RPGDX > Forums > Design and programming > How to program conversations...?

Guest · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 7:57 am Post subject: How to program conversations...?

EY guys im currently working on my first ever game.... and im having problems in implementing conversation in my game.... would i need to hardcode all conversation or is there better way to do it?

DarkDread · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 4:45 pm Post subject:

It's not too difficult to script your conversations. All you really need to do, is write a quick routine, which reads a few lines from a file, then displays 'em on screen, and loops back again for the next few lines. That alone, is enough so that you can write super long convos, and lots of convos, without having to add a lot of code. Just call your little routine, and pass it the name of the text file you want it to read from, then in the routine, have it open that textfile, and do its thing.

Hope that helps a little.
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Bjorn · Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2003 7:32 pm Post subject:

Unless you want to continue other stuff at the same time... our conversation box is like a state machine with logic update and render functions being called on it all the time. That makes it more complicated.

Maybe a simple solution to that problem would be using another thread. But threads introduce many other stuff to keep you mind on, so until now I've been evading them.

Jebediah · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 4:30 am Post subject: Conversation

To avoid hard coding conversations you are going to hafta make scripts as already said. Easy stuff.

Use conditions and pages with scripts to make building conversations easier. RPGMaker does this.

A script can have up to .... say 4 pages. A page is a part of the script. Each page has conditions that hafta be met before that script page is executed.

So....if you wanted someone to say something different the second time you talked to him use the following:

valderman · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 9:27 pm Post subject:

IMO, a good scripting language should be more flexible than that, but it all depends on your needs, I guess.
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Rainer Deyke · Demon Hunter Joined: 05 Jun 2002 Posts: 672

In my opinion the scripting language should be "nicer" than the language in which the game is written. Otherwise why bother with a scripting language at all? Too many people use scripting just because they heard that it's the thing to do, rather than for some sort of concrete benefit.

Here's a sample script from Feyna's Quest:

Jebediah · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 11:09 pm Post subject: RPG scripting

If we are talking rpg scripting then there is no point in building something more flexible. What can you not do with pages and conditions in a rpg that any other script can't?

Pages and conditions only appeal to rpg's although. I am not taking credit for this design tho....stole it from rpgmaker. Works for them and works for me.
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LeoDraco · Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2003 11:43 pm Post subject: Re: RPG scripting

valderman · Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2003 6:04 pm Post subject:

If you have a flexible scripting engine, not only can you use it for a lot more things than conversations and cutscenes in your game, it is also very nice to have a reusable scripting system, which doesn't have to be altered depending on the game/utility you're making.
For example, when building a map you might have some "sequences" of tiles/objects you are using a lot, or perhaps you want to get a nice random look to your forest, then creating a script for each of these actions will speed up the creation of your map a good deal. The best thing is, if your scripting is flexible enough, you only have to add ~5 lines of code to your map editor. (More if you want to integrate it nicely in the interface.)
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spearor2 · Guest

Valderman, integrating it in the map editor is indeed a great idea.
Though it's hard managing it, right now i'm busy incorparating some script
options in my map editor to a certain extent. But i find it hard as hell.

Best thing is i think to have some script (as talk, and npc inventory etc. char related stuff) attached with the npc, and other things like npc AI, behaviour and location of course in a map script.

LeoDraco · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2003 5:49 am Post subject:

valderman · Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2003 10:09 pm Post subject:

gnuthole · Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2003 11:49 pm Post subject:

If you really are new to this conversation scripting and programming thing, I highly recommend that you don't overcomplicate matters. If not, then read this anyway for some free advice :).

Just keep in mind what exactly you want to accomplish with this textbox. For example, you might want the box to appear in a certain position on the screen, maybe character-by-character displaying of text, or perhaps something as simple as a window that shows some pre-wrapped text, waiting for the player to press a key.

Equally as important, make sure you have an idea on how you are going to accomplish programming these features. For example, if you haven't a clue on how to make a text parser that makes sense of a complicated script, just don't make one. Opt instead for the simple textfile approach, just a bunch of lines of text organised into a series of .txts. If you can't make text appear char-by-char, don't worry about it. Achieve the the goal of getting the text box itself to appear (from external files or otherwise), and, on the presumption that you are putting the routine itself in its own module/function/whatever, you can reprogram it at a later stage to include more advanced features.