Notes on branching dialogue

gammadelta2

I am wondering what everyone uses to accurately keep track of their branching dialogue. I've seen so really complex ones out there, that really go deep. Do you write it on paper with the arrows, in which case you would need poster board sized. Or a program downloaded, or just enter it in as you think of it, the paste back and forth for spell checking. Just curious.

cpc2011a

I think pen and paper would be the standard tools for starting the outline of a flowing story. Perhaps later moving to a spreadsheet (such is my case). Why a spreadsheet? Because there're times I can't read my own writting, and it seems (for me) to have an easy to picture way to split/branch options.

I've only recently starting feeling my way around the foundry, and find some of it confusing, some of it simple, some of it lacking (like no actual ability to add triggers). However, if the ideas that are in my head do manage to find their way to paper, I think the only way I'll be able to keep track is by also using a visual tool also.

maziken

I don't necessarily write everything down ahead of time, but I do create a quick branch in the Foundry with short, descriptive answers and notes so I know what each branch is. Then I go back and fill in the dialog as I want.

pendra3780

I always have a piece of paper and a pencil nearby, just in case. But I keep the entire story and all the branches and dialogs in my head.

drogyn1701

I have not thus far done the sort of crazy-complicated branching dialogues that a lot of people have, possibly a failing on my part, but when I write, it's usually in a word processor first. My process is usually putting an empty line between each line of dialogue. Sometimes if I want to branch something off I'll start writing in brackets in those empty spaces.

But a lot of the time, any branching I do I create it and write it when I'm copying over from the word processor to the Foundry.

nagorak

Are you talking about things like this:

Atlas Affair, Part 2, Qig's Computer Dialogue

Sadly, that probably is not even the most complex dialogue I've made. I think that I have a number that are more complex than that.

To answer your question, no I don't keep track of it in any way besides in the Foundry editor. I just write everything in the editor and do my best not to make mistakes. My spelling and typing skills are generally quite good, so this works for the most part, although I know a few mistakes probably do end up getting made.

In my opinion it's just too impractical to be moving between a word processor and the Foundry dialogue editor. There is no good way to track branching dialogues outside of the Foundry.

However, in those cases where I need to transfer a dialogue to another location (and can't simply duplicate the map dialogue), what I do is use Notepad, and the following format:


Initial Dialogue Box:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Etiam non ultricies turpis. Nunc at rutrum ante. Quisque nulla dolor, mollis eget pretium eu, fringilla eu purus. Quisque eget dolor non ligula laoreet mollis sed vel ligula.

--- Branch 1 Button Text

Quisque massa lacus, rutrum sed varius eget, fermentum nec enim. Vestibulum ut risus at est condimentum porta quis in arcu. Maecenas molestie pellentesque porta. Cras malesuada orci sapien. Vestibulum vitae eros in nisi feugiat tempus. Maecenas eleifend pretium ligula ut sodales.

---

Branch 1 A Button Text

Proin dapibus elementum nunc eget pulvinar. Aenean eget magna augue. Aenean sed odio magna. Phasellus arcu sapien, molestie et vehicula et, tempus ac nisl. Suspendisse lobortis venenatis metus id tempor. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae;

---

Branch 1 A 1 Button Text

Donec cursus sapien at dolor mollis eget vehicula lorem laoreet. Sed quis vulputate erat. Nunc neque erat, porttitor at pulvinar ac, pretium non arcu.

---

Branch 1 A 2 Button Text

Vivamus eu sapien libero. Aliquam ullamcorper velit quis diam elementum eget volutpat felis pellentesque.

---

... (go back)

--- Branch 2 Button Text

Praesent ut euismod nibh. Aenean lacus orci, mattis quis sodales vel, bibendum eget arcu. Donec augue erat, egestas sed bibendum sit amet, euismod vel leo. In lacus ante, viverra eget luctus vitae, pharetra a tortor. Nunc mollis ipsum in diam vestibulum nec varius ipsum vulputate.

---

...

---- Dismiss

And so on.