Displaying Quests
It's best to first read Questing for the theory and Talk Objective for the practical!
In this tutorial, you will learn how to display quest information to players using Typewriter's quest tracking system and placeholders.
Understanding Quest Tracking
Typewriter uses facts to track quest progress behind the scenes. These facts determine the state of your quests, but to actually display quest information to players, you need to track a specific quest.
Think of quest tracking as a spotlight. While many quests might be active, tracking puts one quest in the spotlight for the player to focus on.
How Tracking Works
When a quest is tracked, it becomes the "highlighted" quest that players see in their quest displays. This tracked quest becomes the focus for all display systems like scoreboards, sidebars, and custom UIs, keeping players focused on their current objective.
While many quests can be active simultaneously, only one quest can be tracked at a time. This keeps the player focused and prevents UI clutter.
Setting Up Quest Tracking
Automatic Tracking
Typewriter automatically tracks quests in these situations:
- When a quest becomes active
- When an objective becomes active and has a higher priority than the currently tracked objectives
This means in most cases, you won't need to manually manage quest tracking. Typewriter handles it intelligently!
Manual Tracking
Sometimes you want full control over which quest is tracked.
You can manually track a quest using the command:
/tw quest track <quest_id>
Or by using the Track Quest Action entry in your quest flow.
Displaying Quest Information with Placeholders
Now that you understand tracking, let's look at how to actually display quest information to players. Typewriter provides several placeholders that dynamically show information about the currently tracked quest.
Available Placeholders
| Placeholder | Description | Example Output |
|---|---|---|
%typewriter_tracked_quest% | The display name of the tracked quest | Kill Zombie Quest |
%typewriter_tracked_objectives% | A comma-separated list of the quest's active objectives | Kill 2 Zombies, Return to Oliver |
%typewriter_tracked_objectives_locations% | The locations of the tracked locatable objectives | X: 100, Y: 64, Z: -200 |
Sidebar Display
If Typewriter is managing your sidebar, you can use the Objective Lines Entry to display the objectives of the tracked quest.
A possible setup for the sidebar could be:
Notice how the objectives lines doesn't use the placeholder
- Quest Display Manifest
This is an interactive graph of all the entries in the selected pages.
You can view different pages by clicking on the tabs. Each page contains a view of the entries in that page.
Click on an entry to view its details.
Quest Status Changes
You can also display visual feedback when quests become active or are completed. This creates satisfying feedback for players and helps them understand their progress.
Common approaches include:
- Title announcements when a quest starts or completes
- Particle effects to celebrate quest completion
- Sound effects for important quest milestones
- Chat messages for quest updates
An example setup for this could be:
- Quest Display Sequence
This is an interactive graph of all the entries in the selected pages.
You can view different pages by clicking on the tabs. Each page contains a view of the entries in that page.
Click on an entry to view its details.
While visual feedback is great, avoid overwhelming players with too many effects. A simple title or sound can be more impactful than elaborate animations.