The concept of the quest is central to the study of digital games, and, as Jeff Howard reveals in Quests, can also serve as a platform for analyzing and teaching a genre of literature that spans more than two thousand years. Focusing on the theory and practice of the four main aspects of quests (spaces, objects, actors, and challenges), Howard analyzes the connections between quests in digital games and those that appear in ancient mythology, medieval romance, and Renaissance allegory. In this blending of literary and digital theory, Howard shows how quests can be a bridge between seemingly polar ideas, including game and narrative, gaming and literature, technology and mythology, and meaning and action. Each theoretical section in the book corresponds to a set of practical design skills for computer game designers and students, which are presented in tutorial form with supplemental practice exercises using the Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset.

Jeff Howard attended the University of Tulsa from 1996-2000, where he majored in English. From 2000-2005, he studied and taught English at the University of Texas at Austin, where he successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation on postmodern literature and computer-assisted pedagogy in fall 2005. He then began work on Quests: Design, Theory, and History in Games and Narratives. He plans on doing future research about transmedia artists, such as Clive Barker and Alan Moore, who construct imaginative ômultiversesö of intersecting new and traditional media, including games, novels, paintings, and films. At the same time, he is currently designing game modules that explore this multiverse theme interactively, and he plans on writing a novel that intersects with these games.