An object can be an inanimate thing such as a book, or it could be a living person, creature, etc.
Here you can specify various details about how this object should be referred to, and what happens when you look at, examine or speak to it.
Name: Specify the name of the object here. Each object must have a unique name.
Alias: Use an alias if you want several objects to appear to have the same name, or for some other reason want the name of this object that is displayed to the player to be different to the name that is used internally in your script.
Other Names: Click this button to add other names that players might use to refer to this object.
Type: You can select from the following object types:
For types other than "Custom", the properties below are set automatically:
Gender: Specifies the gender of the object - usually "he", "she" or "it". The default is "it". It is used, for example, when you have not specified any "speak" description and the player tries to speak to the object, so that Quest can sensibly reply with "It says nothing", "She says nothing", etc.
Article: Usually "it" or "them". The default is "it". It is used, for example, for the default "take" message - if you have a plural object such as "cards", you should give it an article of "them", so that Quest says "You pick them up" rather than "You pick it up".
Display type: Used in the "Places and Objects" list on the Quest window for the "Type" column.
Do not display in descriptions or object list: If selected, this object will not be shown in the room description, but will be accessible to the player (for taking, speaking to, etc.).
Prefix: This is used in the room description for more natural English - a "robot" object might have a prefix of "a", "the", or even "a massive scary". This would make Quest display "You can see a robot", "You can see a massive scary robot" etc., rather than "You can see robot", which sounds horrible.
Suffix: Much like the prefix, except this is displayed after the object name in the room description. In our robot example we might use something like "which looks like he's going to squash you".
Detail: If you have more than one object with the same alias, and the player tries to take, look at, speak to etc. an object where there is ambiguity (say, there are two objects in the room with an alias of "book", and the player types "look at book"), the "Detail" is what's used in the disambiguation menu. In the case of the book, one might have a detail of "Advanced Calculus" and another "Making Amazing Games With Quest". You should use the "Detail" box, therefore, for a very brief but unique description of an object. If you don't specify the detail, Quest will use a combination of the prefix, displayed object name and suffix.
Parent: Use this to tell Quest that this object is inside (or on top of) another one. For example, if a bag object is on a table, you would set the bag's parent to "table". The parent object must be set up as a container or surface.
Look: Specifies what happens when the player looks at or examines the object by typing "LOOK AT" or "EXAMINE" followed by the object name, respectively. You can either specify some text to print here (usually a description), or you can choose to have a script run instead.
Speak: Specifies what happens when the object is spoken to. You can either specify some text to print (a response, or a description of how the character reacts), or you can specify some script to run instead, perhaps to bring up a menu allowing the player to choose what they want to say.
Add, Remove: Use these to add extra verbs to the object, i.e. things that players can do to it - for example "read", "eat".
Can this object be taken? The default is "No". To make an object able to be taken, select either "Yes" to have Quest automatically move the object to the inventory, or choose "Run a script" if you want something more sophisticated to happen. For example you might want let the player only pick up the object in certain circumstances - in this case, specify a script to run which will add the object to the inventory only if certain conditions are met.
Here you can specify if this object can be dropped everywhere or dropped nowhere, and what message to print when the player drops or tries to drop the object, respectively (if you don't specify a message to print, a default message is printed automatically). If you need more flexibility you can run a script instead when the player tries to drop the object.
Edit "Use" details: Here you can specify what happens when this object is used on something else, and/or what happens when something else is used on this object. You can say which objects can be used on this object, which objects this object can be used on, and more generally, what happens when anything is used on this object or this object is used on anything. You can also specify what happens when this object is used on its own.
Edit "Give" details: As for "Use" details, but here you can specify what happens when this object is given to or received by other objects.
Not a container: Default. This object is not a container, and so other objects cannot be put in it or on top of it.
Container: Lets other objects be put inside this one. The container properties are then enabled so you can specify exactly how this object behaves.
Initially opened: By default, containers are closed, so their contents can't be taken. The contents can't be seen at all when the container is closed, unless it is also transparent. Set "initially opened" if you want the container to be open when the game starts.
Transparent: Lets players see the contents of a container, even when it is closed.
Surface: A surface is like a container, except that objects are on top of it rather than inside.
Open: Specifies what happens when the player tries to open this container. (Not applicable for surfaces)
Close: Specifies what happens when the player tries to close this container. (Not applicable for surfaces)
Add: Specifies what happens when the player tries to add something to this container.
Remove: Specifies what happens when the player tries to remove something from this container.
List: Specifies if and how Quest should list this container's contents when looked at. By default, Quest will list the contents as "It contains" followed by the list. You can turn this off entirely, specify a different description or header, or run a script to create your own custom description. If you want to specify your own header, put a colon at the end to make Quest automatically display the list of objects - for example "Inside it, you can see:"
List empty: Specifies what to display at the end of the description if the object is empty. By default, Quest won't print any additional description.
List closed: Specifies what to display at the end of the description if the object is closed. By default, Quest won't print any additional description. (Not applicable for transparent containers or surfaces)
Edit Properties and Actions: Allows you to set up properties, actions and included types for this object. See the Object Types page for information on using this window.
When this object is gained by a player: Specifies what happens when a player gains this object. Useful if you have script other than the "Take" script that might give the object to the player, and you want something special to happen when the player recieves the object.
When this object is lost by a player: Specifies what happens when a player loses or drops this object.
Unavailable: If selected, this object will be completely inaccessible to the player until it is made accessible from script commands at some point in the game.
Edit Misc ASL Script Tags: Allows you to enter additional ASL tags for this object.