Point of Interest Scriptable Object

Overview

The Point of Interest (POI) ScriptableObject is the data asset at the heart of Quest Forge's navigation systems. Every icon that appears on the minimap, compass bar, or as a world-space marker is driven by one of these assets. A single POI asset is shared across every system simultaneously — assign it to a POIMarker component in the scene and the icon appears on the minimap, compass, and world map with no additional configuration.

POIs are organised by Category, which determines how they are filtered on the world map and minimap, and how they integrate with the quest and location systems. The special Location category unlocks an extended set of fields that power the discovery system, fast travel, fog-of-war reveal, and hierarchical location trees (e.g. a city as the parent of named buildings within it).

Creating and configuring POI assets is entirely done in the Project window — no scene setup is required for the asset itself.

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Creating a POI Asset

Right-click in the Project window → Create → Malbers Quest Forge → POI → Point of Interest

Give the asset a descriptive name in the Project panel (e.g. POI_Whiterun, POI_QuestGiver_Aldric). The asset name is separate from the display name shown on screen.

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Inspector Sections

POI Information

The core identity of this point of interest.

Property	Type	Description
POI Name	string	The display name shown in tooltips, the world map, and any UI that reads POIName.
Description	string (multiline)	Optional flavour text displayed in map tooltips and discovery pop-ups.
Category	POICategory	Classifies this POI for filtering and system integration (see Categories below).

The inspector shows a live summary line beneath these fields confirming the name and category, or a warning if the name field is left blank.

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Visual Settings

Controls the icons displayed by every system that reads this POI.

Property	Type	Description
Map Icon	Sprite	Icon used on the minimap and world map.
Compass Icon	Sprite	Icon used on the compass bar. Can differ from the map icon for legibility at small sizes.
Icon Color	Color	Tint applied to both icons wherever they appear. Default: white (no tint).
Icon Scale	float	Uniform size multiplier. 1 = default size as configured on the map/minimap component.

Live Preview — When either icon slot is filled, the editor renders a 32 × 32 tinted preview of each sprite inline, labelled "Minimap" and "Compass". If both slots are empty a warning is shown, because the POI will be invisible in all navigation UIs.

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Display Settings

Independently toggles which navigation surfaces show this POI and how far away it is visible.

Property	Type	Default	Description
Show on Minimap	bool	true	Include this POI in the minimap icon pool.
Show on Compass	bool	true	Include this POI on the compass bar.
Show World Marker	bool	true	Render a 3D world-space marker above the object.
Show Distance	bool	true	Append a distance readout to the POI label where supported.
Min Distance	float	5	The player must be at least this many world units away before the icon appears. Prevents icons from appearing when the player is standing on top of the object.
Max Distance	float	100	The player must be within this many world units for the icon to appear.

The inspector confirms the visible range in a summary line (e.g. Visible between 5 m and 100 m) and warns if Min Distance ≥ Max Distance. A second summary shows which surfaces the icon is active on; all three off triggers a warning.

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Priority Settings

Controls draw order and distance exemption.

Property	Type	Default	Description
Priority	int	0	Higher values cause this POI's icon to render on top of lower-priority POIs when they overlap. Quest objectives typically use priority 10; general world markers use 0.
Always Show	bool	false	When enabled, Min/Max Display Distance are ignored and the icon is visible at any range. Use for critical quest markers or named cities.

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Location Settings (only visible when Category = Location)

When you set Category to Location, a dedicated section appears with fields for the discovery and fast-travel systems. These fields are not present or relevant for any other category.

Property	Type	Description
Enable Fast Travel	bool	When true, the player can warp to this location from the World Map. Requires WorldMapFastTravel to be configured in the scene.
Location ID	string	A unique string identifier used by the save system and quest objective matching. If left empty, an ID is auto-generated by lowercasing the POI Name and replacing spaces with underscores (e.g. "Iron Mine" → "iron_mine"). The auto-generated ID is previewed in the inspector so you can verify it before deploying.
World Position	Vector3	The canonical world-space position of this location. This field is read-only in the inspector — it is set by clicking Sync World Position to Asset on the POIMarker component placed in the scene. The inspector shows a formatted coordinate readout, or a warning if still at (0, 0, 0).
Location Radius	float	Radius in world units defining the location's trigger area. When a player-controlled object enters this radius, the LocationManager marks the location as discovered. Must be greater than 0.
Is Discoverable	bool	When enabled, this location participates in the discovery system — it starts undiscovered and triggers discovery events when first entered. Disable for locations that are always considered known (e.g. a starting village).
Hide Until Discovered	bool	(Only shown when Is Discoverable is enabled) Suppresses the minimap and compass icons until the player has discovered this location for the first time. This keeps unexplored areas clean.
Location Type	LocationType	Classifies this location for filtering and UI display (see Location Types below).
Parent Location	PointOfInterest	An optional reference to another Location-category POI that acts as a parent in a hierarchy. For example, POI_Dragonsreach would reference POI_Whiterun as its parent. Used by UI to build region trees.

Location Summary Box — The inspector renders a compact summary at the bottom of the Location Settings section: Type, discoverable status, marker visibility rules, fast travel state, trigger radius, and parent name (if set). This gives a quick at-a-glance confirmation of all discovery settings.

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POI Categories

The Category field classifies the purpose of this POI. The minimap, world map, and POI Filter Manager use the category to group and filter icons.

