Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor

Artimidor Federkiel

Administrator

Gained Aura: 538
Offline

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 23.091

Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor

« on: 05 June 2003, 01:55:00 »

Well, I guess it's necessary sooner or later to prepare the Dialogue Editor for quests as well, so that these things can be handled properly when designing. Plus we need a general possibility to set variables etc., which won't make much sense in the Dialogue Editor itself, but which can be interpreted or converted by the LT program. Though my time is limited, I'll try to realize it as soon as I can - in case this is ok with you, Humangus.

Changes about which I think are the following:

- NPC form: Add one more textbox so that you can enter the NPCs description here. Currently that's put into START keyword of the dialogue itself, and when converting the dialogue you have to divide that manually.

- Quests form: Add a general data maintenance form realizing the layed out quests template which looks like this (similar to the Greetings form).

Quest #1 - [...]

Step 1 – [...]
Location: Room [...]
Quest Entry Title: [...]
Quest Entry: [...]
Script Actions: Set Quest 1, Step 1. [...]

- Dialogue Form: Add a possibility to select such a Queststep at a dialogue keyword. Scripts etc. are contained in the Quest entry.

These are the most basic things which aren't that complicated I think and could be done soon without having to turn everything upside down.

Aside from that it will be necessary e.g. to check for open quests and offer new questions/answers if you enter a dialogue with an NPC (only if you know him/her of course) and to store current quest data etc. But this will be the next step.

Just let me know if integrating some quests logic into the dialogue is fine with you, Humangus, and if there are some things you would point out in this respect.

The Santharian Dream Webmaster - Let Fantasy Dreams come true!
World Development Admin - The Forum where Worlds are born...


	Logged

"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a mediator, and this must be the heart." -- Maria (Metropolis)

Humangus

Newbie

Gained Aura: 0
Offline

Offline

Posts: 122

Re: Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor

« Reply #1 on: 07 June 2003, 02:50:00 »

The description of the NPC should be separate already. This will make things easier and clearer. Go ahead.

What do you mean when you say to select a quest step. Probably that a quest step is completed or required? This is my suggestion.

Instead of script actions for quests it would be easier to add quest variables. For example each quest can have a unique name e.g PINN_QUEST and a value that shows the *completed* step. PINN_QUEST=0 means that the player has just taken the quest. PINN_QUEST=1 means that the player has completed the first step etc. This way we can check the state of a quest easily and even give more dialogue options as you mention.

So, in the dialogue instead of selecting a quest step it would be better to actually give a value to a quest variable.

Quote:
The great successful men of the world have used their imaginations. They think ahead and create their mental picture, and they go to work materializing that picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this bit and that bit, but steadily building, steadily building.

-Robert Collier

www.legendarytales.com


	Logged

Artimidor Federkiel

Administrator

Gained Aura: 538
Offline

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 23.091

Re: Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor

« Reply #2 on: 07 June 2003, 12:17:00 »

Well, the allocation of a quest step to a keyword means in fact: The script is part of the quest step - and if you need it in XML format to convert it to JavaScript syntax, I will add that to a tag by looking directly in the quest definition. The quest step contains everything what is needed, from the Journal entry, the Quest log to the setting of a variable (e.g. PINN_QUEST=1), if we don't make a direct reference this information is lost. You then can also set a quest step in the data maintenance to test things for example pretty easy. So having no direct quest reference in the keyword doesn't really make things easier in my opinion. However, what I think is needed aside from the quest reference in the keyword, is a field to enter additional scripts (non-quest related), so that everything is covered.

The Santharian Dream Webmaster - Let Fantasy Dreams come true!
World Development Admin - The Forum where Worlds are born...


	Logged

"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a mediator, and this must be the heart." -- Maria (Metropolis)

Humangus

Newbie

Gained Aura: 0
Offline

Offline

Posts: 122

Re: Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor

« Reply #3 on: 08 June 2003, 13:06:00 »

And in what language will those scripts be? How will you define the script actions from inside the dialogue editor?

Quote:
The great successful men of the world have used their imaginations. They think ahead and create their mental picture, and they go to work materializing that picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this bit and that bit, but steadily building, steadily building.

-Robert Collier

www.legendarytales.com


	Logged

Artimidor Federkiel

Administrator

Gained Aura: 538
Offline

Offline

Gender: Male

Posts: 23.091

Re: Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor

« Reply #4 on: 08 June 2003, 13:56:00 »

Oh, maybe I forgot to explain that: Theoretically the script could be directly written in here, but of course the non-programmers don't know a thing about scripting. So: What we can put in here are the explanations what should be there, realized in a script, know what I mean? E.g. Add ball to inventory, set quest to step 2. And you can look at what is contained in this part and convert it to script form. So all you would have in this field is: instructions for a script.

The Santharian Dream Webmaster - Let Fantasy Dreams come true!
World Development Admin - The Forum where Worlds are born...


	Logged

"Between the mind that plans and the hands that build there must be a mediator, and this must be the heart." -- Maria (Metropolis)

Humangus

Newbie

Gained Aura: 0
Offline

Offline

Posts: 122

Re: Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor

« Reply #5 on: 09 June 2003, 02:17:00 »

OK. I think I do not have any more comments at the moment about this.

Quote:
The great successful men of the world have used their imaginations. They think ahead and create their mental picture, and they go to work materializing that picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this bit and that bit, but steadily building, steadily building.

-Robert Collier

www.legendarytales.com


	Logged

Pages: [1]

Santharian Development

Forum

Santharian Game Projects

RPG Adventure Programming

Quest Preparations in Dialogue Editor