1) A while back I downloaded QDK ver 4. I understand Quest is the same just renamed? At the time, the download page made a big deal that this Quest version was now completely free. I never got around to trying it, and see that 5.2 is out and apparently it is also now free? Did the creator decide to release all future versions as free when before they were pay for?

2) I'm trying to find someplace that tells me what the differences are between the 4 series and the 5 series. - ?

3) Is there a way I can download the whole tutorial for offline study?

4) I understand that Quest 4 once had the ability to allow you to create a MUD like game. Can you tell me more about this and does 5 have these features? (This was the opinion of someone from another IF forum, don't know if it's true)

5) Can non turn based combat be implemented in the games? ( automatic combat without the player having to type something and hit return until either the NPC or player is dead)

6) Can the Quest online player versions be used to accept multiple users playing the same game like in a Mud?
a) If so, what about interactivity between multiple players?

7) Ability for an online player to make changes in the game that permanently changes the game world such as creating their own objects, houses, etc. ( a long shot I know for IF, but I thought I'd ask.)

Sorry for so many questions. I'm asking these things because I see the popularity of small MMO's and even Muds growing. Sadly however, unless you want to learn a heavy programing language, or scripting language usually based on a heavy programming language, a Windows user cannot make a good interactive multi-player online text based game. I believe if there were an IF creation application that could do all the things people would want in a multi-player online text based game, and without all the hassles of learning C or having to rely on Unix servers etc, ( Windows users could host either from Home or with dedicated hosts using windows servers) it would allow more games to get out and bring more people to Interactive Fiction <-- which is the main goal here. It wouldn't have to be exactly like a Mud, but close enough to have the major functions people look for in a Mud like game. Is it possible to pull this off with Quest?

Thank you.

Dark Rider wrote:1) A while back I downloaded QDK ver 4. I understand Quest is the same just renamed? At the time, the download page made a big deal that this Quest version was now completely free. I never got around to trying it, and see that 5.2 is out and apparently it is also now free? Did the creator decide to release all future versions as free when before they were pay for?

Quest5 is open source and will be free in future

Dark Rider wrote:2) I'm trying to find someplace that tells me what the differences are between the 4 series and the 5 series. - ?

Q5 is a complete rebuild of Q4. You can play Q4 games in Q5 but you can't edit them. You can do all thing in Q5 what you could do in Q4, expect the multiplayer part.

Dark Rider wrote:3) Is there a way I can download the whole tutorial for offline study?

If you use a internet grabber, yes. There is no offline version available.

Dark Rider wrote:4) I understand that Quest 4 once had the ability to allow you to create a MUD like game. Can you tell me more about this and does 5 have these features? (This was the opinion of someone from another IF forum, don't know if it's true)

Q5 does not have the multiplayer part any more.

Dark Rider wrote:5) Can non turn based combat be implemented in the games? ( automatic combat without the player having to type something and hit return until either the NPC or player is dead)

Yes, could be done with scripting

Dark Rider wrote:6) Can the Quest online player versions be used to accept multiple users playing the same game like in a Mud?
a) If so, what about interactivity between multiple players?

No, Q5 is only single player

Dark Rider wrote:7) Ability for an online player to make changes in the game that permanently changes the game world such

It could be possible to create rooms, exits and objects while playing a game but this would only be saved in your savegames. If you restart your game completly new, all changes would be gone.

Well, never mind. It looks like Pertex beat me to it, lol.

Thank you for your answers.

To be clear.. It looks like I CAN do all or most of what I want to do with Version 4? Is that what I'm reading here in between the lines?

If so, I'll concentrate on using 4 for my project. There are other people interested in an IF platform that will do all of these things i mentioned above, easier than running a standard Mud. Quest 4 then, looks like it might fit the requirements. If I could get a mock up of these features to show these folks, perhaps I could generate a lot of interest in Quest 4. I'm especially interested in the multi-player aspect of Quest 4.

Mods, if you feel this thread is better served in the Quest 4 section, please move it with my blessings.

It's a pity 5 doesn't have multi-player. It seems like it has some other features that made game creation easier or better than version 4 from what I've read. I don't know why the creator took it out, but it seems like a step backwards to me with everything being online or in the cloud these days.

I am really sure that you will not be satisfied with Q4. First you have to get enough informations about the online modus (which files are necessary? What have you to do to start it?...). Perhaps you get it to start as multiplayer but in Q4 there are so many important things missing that you will not be satisfied with it. The lifecycle of Q4 is ended and the only person who could help you is Alex. I think he is the only person who still knows anything about the multiplayer.
But even if you get it to work, you would need lots of improvements in Q4 to create a good game, but as I said there is no more development in Q4, not even bug fixing.
Quest is not the right platform for multiplayer games. It's designed for single player textadventures. Perhaps Alex (or somebody else) will implement multiplayer functions in the future but in my privat opinion this will not be done in the next 2 - 3 years.

Yeah, I agree with Pertex. If you want to make a mud, it's best to stick with an actual mu* codebase. They are designed to have all the features necessary to maintain a persistent world for people to move around in, etc.

I see.. Thanks folks.. I may still use Quest for my own purposes because it looks sweet.

