Hard-coded functions and library functions

Quest Viva functions fall into two types, hard-coded and library. Generally when you are creating a text adventure, you will see no difference, but just occasionally it might be significant.

Library Functions

Most of the Quest Viva functions are written in Quest Viva’s own coding language. These library functions are just like functions you create yourself, the only difference is that the work has been done for you.

You can find that code by clicking the “Filter” button at the bottom left of the editor and selecting “Show library elements” — this shows a long list of all those functions. You can override these functions, replacing the library version with your own version.

Hard-coded Functions

There are also several dozen functions that are hard-coded. These are written in a programming language called C#, and then compiled to be part of the software running Quest Viva. The same is true of script commands, and in fact from a technical point of view, these functions are more like script commands, which are also coded in C#, than the library functions.

Hard-coded functions will not be found in .aslx files and will not appear in the list if you show library elements. Quest Viva functions are usually strict about the number of parameters, but C# allows optional parameters, so some hard-coded functions have optional parameters. Others are just as strict - but will produce different error messages if they do not like the number of parameters you sent them.

Perhaps the most important point to be aware of is that the Quest Viva editor will let you add a function with the same name as a hard-coded function (more easily than when overriding a library function in fact), but when you play the game, it will just get ignored.