Hi there,

I'm new to text adventures and Quest so I still got a lot to learn. I wanna learn more but I've never done anything like this. So I got a couple of questions because I'm working on a little game right now and I can't find the answers anywhere else.

My first question!

Is there a way to create multiple objects? I'm trying to create a little garden with dandelions and daisies that you can pick and eat or wear (I'm just using a verb to ''wear'' the flower in your hair for now, I'm sure I'll learn how to equip things later but I don't need that yet). My only problem is that there are no more flowers to pick once you've picked one and nothing to look at once you've eaten it (plus 1 health, woohoo!).

I've looked it up and I get a bunch of things about cloning that I really don't understand, I don't even know where I would have to type those commands.

Oh and I tried to simply copy and paste the object, it works I suppose but you end up with having daisy 1, daisy 2, daisy 3 and so on. I just wanna be able to pick multiple flowers (up to like, 10 or 15 because it's a small garden).

My second question!

I want to be able to fill a bath with water (and drain the water too). And, if possible, I want the player to be able to take a bath but it requires you to take of your clothes of course. If you try it with your clothes on you'll get your clothes wet! I don't care if that actually becomes some kind of lasting effect, it can just simply be a message.

I suppose I could simply use a verb that says “take a bath” or something and then just write it all out, but it seems more fun to make it a bit more interactive ^-^

My third and last question .. for now ..

There's a book and I want the player to open it before reading it. So I tried using the ''if'' script but while you can open the book (opening it also shows a message revealing that is is actually someone's diary), when you try and read it nothing happens.

Now I kinda found an alternative by placing the diary in a drawer of a night stand and then the player can just simply read it because it says when you open the drawer that it's a diary. But I'd still like to figure out how to have an object require something, or require another object to be used in combination.

For example, I want to eat a slice of bread and that's fine. But I'd rather eat a slice of bread with some tomato slices and lettuce! I tried eating a butter sandwich, it would require you to smear the butter on the bread and then you can eat it, but again it only worked up to using the first object but then when I tried to eat the sandwich, nothing happened. I suppose I could try and make a new object which requires several objects to be created, not sure if that is possible.

I hope this isn't asking too much ^^'' .. Though I'm kind of assuming that because I'm super newb that the fixes are relatively easy, then again, I don't like to assume anything so it might as well be the complete opposite. I know that I should probably wait and explore more first, but I figured I'd try my luck and see if someone happens to know a easy fix for this stuff =D

In any case, thanks in advance to whoever (tries to) helps me =)

Okay, so, I tried something for ''creating'' a new object after using 2 objects together. What I did was simply have a invisible object (a healthy sandwich) which becomes visible after you used lettuce on bread and so you can use it. After seeing how this worked, I also added a new script that removes the bread and lettuce after combining them. So I suppose this takes care of my third problem for now ^_^

I suppose this could also work with the bath tub .. I'll try it!

So now my question is, is this a good idea? Or will it cause any problems?

Still not sure how to have a garden with plenty of flowers that you can pick though.

Also I should mention that I wrote my original post 2 days ago and yesterday morning I quickly added some stuff, but I posted it just now because I forgot about it and didn't really have time anymore anyway, but now I do and so here I am =)

Welcome to Quest! Generally quest is pretty easy to use, but once you start doing anything unusual it does get more tricky. And doing something unusual is what makes your game different!

First Problem

The way to do it is to clone the original, as you say. So for the flower object, go to its Inventory tab. Where it says Take: Default behaviour, change that to Take: Run Script. A row of icons appears, click on the seventh, "Code view", and a text area will appear. Paste this in:

CloneObjectAndMove (this, player)

All that will do is clone this object, and move the clone to the player.

Third Problem

For the book, on the Features tab, set it to be a container, then on the Container tab, set it to be Openable/Closeable. The go to the Verbs tab, click add, and type "read". Change "Print a message" to "Run a script", and as before click the code view icon. Paste this in:

if (this.isopen) {
  msg ("You sped a few hours looking though someone elses person diary.")
}
else {
  msg ("It's closed")
}

If you click on Code view again, you can see what it looks like in the GUI; "isopen" is an attribute of the diary that Quest sets to true when it is open, and false when it is closed.

