Quest Editor

For all talk about quest development - creation, testing, and quest system.
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TheLacus
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by TheLacus »

Recent discussions on quest scripting brought me to search if i could export parsed quest data in a visible format; ended up discovering Mermaid and that there are VS Code extensions for generating preview of Mermaid flowcharts directly inside the editor.
I'm not sure how useful it could be but it was fun to work on it :lol:

Spoiler!
dftemplate_flowchart.png

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Interkarma
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by Interkarma »

That's a fascinating way to visualise quest flow at a glance. I'm intrigued by where the idea of visually scripting quests can go.

Something I think hasn't been really been explored yet - it's possible to mod in custom quest actions to make very bespoke quest behaviours. Same with the effect system (my Vanity Clone madness is an example). I'd love to see someone build custom quests also utilising custom actions and effects to do altogether new things.

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Jay_H
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by Jay_H »

I personally find it hard to read, but I think you guys' observation in the other thread, that I know one system too well to adapt to another, is well-spoken. Perhaps this could open up someone else's eyes to how the system works? :)

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Interkarma
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by Interkarma »

I also work best with script over visual nodes. We can probably both break down quest flow in a few seconds to a few minutes depending how large the quest is.

Node-based scripting seems really popular though across a wide range of disciplines though (e.g. shaders, AI, animation, UI, procedural objects). I can see that really appealing to a certain style of developer who aren't as comfortable with scripts.

Provided it all boils back down to the same Resource/Task/Action/Condition sets in the QuestMachine, it probably doesn't matter how the logic was assembled.

NoobioDF
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by NoobioDF »

Jay_H wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2019 1:15 am I personally find it hard to read, but I think you guys' observation in the other thread, that I know one system too well to adapt to another, is well-spoken. Perhaps this could open up someone else's eyes to how the system works? :)
Jay_H, I mean I don't know if this quick explanation may help, but I thought I'd try it out on you, if you actually need it.

On the right hand side of the screen, you have a visual flowchart representation of the code on the left. Basically, think of it as the branching in a tree or the storyboard of what you want to happen. This is probably being created by Mermaid in the example above.

But on the left, you have your standard scripting or code. This is basically the IF THEN ELSE structure or CASE by CASE structure of the actual code. So you have the possibilities as case conditions listed one after the other, after testing usually a specific condition, and then you have the code to implement it within that CASE or branch.

As a quest writer, you probably think so much in script like way, that to you it is as easy as writing a Table of Contents or, I forget the right word, but like creating a summary with 1) Then A)Subset B) Subset (all indented slightly) and so on.

But when you wonder about it all before you begin writing your script, you are thinking closer to the visual method on the right. Like, ok I want the spider to only come out of the closet if the player isn't sneaking, so that is one possibility, but otherwise I want it to remain in the closet if he is sneaking because the spider doesn't hear him -- so that's another the non-stealther situation branch.

NoobioDF
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by NoobioDF »

So this entire text editor, which looks much like the old ones in Borland products like Dephi series -- this is all open source, so I can download it for free?

And basically The Lacus or Hazelnut or both have added a template to make it highlight and work pretty much the way one wants to create Quests in DFU? Am I understanding this right?

If so, this is definitely worth a download. Heck, in the interim, it should work nicely as a sort of Notepad ++, and I'm guessing it should be pretty useful for writing any Unity Code as just base text before entered, if nothing else.

I'm thinking of getting these PakT books that are in a bundle from Fanatical.com . They have bundles for Unity with some C# book or two (like 15 altogether), and they have one for Unreal Editor which are Pick And Mix. In the Unreal bundle they have a lot of C++ and C# stuff. I used to do some Pascal Programming way back (30+ years ago), which is not that far off from C or C++, just some minor syntax differences, and I'm sort of interested in at least jogging the old noggin' a bit, as it is getting dull. I get the basic ideas of Object Oriented stuff, but worked mostly in the time of Structured Programming's heyday, and did some Basic before then, when they still used Goto and all that.

I used to have a large programming book library but lost those decades ago and have basically none now.

I wonder if those PakT books are decent enough to cover the subject, if nothing else. I'd expect some errors, probably in example code.

But this project would be one of the best to introduce me to the code. I mean it is like $10 for 15 books, and maximum of $16 for the other 25 books (or I could get almost all the C++ and C# books in the Unreal Ed package for about $10 instead of the full 25 books for $15). Just don't know if they are any good. Fanatical I've used a lot and is very reputable, actually owned by Focus Interactive which is a huge game publisher.

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Jay_H
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by Jay_H »

I mean, I get it in the sense that I understand what it is and how it's intended to work, but it doesn't move in directions or patterns that my mind or eyes work with. Others can make use of it, but I can't.

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TheLacus
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by TheLacus »

NoobioDF wrote: Wed Sep 18, 2019 11:04 pm So this entire text editor, which looks much like the old ones in Borland products like Dephi series -- this is all open source, so I can download it for free?

And basically The Lacus or Hazelnut or both have added a template to make it highlight and work pretty much the way one wants to create Quests in DFU? Am I understanding this right?

If so, this is definitely worth a download. Heck, in the interim, it should work nicely as a sort of Notepad ++, and I'm guessing it should be pretty useful for writing any Unity Code as just base text before entered, if nothing else.
TEMPLATE is the scripting language used by Daggerfall quests.
VS Code is a free, open source and multi platform text editor.
TEMPLATE for VS Code is an extension i wrote to introduce support for TEMPLATE inside VS Code.

You can find more informations on the first post of this topic.

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TheLacus
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Re: Quest Editor [0.11.0]

Post by TheLacus »

I have been making some tests for possible improvements to intellisense for messages.
First of all i added completion proposals for message ids inside actions; the tooltip includes the first 150 characters of the message and, if available, a description. This should make easier to insert a message without scrolling to check the correct id.

dftemplate_messages_quickSuggestions.png
dftemplate_messages_quickSuggestions.png (53.67 KiB) Viewed 5778 times
The second improvement is that this compact message preview is also shown inside hovers. You can still check syntax (tokens, line endings) and variants with definition preview on right click context menu, but this tooltip allows to see at a glance the content of the message just by positioning the cursor.

dftemplate_messages_hover.png
dftemplate_messages_hover.png (44.16 KiB) Viewed 5778 times

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TheLacus
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Re: Quest Editor [0.12.0]

Post by TheLacus »

Version 0.12.0 is available

dftemplate_0.12.0.png
dftemplate_0.12.0.png (110.64 KiB) Viewed 5565 times
EDIT. Now also on Nexus Mods.

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