Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 9-7. A dialog tree planned out.
A tree like this shows you, the game programmer, what to write in your script to make the
conversation take place. Where the tree branches out, the player has a choice of responses. When
it doubles back, it means that the line of enquiry is finished and the player can now go back to ask
about something else.
When you plan these out, remember to think about what your characters are like and what
they are likely to say. Again, we have to stress that dialog should always be kept tight. Make sure
your dialog has a purpose in the game; a lot of players don't like to read extensive text. Every
sentence in the tree in Figure 9-7 has a purpose, either in the story or in the game play. For
example, the line: Archie will show me, he can lead me to her is important information to the
player that the parrot will act as a guide, and Flynn accepts the call to adventure with the line: Yes
dad. I think she needs my help . Even if they do all have a purpose, all these lines might be too
much. With dialog in games, less is always more.
Cut Scenes
We will also be using cut scenes, mostly as introductions to new levels and as rewards after
defeating end-level bosses. It would fit in nicely with the cut out style if we drew the cut scenes as
comic book pages. The camera will pan down the page, letting the player read the cut scene.
What we need to do then is to plan them out carefully and this is usually best done using a rough
storyboard style.
 
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