Dialogue
The Purpose of Dialogue
Dialogue is needed in many games to engage and hold players. It can be used to entertain, direct players, provide hints, and provides emotional and narrative context of gameplay, which is highly influenced by game genre and intended audience.
Dialogue gives your Experience a distinctive character, making your Experience unique among thousands.
Dialogue Writing Tips
Level and Narrative Design Collaboration
Technical Guidelines
You can use rich text formatting, but it counts toward character limits.
Spreadsheets make dialogue writing, tracking, and collaboration easier. You can also count characters using the Len() function.
Format and Terms
Speakers - Make statements
Barks: Initial dialog before quest start
Static NPCs: Mini-scenes, moments
Askers - Conversation chunks with player
Quest Dialogue - Asker + Player Response(s)
Organizing Information
Some Experiences do not need a narrative, such as a puzzle game. However, new games are finding clever ways to defy expectations and tell stories through art and minimal dialogue, making the game more memorable and appealing to a broader player audience.
Helpful Details to Include in Your Spreadsheet
List all quests in your Experience considering your game loops and storyboard plans
Will there be side-quests? Will there be branching story (more complex level design)?
Note characters or objects who are givers, receivers, and objectives for each quest
Add a name and 1-2 sentence summary for each character
Add the asset name (Marketplace or Workspaces) to find it easily
Note quest items needed to complete each quest
Note the location for the level designer to place characters, quest items, etc.
Note triggered logic related to quest events, such as visual effects, sounds, weather change, etc.
List of non-essential characters to fill the Experience as needed
Additional Resources
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