Nearly any game with a focus on narrative will have different ways for players to interact with in-game characters through dialogue. After all, characters are the driving forces behind stories, and dialogue creates some of the most nuanced interactions between characters. As such, games of all types have created different ways for players to interact with dialogue. In this article, I'll be discussing what I call "Flowchart Dialogue."
Flowchart Dialogue is one of the most common ways dialogue is handled in video games, with players being presented with multiple distinct choices that create different responses that lead to a new set of distinct dialogue choices. While nearly any game system can be abstracted to a flow chart, Flowchart Dialogue very cleanly maps to a literal flowchart as they have the following properties:
1) Flowchart Dialogue presents a list of pre-defined options to choose from. Players cannot create their own dialogue choices.
2) Flowchart Dialogue rarely presents a significant "player skill" element within dialogue beyond choosing a dialogue option to create a narrative.
In addition, many games with Flowchart Dialogue have systems which can either give the player access to additional options in dialogue or alter the outcomes of already existing dialogue options. However, there is still little to no active gameplay element in these systems.
Why is Flowchart Dialogue Common?
The answer is because it's easy to create, implement, and understand. When it comes to creating Flowchart Dialogue, a writer only needs to craft individual potential narratives that can form from the flowchart. The lack of gamification gives writers a significant amount of freedom and control when crafting a narrative without worry of players. In addition, it allows writers to work within familiar territory rather than experimenting with potentially awkward dialogue mechanics.
When it comes to implementation into the larger game, it means designers don't need to worry about crafting a gameplay system to fit the dialogue within. Furthermore, the limited option set drastically reduces the amount of animation and voicework needed for a more freeform dialogue system. By having a simple dialogue system, a studio can better allocate resources to flesh out narrative presentation, increase dialogue quantity, or further develop the game in non-dialogue ways.
As for the player experiences, Flowchart Dialogue is easy for players to engage with not only because its ubiquitous, but because it relies on the general preconception of narrative flow built by movies, books, and other media. A particular mention goes to movies, as its the closest form of older media to video games due to its interdisciplinary nature, so many video games seek to emulate movies for better or worse. Movies position the audience to be a passive consumer of narrative rather than a driving force behind it. Many games that utilize Flowchart Dialogue do the same as well, though this is hardly universal.
How is Flowchart Dialogue Presented?
For a tool as common as Flowchart Dialogue, there's bound to be many different ways to present it. In general, there are three primary ways to present it: brief choice, list-based, and dialogue wheels. Brief choice is used in games where players are given very few dialogue options, typically a list of 2-3 short statements such as "Yes," "No," and "Perhaps." This is typically used for games where player dialogue is largely a non-factor and the emphasis is placed on NPC dialogue, and brief choices are generally only made a few times per scene. Examples of games that use the brief choice model are Persona and Final Fantasy XIV.
The next model is list-based. When a player is presented with dialogue choices in the list-based model, they are provided multiple dialogue options that are presented in full. Whatever a player chooses, that is what their character says. This is useful for informing a player of the various nuances and tone of each dialogue option, but it runs the risk of being too dense for a given player. Infinity Engine CRPGs like Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate are famous games that use this model.
The final mainstream model is the dialogue wheel. Similar to the list-based model, players are presented with a potentially wide array of choices. However, players are presented with abbreviated versions of potential dialogue choices rather than the full spoken dialogue. This allows dialogue options to be condensed for readability and cleanliness, but it also runs the risk of abbreviated options that fail to sufficiently represent the full text. While an option abbreviated as "No thanks" could be read as polite, the full dialogue may instead be akin to "No thanks, loser" or some other disparaging comment. This model was pioneered by Bioware for use in its Mass Effect and Dragon Age series and the name has stuck even when the UI for a game doesn't actually use a wheel.
Flowchart Dialogue and Scalability
Owing to its easy-to-use nature for both players and developers, flowchart dialogue can be scaled up and down in terms of overall content, depth, and complexity as needed. If you wish to tell a largely linear-but-compelling story, you can use Flowchart Dialogue. If you want to instead create an immensely complex web of potential stories and outcomes, Flowchart Dialogue works similarly well. The only limiting factor is the act of hand-crafting each individual dialogue scenario, the choices within a scenario, and the outcomes of said choices. Flowchart Dialogue requires a writer to actively make every single possible storyline they want in a game rather than utilizing game systems to create unique and organic stories.
If I had to choose one game to exemplify an incredibly rich narrative utilizing Flowchart Dialogue, it would have to be Disco Elysium. The sheer amount of text in the game is staggering, and on any given playthrough one would see only a fraction of it.
Concluding Thoughts
Flowchart Dialogue is a useful, albeit bluntly used, tool for many games, but it can be just as compelling as more in-depth storytelling mechanics when fully fleshed out. I do not expect it to fall out of favor from any mainstream game developers, but I hope to see further innovation on the concept beyond presentation.
Next time, I'll be covering more gamified dialogue mechanics in video and tabletop games.
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