Quests¶

TaleNode includes a quest/journal system for tracking multi-step objectives that span across dialogue trees. Define quests with objectives, then trigger them from Event nodes during dialogue.

Managing Quests¶

Open the Quests panel via View > Quests in the menu bar. The panel appears as a dockable tab.

Adding a Quest¶

Click + Add Quest to create a new quest with:

Field	Default	Description
Name	`"New Quest"`	Quest title shown to the player
Description	`""`	Optional quest summary
Status	`NotStarted`	Current state of the quest

Editing a Quest¶

Each quest has a collapsible section in the Quests panel:

Name: Click to edit the quest title
Description: Click to edit the quest description

Adding Objectives¶

Click + Objective within a quest to add an objective. Each objective has:

Field	Type	Description
Text	String	Objective description (e.g., "Find the key")
Optional	Bool	Whether this objective is required for quest completion

Removing Quests and Objectives¶

Click X next to a quest to remove it and all its objectives
Click X next to an objective to remove just that objective

Quest Event Actions¶

Use Event nodes to control quest progression during dialogue. Three action types are available:

Action	Description
`start_quest`	Begins a quest (sets status to InProgress)
`complete_objective`	Marks a specific objective as complete
`fail_quest`	Marks a quest as Failed

Set the Key field to the quest name (or QuestName.ObjectiveName for objectives) and configure accordingly.

Quest Status¶

Quests have four possible states:

Status	Description
NotStarted	Quest has not been triggered yet
InProgress	Quest is active, objectives may be pending
Completed	All required objectives are done
Failed	Quest was explicitly failed via an event

Export¶

Quests are included in the JSON export:

{
  "quests": [
    {
      "name": "Find the Lost Artifact",
      "description": "The elder has asked you to recover the ancient artifact.",
      "objectives": [
        { "text": "Talk to the elder", "optional": false },
        { "text": "Search the ruins", "optional": false },
        { "text": "Find the secret passage", "optional": true }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

The quests array is omitted when no quests are defined. The description field is omitted when empty.

Markdown Export¶

Quests also appear in Markdown exports as a checklist:

## Quests

### Find the Lost Artifact

The elder has asked you to recover the ancient artifact.

- [ ] Talk to the elder
- [ ] Search the ruins
- [ ] *(optional)* Find the secret passage

Runtime Integration¶

Your game engine should:

Load the quests array and initialize all quests as NotStarted
When a start_quest event fires, find the quest by name and set its status to InProgress
When a complete_objective event fires, mark the matching objective as complete
When all non-optional objectives are complete, set the quest status to Completed
When a fail_quest event fires, set the quest status to Failed
Display active quests and objectives in your game's journal UI

Tips¶

Tip

Mark side content as optional objectives. This lets completionists track extra goals without blocking main quest progression.

Tip

Use descriptive quest names — they appear in Event node summaries on the canvas, making it easy to see quest flow at a glance.

Tip

Combine quests with Condition nodes to gate dialogue based on quest progress. For example, check if a quest is InProgress before showing certain dialogue options.