Quest File Writing Manual

PSQ is the quest format, which the website 'planeshift.org' uses to store it's quests. PSQ is short for 'PlaneShift Quest'. In the following I will give an introduction on how to write such a file. If the format is not correct, the program that I use to convert it into a webpage does not function anymore. Please read this file carefully and send me an e-mail if you have questions or something does not work ( webmaster@planeshift.org). It is always helpful, if someone sends me the file for a new quests!

Get an idea by start looking at a couple of existing psq-files. Please download this page as markdown file for better readability

Introduction

Filename

• The filename has to be exactly the name of the quest!
  • Capital letter at the beginning.
  • Most words are capitalized (only few words, such as 'for', start with a small letter).
  • Do not substitute whitespaces or apostrophes (my program takes care of that).
• The suffix of the filename has to be '.psq'.

Syntax introduction

Our program reads the psq-file line by line. Each line has to start with an identifier (except when it is empty). If a line does not start with an identifier or the line is not empty, the program won't work. An identifier consists of one or two words, which are enclosed by brackets.

Possible identifier:

[Comments], [Questname], [NPC Name], [Checkup], [Authors], [Need], [Reward],
[Repeatable], [Info], [To], [Give], [Time], [NPC], [NPC ME], [NPC MY],
[NPC Internal], [NPC Narrate], [Possible Ways], [Way].

Frequency:

• [Questname], [NPC Name], [Checkup] & [Authors] are just allowed one time in the whole document.
• [Need] & [Reward] are just allowed one time in (several) consecutive lines.
• All others are allowed as often as needed.

Identifiers at the Beginning

[Comments]

• Will not be displayed on the website
• Use to write notes for yourself or other people
• E.g. note what still has to be done

[Questname]

• Only allowed 1 time in a '.psq'-file.
• Needs to be exactly written as the quest name in game.
• This will be the same as the filename of the '.psq'-file.
• Whitespaces and apostrophes are allowed.

[NPC Name]

• The name of the NPC that gives the quest.
• It should be the first name followed by the family name and separated by a whitespace.
• Please start both names with a capital letter

[Checkup]

• Leave empty, when date is unknown
• Otherwise you must write date in the form 2018-12-31

[Authors]

• Separate authors by a comma
• If you edit an existing file, add your name
• Also add the person who gave you the information for followup
• You can add describing details in brackats "()" behind the person's name

[Repeatable]

• Write "Yes" or "yes" or "YES", if the quest is repeatable

[Need]

• Can be written in multiple lines. Start everything with [Need]
• We use identifier to specify things you need
• Always only put one item/skill/quest behind an identifier.
• Separate all things-identifier with a semicolon!
• Write "Nothing" if there the quest has no preconditions. (so we know it's checked)

Need-Identifiers:

• "[Winch]": Write "Yes" or "yes" or "YES", if needed
• "[Quest]": Write the questname as displayed in game, which is a precondition
• "[Money]": Add the number in Tria (transform circles, hexas, octas)
• "[Item]": Add a number, a comma and the exact item Name (e.g "10, Rat Eye").
• "[Skill]": Add a number (the skill level), a comma and the exact skill name (e.g. "80, Melee").
• "[Special]": Add anything in the way you deem appropriate.
• OR:
  • Sometimes an NPC accepts different items.
  • The three identifiers can be written instead of a semicolon, a semicolon on one side or semicolons on both sides.
  • "[OR Begin]": Put this at the begging.
  • "[OR]": Put this before every new variant of item(s) that you can give the NPC.
  • "[OR End]": Put this at the end of the OR-section.

Example 1 (one item):

[Need] [Item] 10, Rat Eye <-- only 10 rat eyes are needed

Example 2 (several items):

[Need] [Item] 10, Rat Eye; [Money] 100 <-- 10 rat eyes and 100 tria are needed

Example 3 (multi line):

[Need] [Item] 10, Rat Eye        <-- other notation
[Need] [Money] 100               <-- we still need 10 rat eyes and 100 tria

Example 4 (need options):

# A player needs to be level 10 in melee for a quest.
# Additionally the player EITHER needs 200 tria OR 50 tria plus 6 rat hides.
[Need] [Skill] 10, Melee [OR Begin] [Money] 200 [OR] [Item] 6, Rat Hides; [Money] 50 [OR End]

Core identifiers

[Info]

• You can use this field to display a special information-field on the website.
• This can be used to describe specific tasks that have to be fulfilled.
• Use it for everything that you cannot specify otherwise

[To]

• Write the exact name of the NPC (capital letters, whitespaces, apostrophes)
• Add a [To] line every time you have to switch NPC's
• For a better view, add an empty line before and after

[Give]

• Format: [Give] NPC-Name; amount, item-name; amount, item-name ...
• NPC-name and item-names have to be exact

[Time]

• Sometimes you have to wait for a specific duration until you can continue with the quest.
• I usually put something like "Wait 5 minutes". I does not have to be exact

[NPC]

• This is used to 95% when the NPC is speaking.
• Use this for every line that starts with the NPC-Name (e.g. "Allelia: ..")
• Always add the NPC name in front (e.g. "[NPC] Allelia: ..")

[NPC Internal]

• Use this, when you say something to the NPC
• Do not add your name in front of it, only put the content.

[NPC Narrate]

• Use this, when the storyline adds something
• This is usually indicated by a dash in front and one at the End
• E.g.: [NPC Narrate] -Moren smiles and checks to see Nevis isn't looking.-

[NPC ME] and [NPC MY]

• These two identifiers are also storyline.
• At the moment they have the same markup on the website than [NPC Narrate].
• Sometimes you need this, for example, if you use the log files of the PS Client that get saved onto your computer.
• When you need it, you will know that it is here.

Identifiers at the End

[Reward]

• Exactly the same as [Need]
• However, we have more identifiers that can be used.

Additional Reward-identifier:

• "[XP]": Add only a number.
• "[Faction]":
  • Add a number, a comma and the exact faction name (e.g "10, Art").
  • '1', if you don't know the exact amount, but you know that this faction increased
  • '-1', if you do not know the exact amount, but you know that this faction decreased
• "[Combat Move]": Write the name of the category of the combat move, then add a comma and afterwards write the new combat move that you learned (be exact!).

Multiple Ways identifiers

• Only use the following three identifier, if there are multiple possibilities of finishing the quest.

[Possible Ways]

• Write only a number!
• This will print on the website "Possible Ways: 2"
• You have to use this, before you use [Way]
• It is not possible to have multiple [Possible Ways]. Contact me if you need it.

[Way]

• Before using this, you have to use [Possible Ways]
• Write only a number, start with 1 at first use and increase by one with every use
• You have to use exactly the same amount that you put after [Possible Ways]
• You can also write "[Way] All". From this point onwards, the possibilities have converged and there is only one way to continue the quest.

[Reward]/[Need] [Way X]

• If the rewards/needs are influenced by the way that you take, add a second identifier behind the identifier (e.g. [Reward] [Way 1] ...)
• If there is no second identifier behind [Reward]/[Need], everything behind it is added to to the rewards/needs of all quests
• So, if a quest always gives a skill, use no second identifier, but if it additionally gives different amounts of money, you need to use a second identifier for every(!) way that specifies the amount of money.

Example:

[Reward] [Money] 1000
[Reward] [Way 1] [Item] 10, Rat Eye
[Reward] [Way 2] [Item] 1, Staff
# No matter how the player executes this quest, he will
# always get 1000 tria. However, if he takes way 1, he
# gets 10 rat eyes and if he takes way 2 he gets a staff.