Thread: [90% Noob Friendly] Ninjas Quest Library - A server independent quest scripting API.

So how do I create a quest with this? DO take note that this is a project, and therefore a WIP. Which mean's this IS NOT finished.
To create a quest with this API(Though it hasn't been released yet) you start off with the following template for a quest file(Java):

Code:

import org.mcmods.questsystem.Quest;
import org.mcmods.questsystem.events.*;

public class TemplateQuest extends Quest {

	// Quest's start at state 0 by default, you may register
	// as many events for one state as you want. Whether the
	// quest state will move forward will be dependant on
	// the individual event. Most often there will be an
	// initializing boolean as to whether or not the quest
	// state is incremented after the specific event is completed.

	// Register quest events
	public void init() {
	}

	// Name of the quest, not neccessarily the
	// name of this java class.
	public String getName() {
		return "Quest Template";
	}

	// Code to be executed on completion of this
	// quest.
	public void onCompletion(Object client) {
	}

	// Returns at what quest state the quest
	// is finished. Default 1.
	public int getCompletionState() {
		return 1;
	}

}

A pretty simple and easygoing piece of code, yeah?

Well it doesn't get much harder then that, from here on out you just need to change the name of the quest, what quest state it finishes at, add some events to it and do something when its finished.

So let's get started on naming the quest, I've decided to name mine "Something Simple":

Code:

import org.mcmods.questsystem.Quest;
import org.mcmods.questsystem.events.*;

Notice how I haven't changed the class name.
This is because, as I said in the first post, the name of the class
is not used as the in-server quest name, So it can be whatever
you want.
public class TemplateQuest extends Quest {

	public void init() {
	}

	public String getName() {
		return "Something Simple";
	}

	public void onCompletion(Object client) {
	}

	public int getCompletionState() {
		return 1;
	}

}

And now to change the completion state of our quest, for this example I'm only going to have two NPC dialogue events, so I'll set it to 2:

Code:

	public int getCompletionState() {
		return 2;
	}

Ok now to the hardest, yet still simple part of constructing a quest. Setting & Registering events.

Using the registerEvent method itself is no harder than anything else, there is just more to do.
Here is how the registerEvent method is used: (NOTE all registering must be done inside the init() method)

Code:

	public void init() {
		this.registerEvent(STATE, EVENT);
	}

Now for the event state, this should always begin at 0, and increment by 1 per part of the quest. Remember that you may have as many
events at one quest state as you like, just remember to make sure only 1 will increase the quest progress. For this first event we put 0:

Code:

	public void init() {
		this.registerEvent(0, EVENT);
	}

Now we must find an appropriate event within the API, at the moment however the only finished event is NpcDialogueEvent.
Here is what you have to fill in when using this event:

Code:

	new NpcDialogueEvent(this, EVENT_NAME, ADVANCE, NPC_ID, DIALOGUE);

The parts highlighted in green are what you always add for this event, and the parts highlighted in yellow are those of which
you need to change every time you add a new event, here are explanations:
EVENT_NAME - Events which take this argument do so because they save temporary numbers on the server which are used in the event,
so just give these a name that no other event in the current quest has. Events in separate quests though may have the same name as they are stored separately.
ADVANCE - This will be in all events, this is either true or false. As you may have guessed, if it is set to true it will advance the players progress
in the quest once the entire event has been completed(e.g. Using final quest item on an object) and if it is set to false it will not advance the
players quest progress once the event is completed(e.g. A npc that gives information on what to do).
NPC_ID - This is extremely straightforward, the ID of the npc who says this dialogue.
DIALOGUE - This is the trickiest part to explain in this example, the dialogue event takes a 2-dimensional String. However, this is aimed at
any level of expertise so for this just fill it in like this, which makes it nice and easy to comprehend:

Code:

	NpcDialogueEvent(everything else, new String[][] {
		{ "For every section of text", "that you want to display" },
		{ "Place a new one of these", "lines and fill text in", "appropriately" },
		{ "You may have", "no more than", "five sections", "of writing", "per line" },
		{ "And make sure that you place the brackets and a comma at the end of each line },
	});

So now that I've added my two events my init() method looks like this:

Code:

	public void init() {
		this.registerEvent(0, new NpcDialogueEvent(this, "start_quest", true, 555,
		new String[][] {
			{ "You just started a quest" },
			{ "Talk to me again to finish it" },
		}));
		this.registerEvent(1, new NpcDialogueEvent(this, "start_quest", true, 555,
		new String[][] {
			{ "Congratulations you just finished", "the hardest runescape quest", "ever!!!" },
		}));
	}

Notice that because the first event is set to true for advancing, I can then make events for the next quest state.

And now that you've got everything else for the quest done, you can now altar the completion process to give the player something.

For this example I will give the player 1000 gold and send them a congratulations message using a typical PI server. First we import Client:

Code:

import server.model.players.Client;

Followed by altering our completion method:

Code:

	public void onCompletion(Object client) {
		Client c = (Client)client;

		c.getItems().addItem(995, 1000); // Add 1000 coins
		c.sendMessage("Congratulations! You've completed the Something Simple quest!");
	}

Because the API is not built for a single server, we need to do this so that we can use methods and variables inside the Client class.

And there you go! That is a quest easily constructed using this API.

PLEASE post your comments, feedback and questions on this post!

Event Updates & Changelog!

9/7/2011
- Added support for custom quest directories
- Fixed a minor bug in QuestHandler
- Cleaned up the Quest class, implementing cleaner methods.
- Added support for global events. This means that a global event can be triggered at any quest state. However, a global event may not trigger an increase in quest progress.
- Finished converting all possible event checkers to return true or false, true if they found a match and false if they did not.
- Added support for Quest Engine "Quest" classes. This allows users to use a "Quest" to globally effect things in-game. For example, the Cook's Assistant quest would need a Quest Engine to handle milling and milking cows.
- Added support for reloading quests during runtime, this will allow dynamically update quests without the need for a restart. However, this is designed only for quest testing purposes and should not be used once a quest is released.

Sounds cool good luck

The "syntax highlighting" made me giggle.

Originally Posted by Project Fallout

The "syntax highlighting" made me giggle.

The highlighting represents things that have or will be changed/modified you moron. It isn't syntax highlighting.

Wow dude that looks really good I might use it when you are done.

Originally Posted by Piranhas

Wow dude that looks really good I might use it when you are done.

That's the idea

I'd like to see an example of this implemented this on a real quest, such as [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]