Jay_H's quest writing tutorial

For all talk about quest development - creation, testing, and quest system.
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killowatts
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Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:54 pm

Re: Jay_H's quest writing tutorial

Post by killowatts »

Hello!

Thanks for the tutorials! They're really helpful and well explained!

I was wondering, is there a way to create custom quests for specific NPCs? For specific people for example in Castle Daggerfall. I want to try something with Lord and Lady Bridwell, for example. Like when you get their rep up to a certain point (through regular noble quests), a certain quest specific for the NPC could then pop-up.

And I guess next question is... it's a bit ambitious I know... can quests depend on previously completed quests... like how the Main quest works? I guess what I'm trying to see is if it's possible at all to create another story within Daggerfall. Would that be accomplished by creating a "backbone" quest like the main quest backbone (S0000999)? Looking at that file, it seems to be starting "sub quests" within it based on different conditions.

I'm thinking something like... getting a letter (based on a specific NPC condition, for example reaching a certain rank in Knights of the Dragon, and certain rep with the lord/lady, not even sure how to do that...), then it kicks off the backbone, which would be running and it would trigger quests?

That's kind of how I think it would be done. What do you think?

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Jay_H
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Re: Jay_H's quest writing tutorial

Post by Jay_H »

killowatts wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:00 am I was wondering, is there a way to create custom quests for specific NPCs? For specific people for example in Castle Daggerfall. I want to try something with Lord and Lady Bridwell, for example. Like when you get their rep up to a certain point (through regular noble quests), a certain quest specific for the NPC could then pop-up.
Using an existing NPC isn't hard. You can just define that NPC as "athome" and they'll react properly in their normal location. The difficulty here is having an existing quest condition that makes the quest start; quests can start 1. from other quests, 2. from questgivers, or 3. from a new character creation.
And I guess next question is... it's a bit ambitious I know... can quests depend on previously completed quests... like how the Main quest works? I guess what I'm trying to see is if it's possible at all to create another story within Daggerfall. Would that be accomplished by creating a "backbone" quest like the main quest backbone (S0000999)? Looking at that file, it seems to be starting "sub quests" within it based on different conditions.

I'm thinking something like... getting a letter (based on a specific NPC condition, for example reaching a certain rank in Knights of the Dragon, and certain rep with the lord/lady, not even sure how to do that...), then it kicks off the backbone, which would be running and it would trigger quests?

That's kind of how I think it would be done. What do you think?
I don't see any reason why not, as long as you find a way to start the quest as outlined above. It'd be somewhat easy to piggy-back off the main quest since it uses something called global variables, which can be easily read from other quests.

TheLacus recently added a new quest action that allows you to start a second quest, and then choose consequences in the first quest based on what you did in the second quest. I think that'd be quite helpful, but isn't necessary for what you're thinking.

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haloterm
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Re: Jay_H's quest writing tutorial

Post by haloterm »

Jay_H wrote: Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:07 am TheLacus recently added a new quest action that allows you to start a second quest, and then choose consequences in the first quest based on what you did in the second quest. I think that'd be quite helpful, but isn't necessary for what you're thinking.
Interesting! Is this discussed or documented somewhere?

killowatts
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Re: Jay_H's quest writing tutorial

Post by killowatts »

Ah! I see it now. I can make the specific NPC a questor from the quest startup of the quest, and yes triggering the "backbone" to start is something that I'll need to look up. But I can always do it via the console (FOR NOW!). I'm gonna give it a try and see how well it works.

As for that quest action you mentioned, it would be interesting to see that indeed. I think I want to do this from a backbone, but maybe I can use that action as a trigger for my backbone somehow.

Thank you!

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Jay_H
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Re: Jay_H's quest writing tutorial

Post by Jay_H »

It's called "runquest"; you can see the documentation here: https://github.com/Interkarma/daggerfal ... 4c436cea8a. I haven't used it myself but if you load the quest editor, it should show you the proper syntax for it.

killowatts
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Re: Jay_H's quest writing tutorial

Post by killowatts »

Awesome! So I tried it, and it works pretty well I think. I'm able to chain quests this way. EDIT: I made it work with variables. This is cool!

Code: Select all

_timerBR0001_ task:
    run quest KWBRTST1 then _compKWBRTST1_ or _failKWBRTST1_

variable _compKWBRTST1_

variable _failKWBRTST1_

_STAGE003_ task:
    when _compKWBRTST1_
    start quest KWBR0002

_STAGE999_ task:
    when _failKWBRTST1_
    end quest

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