Hi. I have just started evaluating Quest (looks great so far!), and have a few questions. My apology in advance if they're stupid questions:-)

What are the limitations of the game (number of rooms, number of objects, etc.)?

The compiled help file is good, but I sometimes like a printed manual. Has anyone done a printable help file, tutorial, etc.?

How customizable is the gameplayer's perspective? For example, if my game is on a deserted island, will I have to use references to rooms, doors, etc? Or can by object references be more realistic? Hope that makes sense!

Can I have more than one character in the game? Can I *play* more than one character in the game. Is this what the multi-user version is for?

If these questions have already been answered somewhere, please tell me where go (to find the answers, of course).

Thanks!

Alf

Sorry about the second post, but I thought of another question.

Is there a way to simulate intelligence, skills, training, education, etc., in a character?

Thanks again!

Alf

What are the limitations of the game (number of rooms, number of objects, etc.)?

The limit is currently 32767 rooms, objects, etc. However you'd be unlikely to reach that before you encountered the 32767 lines of ASL code limit. It would be very difficult to get anywhere near that though!

The compiled help file is good, but I sometimes like a printed manual. Has anyone done a printable help file, tutorial, etc.?

Al a.k.a MaDbRiT has made PDF conversions of the help file in the past, though I'm not sure how much has to be done manually. I've toyed briefly with scripts which can convert the entire help file into one LaTeX document which can be converted to PDF. They work to some extent but they need a fair bit of tweaking.

How customizable is the gameplayer's perspective? For example, if my game is on a deserted island, will I have to use references to rooms, doors, etc? Or can by object references be more realistic? Hope that makes sense!

You can have Quest describe everything any way you like - you don't have to use built-in descriptions for anything. This means you can completely customise how things are referred to. Some people are even using this to write games which aren't in English.

Can I have more than one character in the game? Can I *play* more than one character in the game. Is this what the multi-user version is for?

One person could play multiple characters in a game - you just need to set up some mechanism for that. Perhaps you'd store in a variable which character was being played at a particular time, and have things in the game respond appropriately.

The multi-user version allows multiple people to play at the same time in the same game world. They can interact with the world and with each other.

Wow, this is terrific! I've had a game idea for years, and this sounds like just what I need to make it happen.

I know I'll think of more stuff to ask later.

Thanks again!

Alf

now you just have to learn to code 3 years of using this and even i dont know that much. probably because i procrastinate, stop using it for a while and then forget everythingi learnt.

I am the KING of Procrasination. For everything that I'm supposed to do, I either procrastinate for months/years/until-my-time-limit or not do it at all. (that's what I usually choose)

Off-topic:
I just finished reading Wolves of the Calla (took me just over a day) and can't wait for the last two books in the Dark Tower Series (Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower)

Anyone else read the Dark Tower Series, the pinnacle of nearly all Stephen King novels?

I gave up with The Dark Tower partway through book 4 when the standard of writing dropped to slightly lower than the Mr Men books I used to read as a toddler. If book 5 is anywhere near as bad as 4 I won't be bothering with it at all.

How can you say that? To me, that makes no sense. Wizard and Glass (4) was a strange (but good) book. Wolves of the Calla (5) is even stranger. It has the main character from 'Salem's Lot (Callahan) as well as the gunslingers.

Book 1 was good, 2 was brilliant, 3 was hit and miss, 4 was downright awful. Sorry, that's just the way I felt about it. Slapbang in the middle of the book we get 400 pages of backstory which just seemed to me to be King and his classic "filler" at work again - can't think of any decent way of advancing the story so he gives us some tedious backstory to push the page count a little higher. When scenes from other King books started showing up I found myself cringing.

If you want to give a good book by King, try The Stand or It. Back then he was genuinely brilliant. Now he's just embarrassing.

I've read both The Stand and It. In fact, I own them both. I sort of disliked The Stand because I read a similar book that was 299% better. It was called Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon. Read it. I could almost say it's my favorite book. He also wrote another great book, The Wolf's Hour. Every single other one he wrote was crap though. Kinda strange.

I read Wolf's Hour. Didn't like it much. Read quite a few other McCammon books and the majority were very good.

yup, sure went off topic...

it was just like... zoom!, kabam!

You haven't read Swan Song? That was waaaay better than any other of his books. It takes place after a huge world-wide nuclear war. Although you do seem to have a different idea of books than me I still think you might like it.
This is totally on-topic Ste - are you crazy lol?

Does Quest scale well with larger games? Meaning, if the game has lots of objects, lots of scripts, etc., will there be a noticable lag in its execution?

Alf

Barely noticable.

Good!

Thanks again for all the answers!

Alf

Okay, last (off topic) post on this subject: yes, I've read Swan Song. I agree it's a brilliant book. I think it might even make a good film one day.

Back on topic:

Re Quest handling large games: has anyone ever written a really big gam with Quest? Most of the ones on the downloads page tend to be either miniscule games or ones packed with sound and graphics so it's difficult to tell how much actual game there is.