[Adonthell-general] Re: [Adonthell-plot] dialog design

[Kai Sterker]

On 4/26/05, Andrew Phillips <address@hidden> wrote:

> I think it might help to make three such maps - one for each of the
> conversation intensive areas of the game map - Waste's Edge and
> Uz'dunkal - as well as a third summary map that takes in the other
> less populous areas of the game map.

Sounds good :-).
 
> As we design, document, and build the dialog tree, I suggest keeping
> track of quests impacted by a given node, as well as other characters.
> Some of this might easily be accomplished by adding information to the
> plot document.

Yeah, we definitely have to do some sort of bookkeeping ... although
we might also expand our tools to allow a better overview. But that's
for later ...

> Something else I thought about was the matter of displaying names over
> the npc sprites. Most games seem to just give the names of npcs away.
> It's a good clue to players when they are trying to determine which
> npcs to talk to - particularly in crowded areas (the Hive in
> Planescape: Torment) - but at the same time, they leave open the
> question of -how- the player characters know npcs they've never seen
> before. Does it seem better to have the player "learn" npcs as he or
> she hears about them, or just give that information away?

In WE, you get to know the name as soon as you talk to somebody, which
seems to be a good compromise. If that is not desired, we would have
to keep two names of NPCs. A static one by which the engine can
reference them (their real name) and one that is displayed during
dialog or above their head. This may or may not contain the real name.

I'm not sure if we should have names floating above peoples head,
though. Characters should look different enough to recognize them.
Also, their location will usually give a clue who they might be.

Kai