Hello! I really need your help, guys! I don't know programming at all, and I wish to create a gamebook that features a certain variable (Mood or Energy, in my case). With certain choices I would like to add or subtract energy points. Also other choices would require a certain level of energy to be available (eg "above 50 energy to go for a jog"). Can you guys shed some light on this for me?

quest has 3 types of VARIABLES (keeping this simple)

VARIABLES:

1. Variable
2. Attribute
3. Parameter

---

You'll want to use Attributes

so, that's all I'm going to get into for now

---

Data Types:

1. Strings: a collection of letters, numbers, and/or (some) symbols ------- (Aka: "text")

examples:

"a"
"abc"
"1"
"123"
"abc_123"
"abc 123"
"hi, welcome to my game, I hope you enjoy it!"

"1.0"
"true"
"false"
"player"

anything within double quotes is a String Value, including numbers (which means that they're NOT amounts -- so you can't do arithmetic operations with them when the numbers are String Values, which is when you got them within double quotes)

2. Integers: any non-decimal/non-fractional number/amount

examples:

-9999999999
-100
-1
0
1
100
99999999

notice how they do NOT have double quotes (if they did, they'd be String Values, and not Integer/amount Values)

3. Doubles (Floats / Floating Points): any decimal/fractional number/amount

examples:

-99999999.123456
-100.789
-1.9
0.0
1.1
100.789
99999.123456

notice how they do NOT have double quotes (if they did, they'd be String Values, and not Doubles/amount Values)

4. Booleans: 'true' or 'false' Value

examples

true
false

these are special/reserved words, for being the Boolean Data Type's Values

again, notice how they're NOT in double quotes

---

Advanced Data Types:

(we'll hold off on these for now)

5. Objects: a reference/pointer to the Object's location/address in memory (this is a bit technical, so just ignore it --- all you need to know/understand, is that it's not actually the Object itself as the Value)

6. Lists

7. Dictionaries

8. Scripts

---

Attribute General Syntax:

NAME_OF_OBJECT.NAME_OF_ATTRIBUTE
// or:
NAME_OF_OBJECT.NAME_OF_ATTRIBUTE = VALUE_OR_EXPRESSION

---

the Game Book only has 2 Objects (aside from the 'Page' Objects) for you to use:

1. the special Game-Wide Settings and Publishing Info 'game' Object

2. the (defaultly named) 'player' Player Object

---

Attribute Usage (the Game Book only has scripting, so here's how to do the scripting of Attributes):

'WHATEVER' Page -> 'Page' Tab -> Page Type: [script] or [script + text] -> (see below)

add new script -> 'variables' section/category -> 'set a variable or attribute' Script -> (see below)

set variable NAME_OF_OBJECT.NAME_OF_ATTRIBUTE = [EXPRESSION] VALUE_OR_EXPRESSION

examples:

set variable player.strength = [EXPRESSION] 100
set variable game.strength = [EXPRESSION] 100

set variable player.alias = [EXPRESSION] "HK"
set variable game.intro = [EXPRESSION] "Welcome to my game, I hope you enjoy it!"

set variable game.dead = [EXPRESSION] false
set variable player.dead = [EXPRESSION] false

example of creating an effective Object (as you can't create additional Objects in the Game Book, aside from Page Objects), in this case/example, an 'orc' monster Object:

set variable game.orc_dead = [EXPRESSION] false
set variable game.orc_damage = [EXPRESSION] 10
set variable game.orc_current_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable game.orc_maximum_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable game.orc_life = [EXPRESSION] "Orc Life: " + game.orc_current_life + "/" + game.orc_maximum_life

// or:

set variable player.orc_dead = [EXPRESSION] false
set variable player.orc_damage = [EXPRESSION] 10
set variable player.orc_current_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable player.orc_maximum_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable player.orc_life = [EXPRESSION] "Orc Life: " + player.orc_current_life + "/" + player.orc_maximum_life

