Build a multi-objective quest

This tutorial continues Build a quest. It creates three objectives that the player can finish in any order. An accusation dialogue then selects a successful or failed ending.

Detective Rowan Hale investigates a death at Blackthorn Manor. The player must inspect the crime scene and recover a ledger. Questioning a witness provides the final lead before an accusation.

The completed quest uses this flow:

Main flow
Quest
  -> Start Dialogue: At the Crime Scene
  -> Inspect the scene
  -> Recover the missing ledger
  -> Question the witness
  -> Gate: all three are complete
  -> Start Dialogue: Make an accusation
  -> Hub: who was accused?
       -> either suspect -> Complete Quest (Success)
       -> witness -> reprimand dialogue -> Complete Quest (Failure)

Parallel listener bodies
InspectedScene flag    -> Update "Inspect the scene"           -> Return
RecoveredLedger flag  -> Update "Recover the missing ledger"  -> Return
QuestionedWitness flag -> Update "Question the witness"        -> Return

Create the characters

Create five Character entities. Add a character explains the complete process. Enter these names, IDs, roles, and stock portraits:

Character	External ID	Role	Stock portrait
Detective Rowan Hale	DetectiveRowanHale	Player character with Role set to Protagonist	male-5.png
Lord Ambrose Blackthorn	LordAmbroseBlackthorn	Victim	male-2.png
Ada Finch	AdaFinch	Witness	female-2.png
Lady Beatrice Blackthorn	LadyBeatriceBlackthorn	Suspect	female-6.png
Julian Blackthorn	JulianBlackthorn	Suspect	male-7.png

The victim doesn't speak in this tutorial, but a character entity makes later expansion easier. The other characters act as dialogue speakers.

The portrait instructions explain how to import several stock images together. Assign the portraits from the table.

Create the quest and variables

In Quests & Dialogues, add a Quest named BlackthornMurder. Set its title to Murder at Blackthorn Manor and add a short description.

Create four variables in the Variables view. Your game changes the first three when the player completes the related activity.

Name	Type	Default	Changed when
BlackthornMurder_InspectedScene	boolean	false	The player inspects the study
BlackthornMurder_RecoveredLedger	boolean	false	The player recovers the ledger
BlackthornMurder_QuestionedWitness	boolean	false	The player finishes questioning Ada
BlackthornMurder_Accused	string	empty	The accusation dialogue records the choice

Game code writes the progress flags. The accusation dialogue writes BlackthornMurder_Accused, which the quest reads after the dialogue ends.

Add the opening dialogue

Create a Dialogue named BlackthornCrimeScene with the title At the Crime Scene. Add these lines for Lady Beatrice and Julian:

Lady Beatrice

Lord Blackthorn lies here in the study. The room remains untouched.

Julian

His ledger is missing. Both heirs now look suspicious.

End the conversation after Julian's line. Return to BlackthornMurder, add a Start Dialogue after the Quest Node, and select the entry of BlackthornCrimeScene. The quest resumes after the conversation ends.

Introduce the objectives

After the opening Start Dialogue node, add three Objective nodes in sequence. Each node introduces its task and immediately continues, so all tasks appear before the quest waits.

Configure the objectives with these values:

Name	Objective Type	Fields
Inspect the scene	Generic	No additional fields
Recover the missing ledger	Fetch	Set itemTypeId to missing_ledger and count to 1
Question the witness	TalkTo	Set targetId to AdaFinch

Leave Optional and Hidden off. Objective Type tells your game which behavior to monitor. Narratyr doesn't perform the activity. Use Generic for an activity without a matching Fetch, Kill, or TalkTo type.

Wait for all progress

Add a Gate after the third Objective and select Wait on Expression. Enter this condition:

(
  BlackthornMurder_InspectedScene
  && BlackthornMurder_RecoveredLedger
  && BlackthornMurder_QuestionedWitness
)

The Gate resumes only after all three values become true. The game can update them in any order. Introducing objectives in sequence doesn't require the player to complete them in sequence.

For a condition with several clauses, wrap the expression in parentheses and place each && or || clause on another line. This formatting keeps the Gate narrow and shows the grouping.

Update objectives from listeners

The Gate controls the main flow, but each objective should update as soon as its activity finishes. Add three Event Listener nodes away from the main path.

Listener condition	Update Objective target
BlackthornMurder_InspectedScene	Inspect the scene
BlackthornMurder_RecoveredLedger	Recover the missing ledger
BlackthornMurder_QuestionedWitness	Question the witness

Connect each Event Listener to an Update Objective node. Select the matching objective and leave Completion Status set to Completed. Add a Return after each update.

Leave Async off because these short branches don't pause. Return resumes the flow that was active when the value changed.

An Event Listener runs when its condition changes from false to true. The matching objective completes immediately, while the main flow can remain at the Gate. Each listener runs independently, so the player can finish the tasks in any order.

The 006 Parallel Multi-Objective Any Order Quest graph in EngineTest.ntproj uses the same pattern. Listeners update individual objectives, and one Gate checks overall progress.

Create the accusation dialogue

Add a Dialogue named BlackthornAccusation. Set Rowan Hale as the speaker and enter this opening line:

One of you killed Lord Blackthorn.

Add another Dialogue Node with Rowan as its speaker. Leave the line empty and add these choices:

• Accuse Lady Beatrice.
• Accuse Julian.
• Accuse Ada, the witness.

The choices belong to the node for Rowan because the player selects the detective's words. Connect each choice to an Instruction node and then to an End Conversation node. Name each Instruction after its choice and assign the matching value:

BlackthornMurder_Accused = "LadyBeatrice"

BlackthornMurder_Accused = "Julian"

BlackthornMurder_Accused = "Ada"

The Instruction nodes can share one End Conversation node. When the dialogue ends, the quest resumes after its Start Dialogue node.

Branch on the accusation

Return to BlackthornMurder. Add Start Dialogue after the Gate and select the entry of BlackthornAccusation. The quest pauses while the dialogue runs and continues after the player selects an accusation.

Add a Hub Node after Start Dialogue. Create three outputs with these conditions:

BlackthornMurder_Accused == "LadyBeatrice"

BlackthornMurder_Accused == "Julian"

BlackthornMurder_Accused == "Ada"

The Hub immediately follows the output with a true condition. The Gate waited for progress, while the Hub selects from an existing result.

Add the endings

Connect the Lady Beatrice and Julian outputs to Complete Quest nodes with Success status. Either suspect produces a successful result for this tutorial.

For the Ada output, create a short Dialogue named WitnessReprimand. Start it from the Ada branch and add this line:

Lady Beatrice

Detective, Ada is the witness. Stop accusing the person who called for help.

End the dialogue and connect its branch to a Complete Quest node with Failure status. Both suspect branches succeed, while the witness accusation fails after the reprimand.

Arrange the completed graph

Use Auto Arrange on the quest. The main path should run from the objective introductions to the Gate and accusation dialogue. The Hub branches to two Success nodes and one reprimand that ends in Failure. Each Event Listener remains outside the main path and ends with Return.

You can extend this pattern with another objective. Introduce the objective, add a listener that updates it, and add its condition to the final Gate. The listener maintains the objective state, while the Gate defines when the main flow continues.