The other things are more complicated, so let's see how that goes first.

Faeblossom wrote:Okay, so, I tried something for ''creating'' a new object after using 2 objects together. What I did was simply have a invisible object (a healthy sandwich) which becomes visible after you used lettuce on bread and so you can use it. After seeing how this worked, I also added a new script that removes the bread and lettuce after combining them. So I suppose this takes care of my third problem for now ^_^

Cool.

I would also move the sandwich to the current room (or player), just in case the player is making sadwiches in the bedroom.

I suppose this could also work with the bath tub .. I'll try it!

So now my question is, is this a good idea? Or will it cause any problems?

That is probably the easiest way to do it.

Faeblossom,

Glad to have you here. It's always nice to meet new authors.

DISCLAIMER: If there are any little errors, I'll take the blame. I tried to do this without opening the Quest software so it is from memory. But, I think (?) I got it all.

Faeblossom wrote:Is there a way to create multiple objects? I'm trying to create a little garden with dandelions and daisies that you can pick and eat or wear (I'm just using a verb to ''wear'' the flower in your hair for now, I'm sure I'll learn how to equip things later but I don't need that yet). My only problem is that there are no more flowers to pick once you've picked one and nothing to look at once you've eaten it (plus 1 health, woohoo!).

It depends on exactly what you want to do here. Do you really want the player to be able to carry around more than one of each? I don't really see a benefit of this, but it certainly can be done. There is a complex but aesthetic way and a simple and ugly way. For now, however, I'll pretend you want the player to always pick one but be able to pick others if they eat or destroy the one they are carrying.

For a case like this, I would create an object in your garden "room" called 'patch of dandelions' (or whatever you want to call it). For the description, you could print a message like "There are hundreds of dandelions here. Some call them 'weeds', but you think they look nice. There are so many here, you're sure that picking one would be okay." Create a 'dandelion' object, but tick it as scenery. For this object, under the 'inventory tab', choose to run a script. On this script, select an 'If' script. In the 'If' section of this script, choose 'If object has flag'. For the object, select player and type a name like 'dandytaken'. For the 'Then' part of this script, you can print a message like "You would take the dandelion, but you've already taken one. No need to take another!" In the 'Else' part of this script, choose 'add object to inventory'. Add dandelion1. Also add a script 'set object flag' and select object 'player' and name it 'dandytaken'. Whenever you eat or irrevocably use the dandelion, you will need to 'unset object flag' on object player named 'dandytaken' and move object 'dandelion1' to your 'dead room' (explanation follows). To make this work, you'll need to create a 'dead room' or 'item warehouse room'. This room should have no exits or entrances - it's only there to move items to/from and store items. Add object 'dandelion1' to the warehouse. In the alias box, type dandelion. Sometimes it's easier to create an entire room for objects like this and sometimes it's easier to make them invisible at first and make them visible at another time. My opinion is that it all depends on how the player will interact with those objects. For example, if your player is making a sandwich and the ONLY place that this can be done is the kitchen, invisible-to-visible objects is probably easier. But, if the player can carry the lettuce, tomato, and bread around with them and make the sandwich in ANY room in the game, it probably makes more sense to use a 'dead room'.

I'll explain picking 10-15 of the same items if that is what you really want to do, but it gets a little more complex, especially if you want it to look "nice" in the inventory.

Faeblossom wrote:I want to be able to fill a bath with water (and drain the water too). And, if possible, I want the player to be able to take a bath but it requires you to take of your clothes of course. If you try it with your clothes on you'll get your clothes wet! I don't care if that actually becomes some kind of lasting effect, it can just simply be a message.

I suppose I could simply use a verb that says “take a bath” or something and then just write it all out, but it seems more fun to make it a bit more interactive ^-^

Filling the bathtub is easy. Here is a case I would use the invisible-to-visible method. Make the bathtub a container. Put the water in the bathtub, but make it invisible. Add an object like a "faucet". Go to the 'use/give' tab of the faucet and add a script under 'use (on its own)' - or something like that. In this script, print an appropriate message and also add a 'make object visible' script (water). For later, you will want to also add a flag to the tub. Add a 'set object flag' script on object tub and name it 'filled'.

