meet. Is there a minimum achievement count? Are there minor exceptions that result in half-credit? Do submissions need to be pre-approved? The more simple they are, the better!