Conversation Editor

The Conversation Editor is opened upon double-clicking a conversation from the Story Data view. This is where the magic happens with Conversations. Given the appropriate setup, a conversation can make just about anything happen.

Naming
In order to organize your conversations into menus and submenus you need to use the dash [ - ].

For example:
 * chpt01-sc1_bobshouse_bob.

Chpt01 will appear in its own menu heading in dialog choices, and sc1_bobshouse_bob will appear in a sub menu under chpt01. The advantage of this is, you can quickly and efficiently organize all your conversations. These menus and sub menus are not represented in the story data editor, but the naming will allow you to filter the conversations you are working on from this view. The menus will only be seen when selecting a dialog through a trigger. If you do not use the dash. all of the conversations will be listed under Generic.

Toolbar

 * [[File:iconSave.PNG]] - Saves the Conversation
 * iconNewConversation.PNG - Adds a new conversation node
 * [[File:iconRemoveConversation.PNG]] - Removes conversation node
 * [[File:iconInsertContinue.PNG]] - Inserts a continued conversation node
 * [[File:iconRemoveContinue.PNG]] - Removes a continued conversation node
 * [[File:iconCut.PNG]] - Cuts a Conversation Node
 * [[File:iconCopy.PNG]] - Copies a Conversation Node
 * [[File:iconPaste.PNG]] - Pastes the copied or cut node as a new node
 * [[File:iconPasteAsLink.PNG]] - Pastes a link to the copied node. Conversation will continue from there

Indentation Slider
The Indentation slider in the center of the Conversation Editor controls the spacing of the conversation layout. It has no mechanical effect, and is simply there to allow the designer to re-scale a conversation if it gets too large.

Conversation Nodes
Conversation nodes are each part of the conversation you are creating. There are two core types of nodes:

Blue Speaker Nodes Speaker nodes appear blue in the editor. This is the text that is displayed to the player when in a conversation with any object. These nodes can be defined by several types that will change they way text is displayed along with how the player my respond.

Red Player Nodes The player nodes indicate the inputs available to a player. These branch off the speaker nodes when you want a response from the player. These nodes my have conditions applied to them that make them available or not to a player. (e.g. Requiring a skill, attribute, quest item, etc.)

Node Type
These node types can be applied from a drop down menu to modify a speaker node.

Simple
This is your standard text. Whatever has been typed in the dialogue box will display to the player as spoken word from the speaker. Text in the dialogue box can be modified by the dialogue tags

GM Voice
Treats all text in the dialogue box as being from the GM. This is similar to using the simple type and surrounding your text with the tag. Since the GM is speaking, no character portrait will display.

GM Voice + Speaker Voice
Uses the formatting of GM Voice but also display the speaker's portrait. This is useful if you are describing the physical action of a character without having them speak.

Input Keyboard + Numpad
Causes a the node to display an input box to the player after the dialogue text. The following player nodes will define what the player should input to access the next speaker node.

Speakers
The Speaker in a Conversation can be almost anyone, and as a result a designer needs to keep track of who is talking when in any given conversation.

Default Speaker for Conversation
This drop down menu will set who the default speaker is for speaker nodes. Unless defined by the Speaker For Node property, they will be doing the speaking. This list is populated by the actors that have been placed in the scene as well as anyone in the Conversation Speakers view

Speaker For Node
This drop down menu will set the speaker for the selected speaker node. This has the added benefit of displaying the speakers name at the start of the node. This drop down list is also populated by the actors in the current scene and the Conversation Speakers view.

Properties
These properties are found as check boxes around the conversation editor that change how a node works.

Conditions and Actions
This properties window allows you to use Triggers from the Do Statements list for all conversation nodes. In the case of speaker nodes, you may also apply conditions using triggers from the If Statements list.

Dialogue Tags
These dialogue tags are used to add a bit of variety to your conversations.

The GM tag can be used when you have a single dialogue node that contains a actor speaking and a GM description of what the are doing. If the node only contains GM text you may choose to change the type from Simple to GM from the drop-down menu.

The CC tag is used for character comparisons. These work in conjunction with the Conditions and Actions to allow a player to do something if they have the skill for it. Once you've create a condition, create a corresponding CC tag to allow the player the options.

Example
If you have the following condition on a dialogue node:

You would start the dialogue with the following:
 * Charisma:3

Which could end up like this:
 * Charisma:3Lie: That was definitely not me.

Search Conversation
The Search Conversation bar does a basic string search through all your current nodes and node comments. This will select the first node that contains a matching string.

Node ID
The Node ID is used to keep track of the conversations in code. In the extremely rare chance that you have multiple nodes with matching ID's you may run into some strange bugs with your conversations. Hit the Regenerate All Node IDs button at the top of the editor to correct this.

Tutorials

 * Quick Start Guide 3 - Creating a conversation with a terminal
 * Conversation Inputs and Bypass - Breakdown for accepting player input
 * Branching Conversation Trees - Concepts for branching conversations