Stendhal Quest Contribution

Sometimes people have a very good idea but don't contribute it because they are afraid that creating a quest is very difficult, that it may require a deep knowledge of computer programming. And other times people who know the ins and out of computer programming would like to code a quest but don't have a good idea.

This page wants to bring people with different skills together to create new and interesting quests. Starting from the very first rough idea to an implemented quest that is well tested and fun to play.

If you are unsure about something, got lost, or just want to talk about Stendhal, please join #arianne and ask. This channel is really friendly and helpful.

Overview

The following tables shows the steps in which quests are usually created. The steps are described in detail below.

#	Skills	Doc	Description
1.	Creativity	ideas	It all starts with an idea
2.	Stendhal	existing	Refining and Discussing in #arianne
3.	English	-	Text said by NPCs
4.	Coding	code	Programming the quest
5.	Stendhal	test	Doing the quest on test-server with chat log
6.	Coding	test	Automatic Test

It all starts with an idea

1. There is an old and drunken soldier.
2. There is an old soldier on duty. He wants a drink of beer but is not allowed to leave his post and therefore asks the player to buy one for him.

Refining and Discussing

Please join #arianne and talk about your ideas.

These questions may help to make up useful information:

• What is the quest about?
• How does it fit into the world?
• Which NPCs should take part in the quest?
• What should the reward be?
• Can the quest be done only once or repeatedly?
• Are new items or monsters required?

In the end there should be a short characteristics sheet:

• Title: Beer For Hayunn
• Participants: Hayunn Naratha (the veteran warrior in Semos Village), Margaret (Semos inn)
• Steps:
  1. Hayunn asks you to buy a beer from Margaret.
  2. Margaret sells you a beer.
  3. Hayunn sees your beer, asks for it and then thanks you.
• Reward: 50 XP, 20 gold coins, Karma: 10
• Repetitions: None
• Notes: The original idea was to have a drunken soldier on duty. This quest, however, is ideal to teach new players how to interact with NPCs and how to buy things. In order to be able to act as teacher he should only accept one beer.

Text said by NPCs

Once the idea of the quest is clear, it is time to think about the things the NPCs should say. Don't worry if you cannot think about all the required chat lines. Just having a few as a start makes coding the quest a lot easier:

• Hayunn Naratha
  • quest: My mouth is dry, but I can't be seen to abandon this teaching room! Could you bring me some #beer from the #tavern?
  • yes: Thanks! I'll be right here, waiting. And guarding, of course.
  • no: Oh, well forget it then. I guess I'll just hope for it to start raining, and then stand with my mouth open.
  • beer: A bottle of cool beer will be more than enough.
  • tavern: If you don't know where the inn is, you could ask old Monogenes; he's good with directions.
  • player brings beer: *glug glug* Ah! That hit the spot. Let me know if you need anything, ok?
• Margaret
  • - (she does nothing special and is already selling beer)

Programming the quest

There is a tutorial at Stendhal Quest Coding which explains how to write the little computer program for the quest.

Doing the quest on test-server with chat log

The best chat logs for quests are those which explore all possible options for the quest.

For example say that you already have the items you are supposed to fetch although this is not true, yet. Reject the quest first time and only return later to accept it. Try to ask to start the quest again once it has finished, this kind of thing.

Please try to play dumb and fool the NPC by asking stupid question which may confuse him.

Please say Bye when you want to finish the conversation if the NPC is still listening - don't just let him time out.

Automatic Test

There is a tutorial at Stendhal Quest Testing which explains how to create an automatic test.