---

Note: for us humans, some things don't make conceptual sense, but code doesn't care, for example:

'game.dead' (works fine, but is "jarring" for us humans) instead of 'player.dead' (works fine and is NOT "jarring" for us humans)

// another example:

// ("jarring" for us humans, but it works fine)

set variable player.orc_dead = [EXPRESSION] false
set variable player.orc_damage = [EXPRESSION] 10
set variable player.orc_current_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable player.orc_maximum_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable player.orc_life = [EXPRESSION] "Orc Life: " + player.orc_current_life + "/" + player.orc_maximum_life

// vs (NOT "jarring" and works fine):

et variable game.orc_dead = [EXPRESSION] false
set variable game.orc_damage = [EXPRESSION] 10
set variable game.orc_current_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable game.orc_maximum_life = [EXPRESSION] 200
set variable game.orc_life = [EXPRESSION] "Orc Life: " + game.orc_current_life + "/" + game.orc_maximum_life

---

Arithmetic Operations, examples:

1. Addition:

// player.strength = 100

set variable player.strength = [EXPRESSION] player.strength + 5
// player.strength = [player.strength = 100] + 5
// player.strength = [100] + 5
// player.strength = 105

2. Subtraction:

// player.strength = 100

set variable player.strength = [EXPRESSION] player.strength - 10
// player.strength = [player.strength = 100] - 10
// player.strength = [100] - 10
// player.strength = 90

3. Multiplication:

// player.strength = 100

set variable player.strength = [EXPRESSION] player.strength * 3
// player.strength = [player.strength = 100] * 3
// player.strength = [100] * 3
// player.strength = 300

4. Division:

// player.strength = 100

set variable player.strength = [EXPRESSION] player.strength / 2
// player.strength = [player.strength = 100] / 2
// player.strength = [100] / 2
// player.strength = 50

5. Modulus (Division, but it finds/gets/returns the REMAINDER):

does these operations: cyclic, is number even or odd, or factors/divisibilities of a number

cyclic example:

// game.hour_count = GetRandomInt (0,100)

set variable game.clock_civilian_hour = [EXPRESSION] game.hour_count % 12
// game.clock_civilian_hour = [0 to 11]

set variable game.clock_military_hour = [EXPRESSION] game.hour_count % 24
// game.clock_military_hour = [0 to 23]

is a number even/odd example:

// game.number = GetRandomInt (0,100)

// ----------------

if (game.number % 2 = 0) {
  msg (game.number + " is an even number")
} else {
  msg (game.number + " is an odd number")
}

// or:

if (game.number % 2 = 1) {
  msg (game.number + " is an odd number")
} else {
  msg (game.number + " is an even number")
}

factoring/disibility of a number example:

// game.number = GetRandomInt (0,100)

if (game.number % 2 = 0) {
  msg (game.number + " is divisible by 2, or to say it differently, 2 is a factor of " + game.number)
} else if (game.number % 3 = 0) {
  msg (game.number + " is divisible by 3, or to say it differently, 3 is a factor of " + game.number)
} else if (game.number % 4 = 0) {
  msg (game.number + " is divisible by 4, or to say it differently, 4 is a factor of " + game.number)
} else if (game.number % 5 = 0) {
  msg (game.number + " is divisible by 5, or to say it differently, 5 is a factor of " + game.number)
} else if (game.number % 6 = 0) {
  msg (game.number + " is divisible by 6, or to say it differently, 6 is a factor of " + game.number)
} else if (game.number % 7 = 0) {
  msg (game.number + " is divisible by 7, or to say it differently, 7 is a factor of " + game.number)
}
// etc 'else ifs' for infinity of factor/divisibility of a number

---

the 'if' Script:

