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Elemental: Making a Quest

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Elemental: Making a Quest

from JoeUser Forums

One of the requests from https://forums.elementalgame.com/396283 was to show how quests are done.

Let’s walk through making a simple quest.

Title: “An urgent message”

Objective: Bring Dennis’s Note to the Master of Hounds

Reward: Token of Man’s Best Friend

Step #1: The Quest Location

First, I load up the Builder’s Forge in the Workshop and make a suitable location. This is the home of Dennis Lacros. Dennis has been doing his part to help rid the area of wolves.  He does this by working with a series of Hound Masters who are supplying him and others like him with hounds bred to fend off wolves and make the countryside safer.

He has asked if you can deliver a message to Master Olof, the Master of Hounds, that he has need for another dozen hounds as soon as possible.

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Step #2: The Quest Destination

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So here I’ve created Master Olof’s place. 

Step 3: Define the Location and Destination

In XML, we have to tie our tile designs to a game object. In this case, a quest location and a quest destination. Quest destinations are just goodie huts (notable locations). The quest locations are objects that trigger the creation of other game objects.

 

 

Step #4: The Quest Definition

This is where I wish I had .NET skillz to whip up a simple quest editor. I’m the most familiar with how the quests work in terms of XML but my .NET skills are weak.  So let me walk you through the XML.

First, to make it easier to distribute to others, I made a new XML file called Quest_UrgentMessage.xml and created a root called <QuestPackage>.

Then I copied and pasted the two tiles I just made (they’re XML) into it.

Then I wrote up the quest definition.

 

Step #5: TESTING the quest

The easiest way I’ve found to actually test a quest is to create a map and put the quest on it and see if it works the way you think it should.

Here’s how I do it.

First, I create two islands. one for me and one for the AI player to keep them out of my way. I put starting point 1 (me) on one island and starting point 2 on the other:

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Then I put the quest on the map:

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Now I load the game and load up that test map I just made.

 

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Now, normally at this point we’d toss out the tile because it clearly clashes with the background. This is why it’s so hard to make things that look nice. But anyway, here it is.

Next…

Will put this together and upload the actual source.

To be continued…

114,879 views 34 replies
Reply #26 from Elemental Forums Top

Frogboy,

For laymen like myself, could you post the files you made to support all this?

Would make it much easier to see how it all connects in the XML.

Thanks

Lee

Reply #27 from Elemental Forums Top

i'm thinking this will be included in the subsequent update(s)...

/me hopes

Siege of Centauri
Reply #28 from Elemental Forums Top



This is where I wish I had .NET skillz to whip up a simple quest editor. I’m the most familiar with how the quests work in terms of XML but my .NET skills are weak.  So let me walk you through the XML.

Why .NET ?

Reply #29 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting vxvoodoo, reply 28
Why .NET ?

If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer. :P

Reply #30 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gravedancer, reply 29

Quoting vxvoodoo, reply 28Why .NET ?

If you have to ask the question, you wouldn't understand the answer.

Don't make hasty judgments, you may be surprised  ;)

 

Reply #31 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting vxvoodoo, reply 30
Don't make hasty judgments, you may be surprised

If you're going to suggest JAVA, then consider it a pre-emptive strike in the language war.  :ninja:

Reply #32 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gravedancer, reply 31

If you're going to suggest JAVA, then consider it a pre-emptive strike in the language war. 

No, nothing like that. I just find it strange that since they already have set up a user interface for the rest of the editing tools, why would they bother with .net (or java for that matter). It seems more natural to make the quest editor part of the whole editor pack.

Reply #33 from Elemental Forums Top

Now, normally at this point we’d toss out the tile because it clearly clashes with the background. This is why it’s so hard to make things that look nice. But anyway, here it is.

Your XML editor has a "green grass" background.  Which means you're naturally going to design your tile to look right when it's surrounded by green grass.  No wonder it clashes when you drop it into the wasteland.  I think that if you made the XML editor operate with a wasteland background, it would be much easier to create tiles that don't clash.

Reply #34 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting NDYag, reply 33

Your XML editor has a "green grass" background.  Which means you're naturally going to design your tile to look right when it's surrounded by green grass.  No wonder it clashes when you drop it into the wasteland.  I think that if you made the XML editor operate with a wasteland background, it would be much easier to create tiles that don't clash.

 

Sorry, but that's actually a pretty bad solution. What if the tile shows up on Kingdom territory? What if it shows up in Empire territory? Or in the snow?

 

You just have to keep these issues in mind during design. Usually you want to not blend terrains at all, or use various tricks to cover or isolate what you want (like make a little garden for that patch of land and tree). Then test it out on various terrains to make sure.