Draining the tub is a bit more complex. I'll explain the easiest route. Go to the 'verb' tab of the tub. Add verb drain. Add an 'If' script. Change the 'If' to 'object contains'. Choose 'tub' for the parent and 'water' for the child. 'Then' print a message indicating the tub water has been drained. Also, add a 'make object invisible' script and make the water invisible again.

There is another option (which is a bit more advanced, but I feel is more realistic/immersive) includes using commands. If you want an explanation on how to do that, let me know.

Taking a bath. You'll need to use flags again. In this room, you will want to add a command. Right click on your 'bathroom' room. Select 'add command'. In the box under command pattern, you will want to type everything synonymous with 'take a bath' that you can think of. It MUST look similar to this: take bath; take a bath; use bathtub; get in tub; get in the bathtub; wash myself ----- etc. Now you can run your scripts. But... first, you probably want the player to be undressed or not to get proper responses. So... Add another command to the bathroom. Same as above. Add something like this under command pattern: undress; get naked; take off clothes; take off my clothes; remove clothing; get undressed ---- etc. For the script here, you will want to print a message (of course) and also set a flag. Choose object player and name the flag naked (or whatever). Now back to your 'take a bath' command. Under this script, add an 'If' script. You will want to leave this script as an expression. You will want to type this exactly in the expression box: GetBoolean (player, "naked") and GetBoolean (tub, "filled")

Add to the 'Then' part of this script the message you want when the player takes a bath the "right way"

To the 'Else If' part of this script, you will probably want to switch it to 'if object has flag' and select tub filled. Print a message here with whatever you want to indicate that the player got their clothes wet. This will account for a tub that is filled but the player remains 'not naked'. To the next 'Else If' add another 'if object has flag' and select player naked. Add to this a message that indicates that the naked player tried to take a bath in a tub that didn't have water! For the 'Else' part of the script, you will want to add a message that indicates that the fully clothed player tried to take a bath in a tub with no water!

Faeblossom wrote:There's a book and I want the player to open it before reading it. So I tried using the ''if'' script but while you can open the book (opening it also shows a message revealing that is is actually someone's diary), when you try and read it nothing happens.

Now I kinda found an alternative by placing the diary in a drawer of a night stand and then the player can just simply read it because it says when you open the drawer that it's a diary. But I'd still like to figure out how to have an object require something, or require another object to be used in combination.

For example, I want to eat a slice of bread and that's fine. But I'd rather eat a slice of bread with some tomato slices and lettuce! I tried eating a butter sandwich, it would require you to smear the butter on the bread and then you can eat it, but again it only worked up to using the first object but then when I tried to eat the sandwich, nothing happened. I suppose I could try and make a new object which requires several objects to be created, not sure if that is possible.

I'll just answer the diary part for now, although if you have successful completed the first two obstacles I suggested, I bet you can now do this on your own!

Again, I would use a flag. For the book, go to the verb tab and add open. Print a message in this script indicating that it is so-and-so's diary. Also, add a 'set flag' script - set flag on object book named 'open'. Now add a 'read' verb to the book. For the script here, add an 'If'. If object book has flag name 'open', then print whatever message you want. For the 'Else' part of this script, you can suggest that the player should open it before rudely reading what might be another person's property without permission.

Hope this was helpful.

I now realize, The Pixie has also chimed in. Pixie is far smarter than I am with this stuff, but I will leave this here just in case another opinion is helpful! Good luck and keep asking questions!

Also, you might find 'Quest - Tutorials and Templates' helpful. It is a 'game' that helps new players walk through some of the most commonly asked questions while using the GUI in Quest. Let me know if it is helpful and if you have suggestions to making it more useful. I'm currently working on fixing the room description in the room menu to make it more user-friendly.

@The Pixie

Thank you for your reply!

The book thing works like a charm, awesome, thank you!

The flower cloning works, but now when you try and eat it for example, you are given a little menu where you have to select one of the 2 flowers. Is there any way to avoid that? I'd like for the player to simply type "eat dandelion" without having some menu pop up, especially if someone decides to pick a lot of flowers xD ..