'WHATEVER' Page -> 'Page' Tab -> Page Type: [script] or [script + text] -> (see below)

add new script -> 'scripts' section/category -> 'if' Script -> (see below)

if [EXPRESSION] CONDITIONAL_EXPRESSION_1
-> then -> add new script
// optional:
else if [EXPRESSION] CONDITIONAL_EXPRESSION_2
-> then -> add new script
// optional: additional 'else ifs'
// optional:
else
-> then -> add new script

some examples (in code... hopefully you can figure out how to do with the 'add new script' script options in the GUI/Editor, if not, let me/us know, and we'll help you with them):

// game.test_score = GetRandomInt (0,100)
// game.test_grade ="unknown"

// ---------------------------------

// high to low:

if (game.test_score > 89) {
  game.test_grade = "A"
} else if (game.test_score > 79) {
  game.test_grade = "B"
} else if (game.test_score > 69) {
  game.test_grade = "C"
} else if (game.test_score > 59) {
  game.test_grade = "D"
} else {
  game.test_grade = "F"
}

// or alternatively (if you don't like the '-1' for the Value: if you want to use the 'greater than or equal to' operation / operator symbol), high to low:

// (to do the 'greater/lesser than or equal to' operations / operator symbols: the '=' must be on the right side and the '</>' must be on the left side, and there must be NO space between the '=' and '</>', see the below two lines)

//  (greater than or equal to: >= )
// ( lesser than or equal to: <= )

if (game.test_score >= 90) {
  game.test_grade = "A"
} else if (game.test_score >= 80) {
  game.test_grade = "B"
} else if (game.test_score >= 70) {
  game.test_grade = "C"
} else if (game.test_score >= 60) {
  game.test_grade = "D"
} else {
  game.test_grade = "F"
}

// low to high:

if (game.test_score < 60) {
  game.test_grade = "F"
} else if (game.test_score < 70) {
  game.test_grade = "D"
} else if (game.test_score < 80) {
  game.test_grade = "C"
} else if (game.test_score < 90) {
  game.test_grade = "B"
} else {
  game.test_grade = "A"
}

---

// stringlist_variable = split ("true;false", ";")
// game.orc_dead = StringListItem (stringlist_variable, GetRandomInt (0, ListCount (stringlist_variable) - 1))

if (game.orc_dead) { // if (game.orc_dead = true) {
  msg ("The orc is dead")
} else { // if (game.orc_dead = false) {
  msg ("The orc is alive")
}

---

// stringlist_variable = split ("hegemonkhan;sabinlord", ";")
// player.alias = StringListItem (stringlist_variable, GetRandomInt (0, ListCount (stringlist_variable) - 1))

if (player.alias = "hegemonkhan") {
  msg ("Hey, it's hegemonkhan, who's been using quest for some years now")
} else if (player.alias = "sabinlord") {
  msg ("Oh, okay, nice to meet you sabinlord, you're a new guy to quest, I hope you enjoy using it and will not have too hard a time in learning to use quest and/or also its coding as well")
}

Thank you so much, hegemonkhan! I don't deserve the effort and time you spent writing this reply for me. I shall work hard to create a beautiful game thanks to you!

let me know if anything confuses you, or if you need help with anything, as this stuff (Attributes and the 'if' Script usage) is a lot of stuff to try to take in (OVER-WHELMING, I know, I was so overwhelmed when I was first learning to code myself using quest many years ago, lol) and understand, if you're new to coding.

---

if you want to see me struggling to learn to code (it's a good laugh for me looking back on it now, as I'm like man was I stupid... but that's coming from someone who now understands all of this stuff, but back then, I didn't understand this stuff and so it showed/shows, being confused with the terms and concepts as I didn't really fully understand them, like I do now --- which makes it hard for me to help new people to coding as the stuff I say makes sense to me, but not to the new people I'm trying to help, lol):

https://textadventures.co.uk/forum/quest/topic/3348/noobie-hks-help-me-thread

I was so overwhelmed and confused by all of the terms and concepts and etc... lol