Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"

The Old Brick
Thanks for your critiques. I've incorporated them into my next Quest conversion of a classic short story, including:

[list]
[*]constant hint system in the Status pane;[/*:m]
[*]response to every verb executed by the reader;[/*:m]
[*]adding / removing verb buttons in the "Places and Objects" pane on the fly as needed;[/*:m]
[*]distributed as a .quest file;[/*:m]
[*]and many more[/*:m][/list:u]
For now, I've consigned "The Tell-Tale Heart" to the scrap heap of learning by experience. :)

jaynabonne
Just a note: if you publish the game (Publish in the Tools menu in Quest), it will create a single .quest file with all your assets inside that can be downloaded and run with the desktop version. (You also need to create a .quest file if you wish to upload it to the TextAdventures website to be played.) The doc will have to be separate, but it will make distributing the game itself much easier.

The Old Brick
jaynabonne, thanks for your note. Would you please clarify a few things for me?

1. So far, I've avoided the "Publish" button like the plague because I don't want to upload a "game" to the textadventures website for public consumption if it isn't ready.

Do you mean to tell me...in the browser version of Quest, if I perform either of these actions:

[list]
[*]Click the "Publish" button for one of my games on the Create / My Games page of the website;[/*:m]
[*](from the Tutorial section "Releasing your game") Select "game" from the tree and click the Publish button in the top-right of the screen[/*:m][/list:u]
the browser version of Quest will ONLY create a .quest file on the C:\ drive of my computer?

2. Then, for any of my games on the Create / My Games page of the website, the difference between the "Publish" button and the "Download" button is...

[list]
[*]"Publish" button creates a .quest file on the C:\ drive of my computer;[/*:m]
[*]"Download" creates a .zip file on the C:\ drive of my computer;[/*:m][/list:u]
3. When I am ready to upload my .quest file to the textadventures website for public consumption, where is the "Upload" link? I've only seen it once buried in the Tutorial section "Releasing your game", which I can't imagine is the best, primary location.

4.

The doc will have to be separate



Should I take that to mean...when Quest creates a .quest file, it only bundles the exact "assets" that **it** wants to see, which doesn't include any documentation files?

In that case, how exactly do Quest game developers provide documentation to potential players?

5. For my "The Tell-Tale Heart" game, I will disable the Command Bar; I only want players to click "verb buttons" in the Places and Objects pane. Thus, I cannot create a "Help" command that players could type into the Command Bar.

Yesterday, I discovered the "Status" pane for a Quest game.

Please tell me that there exists a "Commands" pane where I could put a "Help" command for players to click. If yes, how do I implement it?

If I am disabling the Command Bar and a "Commands" pane does not exist, are there any other straightforward ways to provide in-game help to players?

==========

Sorry for so many questions, but...

Note to Alex: The "Publish" and upload procedures for a Quest game are NOT intuitively obvious to the totally uninitiated !!! They really should be revamped.

jaynabonne
The Old Brick wrote:jaynabonne, thanks for your note. Would you please clarify a few things for me?


Sure. Keep in mind that I've never published an online-edited game before (they're always just been test games), so I might not have all the answers for that side.

The Old Brick wrote:1. So far, I've avoided the "Publish" button like the plague because I don't want to upload a "game" to the textadventures website for public consumption if it isn't ready.

Do you mean to tell me...in the browser version of Quest, if I perform either of these actions:

[list]
[*]Click the "Publish" button for one of my games on the Create / My Games page of the website;[/*:m]
[*](from the Tutorial section "Releasing your game") Select "game" from the tree and click the Publish button in the top-right of the screen[/*:m][/list:u]
the browser version of Quest will ONLY create a .quest file on the C:\ drive of my computer?

If you publish online, the .quest file is generated and published entirely online. You'd have to download the file after publishing to get it to your computer.

The Old Brick wrote:2. Then, for any of my games on the Create / My Games page of the website, the difference between the "Publish" button and the "Download" button is...

[list]
[*]"Publish" button creates a .quest file on the C:\ drive of my computer;[/*:m]
[*]"Download" creates a .zip file on the C:\ drive of my computer;[/*:m][/list:u]

"Publish" in the browser creates and automatically makes available a .quest file online. It saves you having to upload it.
"Download" from the "create" screen allows you to download a zip file which contains the .aslx source for the game. The zip file also includes a backup of the game. I'm not sure when that backup was created. I imagine if you have any assets (images, etc), they will be included in the .zip file, but I've never tried that. However, this is the *source* side of things, not a published .quest file.
The Old Brick wrote:3. When I am ready to upload my .quest file to the textadventures website for public consumption, where is the "Upload" link? I've only seen it once buried in the Tutorial section "Releasing your game", which I can't imagine is the best, primary location.

