Hi everyone!
I found this site back around 2017. Due to an injury, I was stuck in the bed for about a year-and-a-half.
I didn't know much of anything about coding, except very (very) basic HTML, and I was (apparently) angry. I've been reading through old posts since Alex announced moving the forums to GitHub Discussions (which I believe will work out well), and I couldn't help but notice how argumentative a lot of my earlier posts were. A lot of it is just playing around (especially when it's XanMag and me!), but there were a few things I posted that I definitely wouldn't post today. And, you see, I learned to do better in that regard by interacting with people here. But that's enough of that touchy feely crap... Let's talk about code!
What have I learned directly from Quest? Let's see...
...and I'm sure there are two or three others. Now, I am by no means an expert (or even average) when it comes to any of this, but I have definitely learned enough to be dangerous, bwahahaha!
Recently, with a lot of help, I even learned how to set up a server to host the WebPlayer app along with its own website to host Quest games independently. Making that work was just as exciting as the first time I beat Bowser on the NES!
The people involved in the process are all great, too! Which brings me to all the fine folks from the forum...
While stuck in the bed, after reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (in 5.5 parts) the 42nd time, I remembered there was an old text adventure version of it that I had never finished. Google led me here. I then saw a little game called The Bony King of Nowhere by NecroDeath listed on the main page, in a special section for entries in an IF competition.
Well, I fell in love with that game, but I got stuck! After making no progress for a few days, I used the link from within the game to email the author. He was (and still is) pleased to death when someone messages him about his games, and he provided a hint and a thank you.
After playing a few times, I pointed out a few small bugs, and NecroDeath showed me where he'd asked for help with at least one of them in this forum. Well, I fell in love with the forum! We quickly found the information required to fix the bugs, and I was introduced to Quest while doing so. I also made a great friend! (In fact, NecroDeath and I were just exchanging kindly profanities the other day.)
Wait... I'm skipping around... As a newcomer to the forum, I was welcomed by all, but most notably HK, XM, mrangel, and Pixie.
If you weren't here in 2017, you might be wondering: who is HK? But everyone who was here is more than familiar with hegemonkhan and his "walls of text."
HK was the Quest Forum MVP, at least as far as newcomers were concerned. Sure, most of his posts were longer than this will turn out to be, but gosh darnit they taught me how to "think in code", if that makes sense. HK was a pretty awesome guy to talk to, too. Dude knew more about the Mongols than he did about coding fundamentals, and that's saying something. (And it probably helped that both topics interest me, haha.)
....but HK was just the guy who welcomed us to Quest college and tried to show us the ropes, you see. Our first real professor was Dr. Xanadu Magoo (a.k.a. XanMag). XM was writing games, helping people with code for their games, and placing games in categories at the time. I can't say he was the MVP though, due to the sheer volume of text that was posted here by HK. And, again, everyone (include me sometimes) poked fun at HK for his walls of text, but those posts truly were helpful. They were out of context every once in a while, but even then they still had something in them that could teach someone something helpful.
Anyway, XM also made a game to help people learn to create games using Quest: https://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/azkg8ntdweivkndr5j-ycg/quest-text-adventure-tutorials-and-templates
And he has a list of games that I still find playable, even after completing them:
All of his games are fun, but those are my favorites of his. (We'll get to the group project later.)
Who else is (or was, in some cases) here helping and just generally having a good old time?
Let's see...
The list goes on and on. I shouldn't have listed anyone. Now, I've left people out...
I also definitely learned a lot from old posts by OurJud and jaynabonne (and Alex, of course).
Anyway, let's move on to the next level of learning....
The Pixie, Pertex, and mrangel are the main three who can explain things to beginners as well as they can to the experts. (I assume this is true for experts. I'll ask one when I see one!)
Pixie had just recently taken over maintaining Quest, and said notable was updating the docs, creating library files, writing games to be entered into IF competitions, helping people on the forum, creating Quest 6, and who knows what all else during that time.
Pixie helped me go from poking around at code to halfway knowing what I was doing, and that's when Pertex and mrangel were all like, 'well, you know that now; so, we'll show you how to do this cool stuff, too.'
They also introduced me to this thing called "documentation." I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. In fact, once I remembered to check the docs before asking a question, I found that Alex had already covered everything I wanted to know and more. That's around the time I discovered the blog, and I learned Alex had created Quest, Squiffy, this site and the forums all from scratch! Plus, there's 
for classrooms and such. (Here is a fun blog post about ActiveLit.)
Anyway, at this point, I don't know who has helped me learn more, but I'd have to put my money on mrangel. That particular individual is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom who is always there to help everyone out.
The Pixie taught me a good amount of things I never thought I could learn, too. And Pertex still is (although he'll probably deny it, haha).
Who else?
Oh, yeah... Alex Warren created all this. Did I mention him yet? His code speaks louder than words, and he's back to update the code.
How long is this?!?! Let's wrap it up!!!
I just wanted to truly thank everyone I've listed here (and everyone I forgot, my memory ain't what it used to be)! Every single one of you has been a good friend, while teaching me things about coding (and life around the world), too.
I think the switch to GitHub Discussions will be an improvement, especially once all of us have joined in there. (I haven't written an HK size block of code there once only for it to say YOU CAN'T POST THAT HERE one time. It's refreshing.)
So, while I can still post this on the forum: thanks again, to everybody! I can't wait to see you all in GitHub Discussions!!!
(I'm not sure how long it will be before the forum is read-only. So I thought I should use this platform to address everyone now, even though I know we'll meet again in GitHub Discussions.)
PS
The site and all the games are staying right here, by the way, just in case you didn't get the TPS report. The forums will still be here, too, archived for our perusal.
Egads!
I almost forgot everyone helping people out right now that I didn't know back then:
Again, I'm sure I forgot some people, but no one has been purposefully excluded.
Oh, see... I just remembered SoonGames aka 8ne, who had a major hand in the update to Quest 5.8.
Happy gaming, everyone! See you in GitHub Discussions!
PPS
I didn't make a big enough deal about DavyB. He contributes almost as much as anyone else, and Quest and this site are much better off with him around! (Plus, he helps everyone out, he writes great games that push Quest beyond its limits (while still being fully functional), and he places games here while contributing useful feedback. And I haven't even mentioned his beta-testing awards, or his math skills! Plus, he's just an all-around good guy.)
Man, what are you doing? I have a heart attack because I think I'm reading a goodbye letter. Don't you dare leave me alone with Alex! Now that things are getting interesting. Now that it's about to start!
Oh, sorry about that! I didn't mean it that way, but I guess I was kinda saying goodbye to the forum itself. And to sort of try to get everyone excited to pave new roads together on GitHub.
I am totally excited to switch to GitHub Discussions. There's already some activity there, but one unanswered question is a CSS question, and CSS is my Kryptonite.
Huzzuh I'm more than happy to help and in turn offer my thanks to friends here that have tremendously helped my out! Much appreciated!
Much excited about what's to come for Quest!
I'm a late comer and poor contributor, but I'm very grateful for all of you! Thanks for posing this instead of just disappearing on me! I will try to follow you all over there too!
Also, does anyone have a copy of the ASLX file for the XM game that KV linked to? Maybe it could be added to GitHub so that people could download from there to learn?
Also, does anyone have a copy of the ASLX file for the XM game that KV linked to? Maybe it could be added to GitHub so that people could download from there to learn?
Hey, that's a great idea, and I bet XanMag will agree!
I'll ask him for it.
See you on GitHub!