Some of the feedback from the playtest suggested that the dialogue UI was a little subpar, both functionally and visually. The main points of feedback were:
- The elements of the dialogue UI were makeshift and ugly (Not done with visual rework yet, but in progress)
- The character always being on the left meant the conversation didn’t flow, rather it jumped. Additionally it sometimes made it hard to tell who was talking as some characters looked quite visually similar.
- No sound during dialogue made it a little dull to follow, and many players skipped lines resulting in missing important pieces of story/tutorial dialogue.
Now many of these issues were in the process of being updated, and now that they’re done I’m going to run through the systems in place to fix the issues.
Firstly the visual rework is not done, but to quickly outline it, I’m transitioning from using the stylings of the dialogue UI, to using the splotchy overlay motif that we’ve been using. The dialogue VO is in processing and will be ghostly and detatched, and therefore the dialogue UI should communicate that.
Next to address the flow of conversation, I’ve transitioned the dialogue UI to use a two character system, to have conversation flow back and forth. The system selects the first character to speak, and places them on their side (Player always on the left if he’s speaking) after which the dialogue transitions if a different character is speaking.
As of now, the character not speaking fades to 0.3 alpha to clearly denote that the other is speaking, but the goal is to have them also shrink somewhat to further communicate the character speaking, and the idea of a flowing conversation.
As an aside I have realised that communicating a flowing conversation has it’s issues in the setup I’m using. As I greatly respect the studio and the game, I have used Supergiant’s Hades as a reference for my dialogue system. This has made me encounter a flaw that I have pointed out in other projects.
When you try to replicate a system that is used in another game without a full understanding of why and how that system functions, you create a facsimile of the original that contains and communicates none of it’s original intent. With regards to my dialogue system, I believe the flaw I have encountered is due to how the dialogue is written. In Hades, the acting and writing is Theatrical, with each line written standing alone, as a punchy statement within an overall conversation. With my writing, the conversation is meant to flow back and forth with a certain pacing between lines, which isn’t present due to providing the player control over when the next line begins playing.
This is something I can’t fix as I’m too far into my current process, and within the timeframe can’t resolve, but the realization is critical to my further writing, both within the IP of this project, and with regards to further writing I perform in future.
Finally, the sound issue has been resolved as the dialogue is now fully voiced (with exception of non implemented dialogue which I will be recording tomorrow)
The endgame stretch of this prototype will be tough, but I’m well on track to completing the project, the remaining parts to implement are:
- Complete the two final regions of the game
- Implement the endgame sequence
- Implement a failure state when you run out of fuel
- Construct and implement the new sounds
Once these are done, the game should feel like a complete experience. I’ll be powerin’ through them in the next two days, in time for a full day of playtesting to gather more data, and concluding the prototype.