The Mud thing - I'm using a Mud base called Dead Scrolls to make a Mud in and it's fine but for these purposes, I need something else. I'll keep looking. The idea is to make a multi-player game windows users can make easier than Muds. It doesn't have to be a Mud exactly just approximate a lot of popular Mud features.

I'm trying to get more people interested in IF and writing in general. The Mud platform is no good at all for that. Mudders have to both be writers and programmers - many of them not even writers.. they let tools auto generate the game world and they concentrate on modding the Mud engine. An easy to use ( or easier to learn) IF platform with these features will be better suited. I want my group to be able to concentrate on the creative aspect of writing the story, not be bogged down having to learn a programming language for months. I need something anyone can do relatively quickly and painlessly.

The Mud people tell me the same thing. They say the Mud platform is how YOU HAVE to do it. I say Hog Wash. That technology is over 25 years old and is very complicated. There is No reason in this age where someone cannot invent a better app to do what I want to do. Perhaps no one has thought to invent one yet, but I maintain it has to be possible in an easier platform.

Thanks.. I'll keep looking.

I think Quest's current design means it could actually be adapted to multi-player fairly well, certainly better than Q4 was. With Q5.3's POV feature you can now have multiple player objects in the game, so it seems to me that this could be adapted to handle true multi-player without breaking very much.

That said, it's not something on my list of planned features. But as always, I'm happy to help anybody that wants to implement this themselves, and all the code is there for you.

Alex wrote:I think Quest's current design means it could actually be adapted to multi-player fairly well, certainly better than Q4 was. With Q5.3's POV feature you can now have multiple player objects in the game, so it seems to me that this could be adapted to handle true multi-player without breaking very much.

That said, it's not something on my list of planned features. But as always, I'm happy to help anybody that wants to implement this themselves, and all the code is there for you.

Alex, I appreciate your candor. I'm not a programmer myself yet. I'm learning LPC which is a scripting language based in C for the Dead Souls Mud. The task would be far beyond my abilities. However this does give perhaps a small hope for the future if anyone would be so kind as to develop the needed functions.

To me it seems to be the one overlooked area that's needed to help IF grow again. There aren't any good tools like that. Many people don't even read books anymore. Learning a Mud scripting language isn't for everyone with all it's complexities and not lending itself very well to Windows users. A modified Quest 5.3 could be the answer.

Perhaps I'm a fool or a dreamer but I have played and acquired over 2 gigabytes of text based games from everything Infocom, Legend, Magnetic Scrolls, Level 9 and Scott Adams published (as well as all the modern IF). I see this idea as a way to merge the old IF world with the new MMO fans of today. I believe it will excite them give the the impetus to hold their interest in writing. A brave new world as it were.

Ah! yes the old Scott Adams Questprobe series long may they reign. A re-emergence is long overdue. Nice thinking!

There are windows-based multiplayer text adventure type programs that have been written before but they largely sucked and I don't think are being actively developed. I think one of the biggest issues with this is because a lot of people lose interest in something that's purely text-based. It's unfortunate, but it's a very prevalent attitude.

I think you might have an easier time finding what you're looking for if you didn't restrict yourself to programs that are windows based. Most MUDS are *nix based and reside on a server somewhere, and that's probably the approach you should be looking at if you want to develop a serious MUD. That's exactly how Iron Realms operates all of their different MUD worlds, and they're making decent money at it too.

That being said, if you can't find something that does what you want and how you want, there's always the option of making it yourself or paying someone to make it for you, if you lack the abilities to do it yourself.

sgreig wrote:There are windows-based multiplayer text adventure type programs that have been written before but they largely sucked and I don't think are being actively developed. I think one of the biggest issues with this is because a lot of people lose interest in something that's purely text-based. It's unfortunate, but it's a very prevalent attitude.

I think you might have an easier time finding what you're looking for if you didn't restrict yourself to programs that are windows based. Most MUDS are *nix based and reside on a server somewhere, and that's probably the approach you should be looking at if you want to develop a serious MUD. That's exactly how Iron Realms operates all of their different MUD worlds, and they're making decent money at it too.

That being said, if you can't find something that does what you want and how you want, there's always the option of making it yourself or paying someone to make it for you, if you lack the abilities to do it yourself.

Agreed that people lose interest in text based books/games due to the lack of graphics. People got spoiled by graphics. This is why I'd like to see something that will again be exciting to game lovers. The ability to run your own text based MMO could do that I believe.

Muds based on Unix systems are exactly whats causing the problem. Muds are restricted to Unix systems now and they shut out the much larger Windows user base potential. It's almost like a mad conspiracy in the Unix world to corner this market. Don't get me wrong, I use many versions of Linux and even BSD but this whole attitude that this type of thing has to be Unix based stinks to the 13th level of hell. Let Unix users have their complicated Muds, it's time Windows users had their share of the fun. ( Hey, i'm building a Dead Souls mud in Linux myself - most windows users don't want to learn programming to do something that should be way easier for them to do) The whole point of this is to make building and running your multi-player game easier for Windows users. Windows users are where the market is. They are the people who have the numbers of users on their side to make this thing happen in a bigger way than muds have done over the last 25 years - if they only had the tools to do it.

A good cross platform app would serve the same purpose as long as it works on XP, 7 and Win 8. I'm not trying to restrict this from Unix users. Just need better options for Windows users.

Making the app myself is way out of my reach for the present time. Paying someone to do it is also.