Need some help getting started with Quest

Hello guys,

I'm new to Quest and programming in general, but I would love to make a text-based game! I want it to be like a gamebook and I'm using the full product of Quest as the tutorial suggests. This should be the easiest for me.

I started out with making a lot of rooms which are places you can go to, and I want the navigation to go through self-written hyperlinks. Now comes the first problem: I'm strugging with the ingame script. I turned off a lot of the interfaces (panes, command bar, location bar etc.) but the game keeps telling me which objects it sees and where you can go to (according to the exits). Is it possible for me to turn this off? I would like to personalize everything, and since I plan to make a gamebook the text adventure script isn't helping me.

I want the game to navigate through commands in the room's description. For example, when you visit a room it should say:

Town

Description

{command:go to Inn:Go to the Inn}

{command:go to Church:Go to the Church}

{command:go to Travel:Travel to another place}

This way of programming is very tedious as you have to make an exit to every room you want to visit. Is there a way to travel to rooms without having to make an exit? That would be a whole lot easier.

Then there's another thing I would like to know. Can rooms be used like pages on the gamebook version of Quest? Like you make a conversation in this manner:

Question

What is your favorite colour?

Answer 1: {command:go to Answer1:Red}

Answer 2: {command:go to Answer2:Green}

Answer 3: {command:go to Answer3:Blue, nooo yellow!}

Can you make conversations / choices using rooms like this or is this really devious?

These questions are probably very silly but I still have to get the right understanding of the program. I did look at the tutorials and commands but they are all focussed on text adventures and not on gamebooks.

All feedback and / or advice is welcome!

Greetings,

Sscreamm


Now comes the first problem: I'm strugging with the ingame script. I turned off a lot of the interfaces (panes, command bar, location bar etc.) but the game keeps telling me which objects it sees and where you can go to (according to the exits). Is it possible for me to turn this off?

On the game object, go to the Room Descriptions tab, and the Room description layout. Setting object list and exits list to zero will stop them being displayed.

Can you make conversations / choices using rooms like this or is this really devious?

An alternative would be with a ShowMenu command to ask the player, and MoveObject to move the player (without needing an exit). It would be more scripts, but less effort. This may help.
http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/guides/showing_a_menu.html


toggling features:

'game' Game Settings Object -> 'Features' Tab -> (set up what you want)

bunch of controls:

'game' Game Settings Object -> 'Room Description' Tab -> (set up what you want)


Pixie already created a hybrid (using a Text Adventure for quest's full functionality, but making it look/feel like it's a Game Book)


containment/parent-child heirarchy (what's inside of what: layers) actually uses the built-in 'parent' Object Attribute:

(so, no need for using Exits)

// direct scripting coding example:
player.parent = room // the 'player' Player Object is currently/now contained within ('moved to') the 'room' Room Object
player.parent = room2 // the 'player' Player Object is currently/now contained within ('moved to') the 'room2' Room Object
player.parent = room // the 'player' Player Object is currently/now contained within ('moved to') the 'room' Room Object

// GUI/Editor scripting options example:
run as script -> add new script -> 'variables' section/category -> 'set a variable or attribute' Script -> (see below)
set variable player.parent = [EXPRESSION] room
run as script -> add new script -> 'variables' section/category -> 'set a variable or attribute' Script -> (see below)
set variable player.parent = [EXPRESSION] room2
run as script -> add new script -> 'variables' section/category -> 'set a variable or attribute' Script -> (see below)
set variable player.parent = [EXPRESSION] room

there's also helper functions:

MoveObject (NAME_OF_MOVING_OBJECT, NAME_OF_DESTINATION_OBJECT) // this Function still is using the 'parent' Object Attribute for its scripting to do the 'moving'

MoveObject (player, room)
MoveObject (player, room2)
MoveObject (player, room)


text processor commands:

http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/text_processor.html

msg ("{command:COMMAND'S_PATTERN:DISPLAYED_TEXT_OF/FOR/AS_HYPERLINK}


there's only two ways of getting typed-in input:

  1. the 'get input' Script/Function
  2. the 'Command' Element ( http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/elements/command.html )

the 'Command' Element:

http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/elements/command.html

<command name="goto_command">
  <pattern>goto #object_parameter#</pattern>
  <script>
    // this is just a simple example (you would want handling... such as checking, aka using the 'if' Script, the inputted Object, so you can't be moved to/within any Object... lol)
    player.parent = object_parameter // or: MoveObject (player, object_parameter)
  </script>
</command>

text processor commands, example:

direct code scripting:
msg ("{command:goto room_100: dark forest}")
msg ("{command:goto room_200: cursed castle}")
msg ("{command:goto room_300: volcanic wasteland}")

// GUI/Editor scripting options:
run as script -> add new script -> 'output' section/category -> 'print a message' Script -> (see below)
print [EXPRESSION] "{command:goto room_100: dark forest}"
run as script -> add new script -> 'output' section/category -> 'print a message' Script -> (see below)
print [EXPRESSION] "{command:goto room_200: cursed castle}"
run as script -> add new script -> 'output' section/category -> 'print a message' Script -> (see below)
print [EXPRESSION] "{command:goto room_300: volcanic wasteland}"

unfortunately, this is what you're stuck with, for using hyperlinks (and thus the 'Command' Element), there's no more efficient way of doing it (as you got to provide the choices/destinations to the person playing the game, you can't get around this... and indeed, it's tedious)


the Game Book was made as a CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure), so it's a very stripped down quest (limited functionality).

there's no built-in menus in the Game Book, but you can manually create your own 'inline' (hyperlinks in the left big text box) menu, and if you're a good programmer and know quest well, you can go into the Game Book's underlying code, and implement it with popup menus

see the parts on the 'Command' Element and 'text proccessor commands' for how to manually create your own in-line menu


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