Category	Typical Use
QuestObjective	Active quest target (interact point, kill target area, delivery spot).
QuestGiver	NPC or object that starts a quest.
Waypoint	Player-placed or system-placed navigation points.
Location	Named discoverable place (unlocks Location Settings section).
Enemy	Hostile character or creature that should appear on maps.
NPC	Friendly or neutral characters of interest.
Item	Notable collectible or loot location.
Merchant	Shop or trader location.
FastTravel	Dedicated fast-travel node (e.g. a stable or shrine).
Custom	Catch-all for any gameplay-specific classification not covered above.

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Location Types

Available when Category is set to Location. Used for filtering and UI categorisation.

City · Village · Town · Dungeon · Cave · Ruins · Landmark · Camp · Fort · Tower · Shrine · Forest · Mountain · Lake · Other

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POI Summary & Quick Actions

At the bottom of every POI inspector (regardless of category), a POI Summary box shows:

• Name and Category

• Priority value

• Visibility — which surfaces are active and the distance range (or "ALWAYS VISIBLE" if Always Show is on)

Two Quick Action buttons sit below the summary:

Button	Effect
Show Everywhere	Sets ShowOnMinimap, ShowOnCompass, and ShowWorldMarker all to true in one click.
Hide Everywhere	Sets all three visibility flags to false. Useful for temporarily suppressing a POI without deleting it.

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Public API

These properties and methods are available at runtime via script.

Read-Only Properties

Member	Returns	Description
POIName	string	Display name.
Description	string	Tooltip/discovery text.
Category	POICategory	The category enum value.
MapIcon	Sprite	The minimap/world-map sprite.
CompassIcon	Sprite	The compass-bar sprite.
IconColor	Color	Tint colour for all icons.
IconScale	float	Size multiplier.
ShowOnMinimap	bool	Whether to render on the minimap.
ShowOnCompass	bool	Whether to render on the compass.
ShowWorldMarker	bool	Whether to render a world-space marker.
ShowDistance	bool	Whether to append a distance label.
MinDisplayDistance	float	Near clip distance.
MaxDisplayDistance	float	Far clip distance.
Priority	int	Render priority (higher = in front).
AlwaysShow	bool	Distance limits bypassed when true.
IsLocation	bool	True when Category == POICategory.Location.
LocationId	string	Auto-generates from name if the locationId field is empty.
WorldPosition	Vector3	Canonical world position set via POIMarker sync.
LocationRadius	float	Discovery trigger radius in world units.
IsDiscoverable	bool	Whether the location participates in the discovery system.
HideUntilDiscovered	bool	Whether the marker is hidden before first discovery.
LocationTypeValue	LocationType	The location type enum value.
ParentLocation	PointOfInterest	Reference to a parent POI, or null.
EnableFastTravel	bool	Whether fast travel to this location is permitted.

Methods

Method	Description
SetWorldPosition(Vector3 position)	Writes the worldPosition field. Called automatically by the POIMarker editor's Sync World Position to Asset button — prefer using that button over calling this directly.
SetLocationId(string id)	Overwrites the locationId field at runtime.
SetLocationRadius(float radius)	Overwrites the locationRadius field at runtime.

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Workflow: Setting Up a New POI

1. Create the asset — Right-click in the Project window → Create → Malbers Quest Forge → POI → Point of Interest.

2. Set POI Name and Category — The Name is what appears on screen; Category determines which system features are available.

3. Assign icons — Drag a Sprite into Map Icon (used on minimap and world map) and Compass Icon (used on the compass bar). The editor previews both icons tinted with Icon Color.

4. Configure display range — Set Min and Max Display Distance to suit the POI type. Quest objectives typically have a larger max range; ambient decorative POIs a shorter one.

5. Set priority — Leave at 0 for general markers. Raise to 10 or higher for critical quest targets that should never be hidden behind other icons.

6. If Category = Location:

   • Set a Location ID or leave blank to auto-generate.

   • Confirm or set Location Type and Location Radius.

   • Toggle Is Discoverable and Hide Until Discovered as appropriate.

   • Enable Fast Travel if players should be able to warp here from the world map.

   • Place a POIMarker at the location in your scene and click Sync World Position to Asset to write the world-space coordinate back into this asset.

7. Reference in scene — Drag this asset into a POIMarker component's Point of Interest field. The marker registers itself with POIManager on Awake, and the minimap, compass, and world map will display the icon automatically.

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Usage Tips

• Asset name vs. display name — The .asset filename in the Project window is for your own organisation. The POI Name field inside the asset is what players see.

• Location ID uniqueness — If two Location-category POIs produce the same auto-generated ID (because they share a name), the save system and quest matching will collide. Always manually assign unique IDs when names are similar.

• World Position stays (0, 0, 0) until synced — The inspector will warn you. Place the POIMarker in the scene first, then sync.

• Icon Scale stacks — IconScale on the POI asset is a multiplier applied on top of the base icon size configured on the MinimapUI or WorldMapUI component. A value of 1 means "use the map's default size."

• Always Show for key locations — Cities and major quest hubs generally benefit from Always Show = true so they appear regardless of how far away the player is, just like games such as Skyrim's location markers.

• Hierarchy depth — ParentLocation is a single reference, not a full tree traversal. If you need deep hierarchies (region → city → district → building), each POI simply references the one directly above it; any UI building a tree must walk the chain manually.

• Fast Travel requires WorldMapFastTravel — EnableFastTravel = true on the asset alone does nothing without the WorldMapFastTravel component present as a child of the WorldMapUI GameObject.