Stendhal Quest Coding
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TODO: Update page for changes in quest coding
Stendhal Quests
If you have ideas for new quests or are interested in helping to refine quest ideas, please have a look at the Quest Contributor's Guide or the Stendhal Quest Ideas.
Before you start
This page describes how to code a quest. You don't need to know a lot about Java. You should, however, already have setup an IDE and be able to compile and start a local Stendhal server.
This tutorial assumes that the new quest only uses NPCs and items that already exist in Stendhal. To add a new NPC, see Stendhal NPC Coding.
Creating a quest skeleton
This tutorial is based on the quest "Beer For Hayunn". As this quest already exists, you may want to delete the java file locally in order to follow this tutorial.
Quest files are put into the package games.stendhal.server.maps.quests. (If you are new to Java: this refers to the folder stendhal/src/games/stendhal/server/maps/quests).
Please create a new file in that folder called BeerForHayunn.java. (Note: The upper / lower case spelling is important, even on Microsoft Windows):
package games.stendhal.server.maps.quests;
import games.stendhal.server.entity.npc.*;
import games.stendhal.server.entity.npc.action.*;
import games.stendhal.server.entity.npc.condition.*;
import games.stendhal.server.entity.player.*;
import java.util.*;
public class BeerForHayunn extends AbstractQuest {
public static final String QUEST_SLOT = "beer_hayunn";
@Override
public void addToWorld() {
super.addToWorld();
}
@Override
public String getSlotName() {
return QUEST_SLOT;
}
@Override
public String getName() {
return "BeerForHayunn";
}
public List<String> getHistory(final Player player) {
final List<String> res = new ArrayList<String>();
return res;
}
}
Don't worry, if you don't understand a word of this; just copy it. We will explain the important parts and extend this skeleton in the following sections.
In order for the Stendhal server to pick up this file, it has to be registered in the file StendhalQuestSystem.java in the package games.stendhal.server.core.rp by adding two lines at the appropriate places:
import games.stendhal.server.maps.quests.BeerForHayunn;
// [...]
loadQuest(new BeerForHayunn());
Of course in the case of this tutorial the two lines for BeerForHayunn are already there.
Teaching the NPC to talk
Okay, we have now completed the preparation. Our first task is to get Hayunn to reply to the word "quest".
Therefore we add a new method called prepareQuestStep() at the end of the file BeerForHayunn, just above the last closing "}". This method makes Hayunn reply to the word "quest" with the answer "My mouth is dry, but I can't be seen to abandon this teaching room!"
public void prepareQuestStep() {
// get a reference to the Hayunn npc
SpeakerNPC npc = npcs.get("Hayunn Naratha");
// add a reply on the trigger phrase "quest" to Hayunn
npc.addReply("quest", "My mouth is dry, but I can't be seen to abandon this teaching room!");
}
There is one little step left before we can test it: We need to tell the server to execute our new method. There is already a method called "addToWorld" which will be executed on server start. So we add a call to our method in "addToWorld":
@Override
public void addToWorld() {
super.addToWorld();
prepareQuestStep();
}
Okay, all done? Please start the server (depending on whether you are using an IDE or not you might have to compile or build first). Go to Hayunn and say "quest", after starting the conversation with "hi". He should now respond with the sentence "My mouth is dry, but I can't be seen to abandon this teaching room!".
Commonly used conversation phrases
Good, Hayunn now replies to the trigger "quest". He does not, however, reply to "task". All other NPCs accept both words as synonym. A simple solution would be to add a second npc.addReply line. But there is a better way which makes it very easy to add additional synonyms later. We predefined lists of commonly used ConversationPhrases. If there are already conversation phrases defined for the triggers that you would like to add, you should use the phrases.
Let's adjust the above sample by using ConversationPhrases.QUEST_MESSAGES instead of the hard coded word "quest":
public void prepareQuestStep() {
// get a reference to the Hayunn npc
SpeakerNPC npc = npcs.get("Hayunn Naratha");
// add a reply on quest related trigger phrases to Hayunn
npc.addReply(ConversationPhrases.QUEST_MESSAGES,
"My mouth is dry, but I can't be seen to abandon this teaching room!");
}
Please compile and restart your server. Hayunn should now respond to "quest", "task", and "favor", after you started the talk by saying "hi".
Blue trigger words
As you probably know NPCs can say words in blue, words that they expect to be repeated by the player. We want to add such words for "beer" and "tavern". As we have done before, we will add npc.addReply lines for those words.
So, how do we get the words colored blue? Simple, add a "#" in front of them. If you actually want to include a #-character, you need to repeat it.
public void prepareQuestStep() {
// get a reference to the Hayunn npc
SpeakerNPC npc = npcs.get("Hayunn Naratha");
// ask for a beer and explain it
npc.addReply(ConversationPhrases.QUEST_MESSAGES,
"Please bring me a #beer.");
// explain blue words
npc.addReply("beer", "Margaret sells beers in the #tavern.");
npc.addReply("tavern", "If you don't know where the inn is, you could ask old Monogenes.");
// an example for escaping #
npc.addReply("trading", "http://stendhal.game-host.org/wiki/index.php/StendhalFAQ##Trading");
}
You know the drill: Compile, restart and try it out.
Second Part of this Tutorial
Congratulations if you made it this far. You are now able to code basic dialogs with NPCs. The next section of this tutorial will describe advanced techniques. Please make sure the steps on this page work before you continue to the second part of this tutorial.