Click the "Create" button on the textadventures.co.uk site. Then along the top bar, it has "My Games", "Quest", "Squiffy" and "Upload Game". You'd use the last button to upload a .quest file.

When you publish a game, you can mark it as "Unlisted". This is useful if you wish to test how it plays in the online player without exposing it to everyone. You can still send the link to others so they can play it (e.g. friends or private beta testers), but you can control who sees it.

Once you have uploaded a .quest file (private or not), you can get back to it by clicking the "Published" tab on the "Create" page and then clicking "View/edit game listing" for the game in question. You can then "Edit this game" and then change things like its name, visibility, etc, or upload a new file if you've made changes you'd like to publish anew for the existing game.

The Old Brick wrote:4.

The doc will have to be separate



Should I take that to mean...when Quest creates a .quest file, it only bundles the exact "assets" that **it** wants to see, which doesn't include any documentation files?

In that case, how exactly do Quest game developers provide documentation to potential players?


What I mean is: it is quite likely that the Quest publisher will include your doc file in the .quest file, but people will have no way to get to it. A .quest file is an opaque container that people can only play, not grab files out of. You can peek inside a .quest file by renaming it to .zip and opening it, but that's not the way you'd want to deliver your docs to people, I assume. :)

You can link to whatever docs you like in your game description. They will need to be on an external site, but you do have dropbox already, so that would be one way to go.

The Old Brick wrote:5. For my "The Tell-Tale Heart" game, I will disable the Command Bar; I only want players to click "verb buttons" in the Places and Objects pane. Thus, I cannot create a "Help" command that players could type into the Command Bar.

Yesterday, I discovered the "Status" pane for a Quest game.

Please tell me that there exists a "Commands" pane where I could put a "Help" command for players to click. If yes, how do I implement it?

If I am disabling the Command Bar and a "Commands" pane does not exist, are there any other straightforward ways to provide in-game help to players?


One way: create a "Help" object that is in the player's inventory and can't be dropped. It would have a verb like "Look at" or "Get help" or something. (I notice you don't have a player object in your game, using the default constructed one. If you wanted to go this route, just create your own player object and then create a "Help" object inside it.)

Another way: use some HTML to place the help button somewhere. For example, in my current game, I have a bar of links on the bottom instead of the command prompt. If you could describe where you'd like it to be, I should be able to help you get it there. (There isn't a commands pane as such. It would be easier to place a button than to place an entirely new pane, but it has been done before with some difficulty.)

Hope that helps!

The Pixie
jaynabonne wrote:What I mean is: it is quite likely that the Quest publisher will include your doc file in the .quest file, but people will have no way to get to it. A .quest file is an opaque container that people can only play, not grab files out of. You can peek inside a .quest file by renaming it to .zip and opening it, but that's not the way you'd want to deliver your docs to people, I assume. :)

Not that there is any practical difference, but Quest only packages certain types of files. It will include .aslx, .xml, .html and image files, but not .txt and I would guess not .docx.

You can open files from within the game. One approach would be to put the documentation into an HTML file, and output the file to screen when requested.

Another way: use some HTML to place the help button somewhere. For example, in my current game, I have a bar of links on the bottom instead of the command prompt. If you could describe where you'd like it to be, I should be able to help you get it there. (There isn't a commands pane as such. It would be easier to place a button than to place an entirely new pane, but it has been done before with some difficulty.)


I would be very interested to hear how to do this. Could you start a thread in the library code section perhaps?

Avantar
I have downloaded your game and played it and that will be the focus of my reply.

But...As it is anyone can have a look at your source code that may not be desirable. Using publish to create a .quest file won't be online unless you upload it and is far better to hand out. I do not see the problem having it online and just not list your game to the public. You can hand out the link to those who would like to test it. Anyway...

The story is obviously good. The hints helped a lot in the beginning but as you progress and you are unsure of what to do next, trying some actions revealed no hint and I just end up starting at the top and try everything. I do not have sound at the moment and sadly I could not hear the heartbeat - I am sure it would add to the feel of the game.

It is a good idea to ditch the command bar in your game as it is not needed. There is nothing really broken apart from some action you try not doing or saying anything. You will know that I am not mad if you see how cleverly I weaved this exiting suggestion together: :lol:
To make it interesting and perhaps compensating for hints that are not present: Have it work on a point system where every wrong decision deducts points (If you have some) and the correct decision gives you points. So now a player can see if he can get the perfect score.

I did enjoy the story as I haven't read this ever before. :)

jaynabonne
The Pixie wrote:I would be very interested to hear how to do this. Could you start a thread in the library code section perhaps?


Done! Here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4681

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