If you haven't already refer to HELP TRIGEDIT-MOB-TUTORIAL. The process is the same: 1. Decide what you want the trigger to do. 2. Make the mobs, objects, and rooms. 3. Split up the quest into simple sections. 4. Decide what trigger types you need. 5. Write the triggers. 6. Attach the triggers - permanently 7. Done ? Decide what you want the trigger to do. First determine the type of trigger you want: Room, Mobile, or Object. Then decide what action you want to activate the trigger. Doing this before worrying what can be done prevents you from limiting yourself to what you have seen other triggers do, and allows you to produce a more interesting trigger. For this example, I want to create a gate guard for a small walled town. The ruler of the town has decided that each group of people will be charged ten coins to enter his domain. The gate guard must notify travelers of the cost to enter, collect the money, allow people who have paid to enter the city, and close the gate after them. This will be a mob trigger. Make the mobs, objects, and rooms. Split up the quest into simple sections. Decide what trigger types you need. HELP TRIG-TYPE Our gate guard needs to react to four different events. These events are what will cause the triggers to fire. Remember: a trigger requires a "triggering" action. i.e. speech, command, greet, etc. 1. A character entering the room from the south needs to be told the price for entrance. This will be a mobile greet trigger. HELP TRIG-MOB-GREET 2. When the guard is given ten or more coins, the guard must open the gate. This is done by a mobile bribe trigger. HELP TRIGEDIT-MOB-BRIBE I also want the guard to give change and refuse entry for those without the money. 3. When someone passes through the gate, the guard must close and lock the gate behind them. This is done with a mobile act trigger. HELP TRIG-MOB-ACT 4. When the gate is opened from the other side, the guard must eventually close it. This will be another act trigger. Determine the arguments and the numerical arguments of the triggers from the help files. For the bribe trigger, the guard must respond whenever someone gives him some coins, so Numeric Arg should be 1. The Act triggers should fire off "leaves north" and "the gate is opened from the other side." Write the body of the trigger. This is the most complex and time consuming part. The valid commands and variables are explained in the help files HELP TRIG-COMMANDS and HELP VARIABLES. Expressions are also used: HELP EXPRESSIONS For the greet trigger, I want the guard to inform anyone entering from the south how to get into the city. First, I must check if the character is entering from the south. If they are then the guard should tell the actor the cost of entry. TSTAT 4 Under HELP TRIG-MOB-GREET we see that the variable %direction% is set to the direction that the character entered. The percent signs around any word means it is a variable and it can be found in HELP VARIABLES. The two equal signs together compares the value of the variable to the word "south" if these are equal the lines in the body of the if will be executed. The "wait 1 sec" pauses the trigger for 1 second to allow the character to enter the room. (The greet trigger is actually checked before the character enters the room. After another brief pause, the guard announces the cost to enter the town. The indentations are not needed, but make it easier to read. You can auto-indent a trigger by using /f or /fi. This is HIGHLY encouraged. Remember, every if needs an end! The guard must open the gate if ten or more coins were given to him. TSTAT 5 After a brief wait (so everything doesn't happen at once), the guard unlocks the gate and opens it. The guard will close the gate after 10 seconds, even if no one passes through it. For the line "give %amount% coins %actor.name%", the variables amount and actor are both set when the bribe trigger is called, these variables are automatically substituted. For the first act trigger, I want the guard to close and lock the gate after someone passes through the gate. The guard should wait briefly so he isn't shutting the gate on the character's back, then close and lock the gate. TSTAT 7 For the last act trigger we want the guard to close and lock the gate when it is opened from the other side. TSTAT 8 The "wait 5 sec" gives time for someone on the other side to get through the gate. Next decide the order of the triggers. The triggers are checked from first to last. If there are two triggers of the same type, the first one run will be the only one run. There are is one set of triggers which are the same type, the act triggers. Since both have arguments that will not occur together the order does not matter. Write the trigger. Simply use trigedit to create your trigger and they will be auto-saved for you when you exit the editor. HELP TRIGEDIT, HELP TRIGEDIT-MENU for help Attach the triggers. In the OasisOLC medit, redit, oedit menus, use menu option S to enter the trigger menu. Then select the triggers that will be part of your trigger. Note, that order is important! If there are two possible triggers that could both be executed at the same time, only the first one found in the list will be activated. In this example. If you require two of the same trigger types to work you must use a return 0. HELP RETURN-0 Test the trigger. You should see how the trigger actually works in the game, and watch other people interact with it. Often you will see ways you can improve it. GOTO 13 and work your way north to test these out. Triggers 4, 5, 7, 8 See also:: TRIG-EXAMPLES, TRIG-GAMES