New Linnus (Shadow of Rappel)

[Capostrophic]

{Good]
[Evil]
[Dumb] (low intelligence)
{Silent] (say nothing)

Where is [Sarcasm] (sarcastic)? /s

[OpenMicroWave]

I don´t feel confident in my sarcastic remarks being funny, though I´ll definitely consider it as an option.

[Chris]

Can't say I really like being able to categorize responses into "good", "evil", etc. What is "good" or "evil"? There's many outlooks that could be classified as "evil"... a callous mercenary type, for instance... but it depends on the circumstances Such a mercenary's response may be "evil" in one situation, but be completely normal or cordial in other situations. Similarly, there's character types that can be classified as "good", but in the right situations what they do can be seen as bad/evil.

Another thing is that very few characters would actually consider what they do to be "evil". People do what they feel is right, and sometimes you'll agree with them and sometimes you won't. Categorizing responses into "good" and "evil" ends up creating caricatures rather than characters. Similarly, trying to force "gray" responses is annoying because they come across as pidgeon-hole-ing, making you say something "edgy" that you don't want to, even though more suitable responses would be easy to make (particularly a problem when the game tries to make a response sound nice, but purposely make the response to your nice response be negative for no reason).

It's far better to simply create responses that make sense for the given conversation, and can fit a variety of character types, and not worry about if it's "good", "bad", "gray", "purple", or "polka dot". And don't be afraid to have multiple responses create the same reaction from the NPC, so long as it makes sense. The ability to say what you mean, even if the reaction isn't unique, can be a pretty strong element for getting into character.

[lysol]

There's many outlooks that could be classified as "evil"... a callous mercenary type, for instance... but it depends on the circumstances Such a mercenary's response may be "evil" in one situation, but be completely normal or cordial in other situations.

This.

[DocClox]

I might have NPCs functional soon, so I´ve been thinking about dialogue structure. Thus far I´ve come up with something along the lines of the following.

Click on topic. NPC spits out some dialogue, you then get 4 ways to respond:

{Good]
[Evil]
[Dumb] (low intelligence)
{Silent] (say nothing)

So you basically have 4 different ways to interact when given the choice. Is there anything more I should add for better roleplay purposes?

You should add a "sarcastic" option. Will there be a dialogue wheel?

[edit]

Ninja'd by hours! Apologies - I didn't see there was a second page.

[OpenMicroWave]

No dialogue wheel. You know how in Morrowind you sometimes get a yes/no choices in red text? Basically that.

[johndh]

I'm a big fan of the Bard's Tale's dialogue choices: a frown mask or a smile mask, denoting whether you want to be a threatening sarcastic dick, or a conniving sarcastic dick. Being good is not an option. Jokes aside, you may want to consider what kind of experience you're trying to build, and how much choice you want the player to have. Can the character be evil? Aside from quitting the game, is not saving the world an option? There's no right or wrong answer here.

One idea I like for coming up with conversation choices is to imagine a few different characters or archetypes, and imagine how they'd navigate each choice. How would the knight in shining armor answer the duke's request for help? What about the amoral mercenary, the silver-tongued rogue, or the brash adventurer? How would Han Solo approach this situation? How about Indiana Jones, Jack Ryan, or Rick Deckard?

[SquireNed]

How would the knight in shining armor answer the duke's request for help? What about the amoral mercenary, the silver-tongued rogue, or the brash adventurer? How would Han Solo approach this situation? How about Indiana Jones, Jack Ryan, or Rick Deckard?

Is there a certain reason why we're looking at pretty much just Harrison Ford for this?

[AnyOldName3]

It means you don't have to bother implementing a character creation system if every possibility is still Harrison Ford.

[OpenMicroWave]