The Quest Start Timer node and End Timer nodes can be used to set a time limit on a series of one or more nodes.
The best way to understand it is in the example Quest below.
Quest with Timer
In this example when a student receives this Quest, instructions will be displayed telling the student that they have 15 minutes to earn 3 Great Idea coins as shown in the Add Instructions node.
Immediately a timer labelled "15 Minute Timer" will appear and start counting down as configured in the Start Timer node.
Next, CritterCoin will wait for the sooner of two things..
- The student earning 3 coins as configured in the Earn a Coin node
- Start Timer timing out and triggering the On Timeout output.
When either of those two things occur, the End Timer node is triggered. If the node was triggered by the On Timeout the Success output will be triggered, otherwise the Timed out output will be triggered.
If the Success output of the End Timer was triggered the Add Message node will congratulate the student and End the Quest with a Pass status, otherwise the Quest will End with a Fail status.
Pro Tip: There is no reason that timed section of the Quest, in this Earn a Coin couldn't be a series of nodes with multiple activities.