[DISCUSSION] State of the repo / Forien's Quest Log Update (Maintenance Only Now)

[typhonrt]

Edit (09/06/22): FQL is dead; long live FQL! A significant major release FQL v0.7.10 is publicly available for Foundry v9 & v10.

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Greets all,

I want to thank the League of Extraordinary Foundry Developers for the opportunity to significantly maintain and improve FQL over the 0.7.x release series. This release series has come to a close and FQL has never been in a better position to continue functioning. This issue / discussion covers the current state and the future for FQL in the League's stewardship.

Presently FQL is entering pure maintenance mode once again and awaits Forien to reclaim it. As the lead developer on the 0.7.x series I'll still be around and fix any bugs reported against FQL. However, new features are not planned under my guidance at this time for FQL. I feel that the vision imparted by Forien in the initial FQL codebase is fully realized. I also added several features / enhancements over the 0.7.x series of releases including a complete rewrite of the codebase bringing significant stability and performance.

You may have noticed that all the enhancement issues are no longer in this source repository. I am continuing work on the next evolution of the quest log, but under a new module that will hopefully be released before the v9 launch of Foundry. There will be an upgrade path to this new module. This new module will continue from FQL, but be my vision of where the quest log can go and includes a whole new UI tech stack and underlying architecture that will supercharge the quest log into the future providing a fantastic user experience. The enhancements have been moved to this new repo and further work on the new quest log commences here: typhonjs-fvtt/quest-log.

I'll be live streaming my coding on the new quest log here for those interested on checking up on ongoing progress. You can also join the TyphonJS Discord server to keep updated on progress.

Thanks again to all involved especially the passionate user base from GMs to players using FQL! Happy questing!

[Terrox]

What is not compatible with v10?
With Minimum v11? it can't be installed or upgraded on v10 now.

[typhonrt]

With Minimum v11? it can't be installed or upgraded on v10 now.

There aren't new features for the v11 release. Alas there are foundry core warnings that trigger for v9 / v10 that can't be removed without upgrading minimum support. To give a smooth experience and not trigger warnings for those on v11 I made the most recent release only v11 compatible. Don't worry though as FQL is in a stable spot. Install the version for v10 and when you move to v11 then upgrade.

You should be able to install the version for v10 by selecting that one I believe or it should show you the compatible version in the Foundry package manager.

[Terrox]

So if the minimum version in the .json is not v11 then v11 throws warnings? that's really silly of v11 I think.

[typhonrt]

So if the minimum version in the .json is not v11 then v11 throws warnings? that's really silly of v11 I think.

I believe it was due to the database switch in v11. To support the old and new database format for the FQL GM macro compendium which is "private" or only accessible by the GM the configuration changed and there was no way to set things for both pre v11 and post v11 without a warning generated. I originally planned to move the FQL macro compendiums to a built in settings menu inside FQL, but alas didn't have the time to complete that thus the path of least resistance / no warnings was to just bump the minimum to v11.

In this case though the FQL version you can install for v10 is the same as the v11 version / no new features; just the same rock solid experience. So, don't worry in this case as you are not missing out on any new features staying on v10 for a bit longer.

As far as the quest log goes. I'd like to do a solid rewrite / spend 5 months full time really taking it further sometime next year, but a successful crowd funding round to support such development needs to occur as I can't continue to just "work for free"; worse than that as I've put ~1100 hours into developing FQL to where it is now and let's just say it wasn't cheap for me to do that.

I will continue to maintain FQL and make sure it stays issue free, but new feature development needs to be supported by the community if there is enough interest to do so.

[Drazev]

Heya Typhonrt,

Two questions. Is this the repository that you intend to do the re-write or is it another one? I saw your other quest log but it didn’t show an update for 3 years so I figured it was abandoned.

I’m just wondering because I’m graduating soon and once I’ve established myself I will likely pick a module I use frequently and contribute. I made a minor contribution to another module and dabbled in making my own to get some familiarity with the way foundry works. This is one of the modules I wanted to consider because I use it heavily in my campaign setting to track key events and decisions the party has made along with rewards.

I would love to see the module expand the so that it can handle rewards properly (I know this is planned), but also to perhaps be more compatable with journal modules like monks (for images), carry encounter information for the GM (likely via a link to a journal entry page), and record events that go beyond quest failed or succeeded.

I’m also considering making a module that is just about creating events and states that can be triggered by quests or manually by the GM and become part of a record or storyline. The intent would be so they could be used and tracked over the story so the GM and players can build on the context of their story and have outcomes affect things. If I did such a module I would want to make it compatable with this one since quest outcomes would be a great way to trigger events.

[typhonrt]

Hi @JaysonMendoza

Indeed, work on expanding features has slowed down because FQL is rock solid stable. It's a fine balance to keep that high level of quality vs adding new features. A lot of work in the past is managing migration of quest data when the underlying Foundry core API changes. Hopefully most of that is in the past. I do an update per Foundry core release and add small quality of life improvements.

For the v12 update in regard to rewards I'm adding the capability to add actors as rewards. This allows Item Piles loot chests to be added as rewards or other game system loot mechanisms that usually use actors. FQL is game system agnostic, so it is best to defer to other modules that handle the complexity of game system specific data. I'll also be adding a players notes tab like the GM one for players to add notes to a given quest.

FQL is already compatible with Monks Enhanced Journal. You can drop in as a quest giver any of the extended journal types available in MEJ w/ image support. You can already link other journals in any of the editor fields for encounter linking.

There is a public API for integrating other modules with FQL that could receive better documentation, so it already is possible to link FQL to a module that you create for extended event tracking that can manipulate quests status / create new quests, etc.

Regarding the "new" quest log. I started down that path working with Svelte, but instead of keeping all of that effort just for the quest log I created a robust framework for Svelte on Foundry. I turned to working on that full time over the past 2+ years and made it generally available for all developers to utilize in creating 3rd party packages for Foundry. I run a Discord server supporting it and the main demo resources are here.

While all of that effort makes a fantastic base to create a next-gen quest log the main problem is just the cost to do so. I'm a pro developer and Foundry has not developed over the past 3 years to adequately support pro development / high quality modules by offering a streamlined marketplace, so my interest in developing Foundry packages is limited. I used $30k (post taxes) of my own funds to get FQL to where it is today. I simply have no interest in spending more of my funds giving them away and thus this is why things have stalled in general and my interest has waned.

I'm using Foundry as an incubator for all of my Svelte framework efforts and it's nice having early developers using it. I'm moving towards releasing it to the wider Svelte community / general web dev purposes.

All that being said I do appreciate your enthusiasm to get involved. I think the v12 update will remedy to rewards situation and I'd be glad to find a way to either get you to contribute or start working with the public API for integration with other module plans that you might have.