As for the sandwich stuff, no worries there, if someone is carrying bread and lettuce around they can make their sandwich wherever they want I suppose, as long as it's in their inventory else it will just simply be in the kitchen, it works for now I'll look into it more if I run into any troubles with it later.

@Xanmag

Thank you for replying too! I was already trying out stuff Pixie told me while writing this reply, then when I wanted to post this reply I saw that you replied as well, so here it is ^^''

I will try the thing with the flowers later (tomorrow probably, maybe tonight) as it seems a bit more complicated. But I already quickly tried the visible/invisible water for the bath and that works! I'm sure I can get the draining to work too.

Also, I actually already had a verb allowing the player to lie down in the empty bathtub, making him/her feel silly =P .. So there's definitely going to be an option for the player to hop on in fully clothed and face the consequences!

And I will try out that game. It's probably a good idea and will help me to avoid asking questions that I could have known the answer to.

---

I did find another little problem ^^'' .. I have a object called ''your hair'' which is just the player's hair that you can use when typing ''use my hair'' or something or play around with a few verbs. Eventually I wanna add all parts of the player's body, just for when someone decides to look at or use a part of their body out of curiosity. I always try that to see what happens anyway xD .. I'm sure I'm not the only weirdo around who's trying to look at his own hands, feet, butt and the list goes on ;D

My problem is that it's visible in the inventory, I don't want the player to walk around with an inventory full of ''my hair'', ''my feet'', ''my hands'', etc .. no matter how funny it is, it will just get annoying after a while I'm sure.

So I'm wondering if there's a way to make certain objects invisible in the inventory, without making them invisible and therefor unusable.

One solution could be limiting it to a mirror, making all of these 'objects' intractable ONLY when you're standing at a mirror, they'd just be part of the bathroom or whatever room happens to have a mirror or a reflection. But I'd rather give the player the silly option of having the freedom of poking his/her own sides to make him/herself giggle anywhere and anytime.

Hope I'm not asking for too much! :3

I think you might want to add global commands for looking at a players body parts. That way, they don't have to be objects at all.

Under game tab, add a command you want for every player's body parts. x butt; x ass; x rear; x rear end. That will work as long as the player doesn't leave ones own ass in another room!

You might want to look here before fiddling with command synonyms though: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=5892

there's also the 'scenery' option too (in one of the Object's Tabs, there's this toggle option: 'make scenery... or something like that' checkbox, you can click on):

http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/ ... jects.html (scroll down to the 'scenery' section)
http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/ ... enery.html

other links:

http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/
http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/tutorial/
http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/guides/

---------

P.S.

some of the things that you're interested in, can be quite complex and advanced (not for people new to quest and/or especially to coding)... just a warning... as it may be too hard for you to understand, follow along, and implement, even in the most simple/ugly method/form/design, for now. It's so easy to want to do a lot of cool stuff, but actually doing that cool stuff ain't so easy... lol

HegemonKhan wrote:there's also the 'scenery' option too ...

I thought about that too, but when I tried it, it does not work for items in your inventory. There are ways around that, but commands would be easier.

Yeah scenery I use for most stuff, but it doesn't make stuff in the inventory invisible. Which is good cus some rooms have plenty of things you could pick up, like in the kitchen, that are part of 'scenery' but I do want them to be visible in the inventory. But I'll work my way around it, for now ill just keep the interactive bodyparts for when you're in a room with a mirror so you can change your hair or paint your face or whatever the player feels like doing ^-^

I'll just keep practicing stuff and stick to the basics for now, plenty to have fun with

you can certainly learn, but jumping into what seems like the shallow end, can actually be deep, and jumping into something deep is jumping into something deep, lol. And, then there's the actual deep end of the pool... the really advanced and complex stuff, which I'm maybe at best just scratching the surface of myself, laughs.

The biggest stepping stone is learning Attribute and the 'if' Script usage, once you learn these, quest/game making, really opens up. You can still do a lot with the basics of quest, but once you learn Attributes and the 'if' Script you can do nearly everything/anything.