forum for GUI only?

sinmantky
09 Jun 2016, 14:09
Hi

I have no programming background, and i cant even make a command to display/list the exits... Been stuck on this for 6 hours... the forum seems to have the answer, but its all in xml codes, which makes no sense to me. Is there a GUI-only topic board here?

Thanks

The Pixie
09 Jun 2016, 14:52
It is not XML, it is Quest code. Quest does use XML, but it is not often posted here. You can tell XML because of all the < and >.

You can flick from GUI to Quest code with the "code view" button. So what you can do is paste code from the forum into your game (or a test game), press the "code view" button, and see what it is in the GUI.

sinmantky
09 Jun 2016, 15:32
ah ok thx.

Perhaps i should learn to code...

XanMag
09 Jun 2016, 15:58
Sounds like good advice and that may work for sinmantky, but I can feel his/her pain. Even many times now (after 1000's of hours using Quest) if I try to paste snippets of code into code view, I don't understand a lot of times why it didn't work correctly. More often than not its a spacing issue or a semi-colon/comma/period/bracketing issue AND most times I have a heck of a time figuring it out. I never learned code and jumping right in is quite difficult - and let's face it, Quest is WAY easier if you understand code, even with a pretty user-friendly GUI.

Thankfully, people like The Pixie and Jay and Pertex and others have been thankfully tolerant and wonderfully persistent when helping me when I don't understand a problem even after a presented solution that should be easy to understand given any background coding experience at all. So thank you to all those that help!

@sinmantky, My advice... Keep using Quest and frequent this forum to ask questions when you run into obstacles. No question is too dumb. I've asked many myself and seen many more. I went through about 1/3 of the tutorial before I just started trying things on my own. I have a dozen or so crap "games" that I started and butchered and fixed and butchered again... Finally I learned enough through trial and error (and seeking help on the forum) to create a pretty large game that I'm proud of and think is good. Also, I tried to create a 'game' that was a GUI tutorial. I stayed away from all code and tried to explain it it GUI terms only. I know the interface is not super-intuitive but if you can get beyond that, I think it is pretty helpful. Search either XanMag or Quest - Turorials and Templates to find this game. Download it. Play it. See if this is a helpful tool. Please make suggestions also for things that you'd like to see or things that you would like changed. I want it to be useful. If you can't find it, you can ask on the forum or PM me.

Good luck and keep gaming!

XanMag

HegemonKhan
09 Jun 2016, 16:29
a lot of us (or mainly just me, lol) are lazy/busy, and helping someone with doing stuff through the GUI~Editor takes a lot more time/effort than just copy and pasting in code to a post, lol.

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so just ignore all of the code posts of mine (or others), and wait for someone to help you in doing the stuff through the GUI~Editor, I used to do this in the far past (if you look at some of my really old posts, I've got some-a few step by step GUI~Editor walkthroughs), but I've been more busy/lazy now, so I just mostly post code.

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if you're (and anyone else too) interested in learning to code, it's really not too confusing/hard, and it definately makes game making much easier/faster, and I'd love to help you (and XanMag and whoever else, if you're ever interested too) with learning to code and understanding quest's coding.

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unfortunately, the quest tutorial, only helps with learning the most basic of things, and teaches you about how to use the GUI~Editor, but unfortunately, these basics of quest and using the GUI~Editor, are still a far cry from actually doing stuff on your own in trying to make a game. XanMag has helped to contribute a transitional 2nd tutorial to help with actually doing stuff on your own in making your game, as he's mentioned with his 'tutorial and templates' game.

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oh, don't worry about the time it takes in (succeeding or still failing - this happens a lot, lol) trying to figure something out. I've taken even months on trying to figure stuff out (or not - failing to figure it out), lol.

I'd suggest pick an amount of time to spend on doing something on your own, and after that time's up, get some help from others here, don't waste any more of your own time.

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working with Commands/etc and working with Lists is very advanced stuff, for someone new to quest and/or coding.

it's a slow process, even with quest's excellent GUI~Editor, to learn how to do the things you want in your game.

I'd recommend with first trying to learn/understand this well:

http://docs.textadventures.co.uk/quest/ ... ation.html

as this gives a taste/sample of how to do stuff/a taste of the training that your brain needs, in how to start thinking/mentality

after you understand this character creation guide,

the main fundamental you need to learn to really do stuff / make a game, is to learn Attribute and the 'if' Script usage, as these two things, especially when used together, lets you do 90% of everything you want to do in your game.

once you get down Attributes and the 'if' Script, then you can start learning harder stuff, like working with Lists, Commands, and etc stuff.

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first, you learn the basics of quest and its GUI~Editor through trying to do as much of the entire tutorial as you can, get people to help you through the parts you don't understand, as it's really important to understand as much of the tutorial as you can, as this stuff is the basics for using quest and its GUI~Editor.

second, now thanks to XanMag, there's a "2nd" and transitional tutorial, his "tutorial and templates" game, which tries to help you transition from the basics of quest of the quest tutorial to actually doing stuff on your own for your own game making.

third, study and learn the "character creation" guide well, as this gives you a taste into the mindset and thinking that your brain needs to be trained in

fourth, is learning the basics of game making, learning Attributes and the 'if' Script. Learning these things, is what really opens up your ability to make a game, to do stuff in your game, to get stuff to work in your game.

onwards, slowly learn more advanced stuff, study the quest doc (to all of the stuff that you can do), and etc.

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if you want to see my own struggle when I started with quest 4 years ago, here's the link:

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3348

I was interested in learning to code, so that's why I jumped right into it, after I somewhat learned the GUI~Editor through the quest tutorial, lol.

Talon
09 Jun 2016, 22:04
The GUI is a great place to start, but as it is there are tons of things it just can't do right, and there are even more that, I'd say most of the skilled people here have a hard time remembering whats in the GUI and what isn't.

I started with next to no coding skill, i knew some of the concepts from doing fun things on a MUD a while back so wasn't a totally blind person to structure, but actual coding was scary, and still is, but through the use of the GUI i became comfortable enough to try new things, and learn, and thus I gain a skill, I encourage people to learn through doing, people here are great at showing you what can be done, and when a silly fellow like me asks a dumb question most times they come and show me.. "Oh" Thats where the parameter for a function belongs..

Even just copy and pasting code really isn't enough until you develop a certain feel on how things work conceptually..but that'll come in time

HegemonKhan
10 Jun 2016, 00:42
the problem for the GUI~Editor for me personally, while the GUI~Editor actually can do nearly everything, trying to figure out how to do that stuff in the GUI~Editor (what [xxx] option of a Script to use and etc) is very cryptic (confusing) for me, and while you can learn by switching from the GUI~Editor to how it translates to code (and vice-versa), the difference between them makes it almost more trouble than it's worth in trying to match up, and remember the match up, between the GUI~Editor and in-code (unless this is the only way for you to learn).

sinmantky
10 Jun 2016, 09:03
Hi all, thanks for the comments.

I use playmaker and Fungus on Unity3D, which allows me to make within a day using nodes and logics. I was hoping Quests' GUI was like that (it is, to a certain degree), you know, connecting nodes with D&D.

Maybe an external addon may allow that one day?

Thanks