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What is the reason for dialog branching?
martok16
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
Why is there dialog branching if, depending on the action taken, braching always ends up at the next map?
Branching is just the same as any programming language, EG:-
if a=b then do this else if a!=b do something else
not, if a=b then do this else if a!=b do the same thing
this is what happens with multiple dialog branching in the foundry editing tool.
One such scenario for multiple dialog branching would be:-
imagine this, your ship is sent to investigate signals coming from satellites around a planet, so you start the mission, on the map, you place your ship inside some rock debri, there you monitor some ships warping in, but your sci officer asks if we should scan the area, now this is where multiple branching would work, you either say "no, initiating a scan would give away our position", that would end the map, you would send a report to Starfleet, etc etc, then warp out, and continue on to another mission, or, you could say "yes, start the scan", but now, doing this would branch off to another map that ends up in a space battle.
As it stands, current dialog branching always ends up at the end of a dialog, regardless of choice.
As I see it, currently, dialog branching is only fit for nothing else but text only missions, you might just as well say, it's a reflection off the old text based adventure games.
Branching is just the same as any programming language, EG:-
if a=b then do this else if a!=b do something else
not, if a=b then do this else if a!=b do the same thing
this is what happens with multiple dialog branching in the foundry editing tool.
One such scenario for multiple dialog branching would be:-
imagine this, your ship is sent to investigate signals coming from satellites around a planet, so you start the mission, on the map, you place your ship inside some rock debri, there you monitor some ships warping in, but your sci officer asks if we should scan the area, now this is where multiple branching would work, you either say "no, initiating a scan would give away our position", that would end the map, you would send a report to Starfleet, etc etc, then warp out, and continue on to another mission, or, you could say "yes, start the scan", but now, doing this would branch off to another map that ends up in a space battle.
As it stands, current dialog branching always ends up at the end of a dialog, regardless of choice.
As I see it, currently, dialog branching is only fit for nothing else but text only missions, you might just as well say, it's a reflection off the old text based adventure games.
Post edited by martok16 on
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Let me try to give a very simple example;
MAP A:
- Good mob (invisible)
- Evil mob (invisible)
- Player Spawn point
- Satellite (with a task, you place this satellite behind the mob).
When you (as the player) starts the map, you get a dialog box, you can choose from:
1) Scan the area and let people know that you mean no harm
2) Scan the area and let people know that they are breaching fed/kdf space
When the player chooses (1), you can change the Good mob state to visible and keep the Evil mob invisible.
The same with (2), only the other way around.
You could create two (or more) different storylines inside a map, depending on which choices the player picks. You could try CSG2 (in my sig, FYI it's a playtest version and missing the final map) which uses this technique in the last two maps (Kalferi & klink ship).
There's also the fact that branching dialog allows for a more interactive conversational experience vs. a book in a box approach.
The key is to know where the hard walls in the Foundry are and where you can build dynamic elements around them.
As the OP focused on and others have answered, branching dialogues are also a MECHANICAL MECHANISM, but as others have noted, the ability to attach triggers to individual branches of dialogue allows the experience outside of the dialogue to be enriched.
Without branching dialogue, the Foundry experience would be much more lackluster.
I looked at every map I created and there isn't anywhere in map properties that has 'triggers', the only buttons present are "General", and "backdrop"
I created a snapshot of one of the map properties, but I can't see in here where to attach it, so instead I created a screen video of my foundry process:-
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u4rvhtn0qi2hshu/XxbstbD4Ry
There are 2 files, one is the MPG, it's that one that shows how I created a mission and couldn't figure out after the last dialog branch how to use 2 maps, depending on what choice is made in the branch.
Well, as it can't be done, I guess I'll just have to wait until Cryptic decide to change the tools for the better, with actual 3D object in-world placement and manauverability, and maps that can be attached to dialog branches.
Thanks for everone's help.
I don't know if you noticed but the whole game is like that. Get off your high horse.
The worst offender by far is not any mission we've written, but one of Cryptic's: Episode "Romulan Mystery", mission "Divide et Impera". If you're paying attention you can tell fairly quickly that SPOILER there's something seriously wrong about Admiral Zelle, but the mission railroads you into being unable to do anything about it.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
That is very true, I sometimes feel the game lets me down , but then i have been spoiled by other more interactive single layer games, The reality is, in an MMO we have to the same end point, from the same start point on every mission
But hey, '' It's not the destination so much as the journey ''
And to that end i try to use as few story board elements as i can , while putting up dynamic map changes and puzzles on the path, many of which are affected by your dialogue choices using triggers
I placed a small area trigger into a space map. If the player chose to help, a sat was spawned in the zone to show the exact position. Otherwise, he got a short debriefing and was instructed to drop the mission and leave the map. There it is, choice.
I had another mission where the player had the choice to land on a barren, moonlike asteroid or the tropical planet it orbited. On both location, he had to look for clues. Of course, he received different tasks and different clues depending on the choice.
I once made a little mission where you had to decide which deck you want to visit first. You selected deck 6, you went there. You selected deck 4, and when you left the turbolift you were in deck 4. Any order worked.
So with triggers and branching dialogs you can make real adventures and real choices. I recreated ST 25th Anniv first 2 missions, complete with all the possible outcomes save for your captain dying. You are not obliged to follow Cryptic's full linear, no consequence, win by default mission design. On the other hand, 90% of the players are happy with this mission design. If you try to deviate, if you make a mission fail-able, your mission will sink pretty fast. "What a stupid mission, it ends badly." They don't even realize they can replay it and win.
I would like you to try my KDF Spotlight mission: The Honour of Profit
And see what you think of the alternate and branching structure that I managed to create in that mission.