Staredit Network

ok i want to make a D&D type game and heres the thing i want to give player one dialog choices that will affect the game. this is hard to explain so work with me here. heres an example. remember that only player one can answer these people


(NPC)Garon
bla bla bla
I'm sorry but i cant help you

player one
There must be something you can do
or
Can you at least give me some information
or
Ha... you thought i needed your help, your wrong ill destroy you like so many others...

like that should to indicate player ones choice beacons or barracks or what

let me further explain the concept on this. in the bottom right of the map there are a bunch of areas and a lot of the triggers in the game depend on if there is a civilian owned in a certain area for example if player one answers the first choice lets just say there are 20 areas and if player one pics the first choice it created a civilian in area one and this triggers a dialog

(NPC)Garon
well there may be one who can help you his name is Callus you can find him atop of dragon mountain. bla bla bla

this opens the path to dragon mountain. get it also im using this to decide the ending there are multiple endings depending on which civilians are in which areas
there is the happy ending a destruction ending. and a absolute power ending
so any way im looking for any ideas and imputes this is very complicated for me so id appreciate any ideas but manly im looking for the decision maker for player one


if that doesn't make any sense tell me what you didn't understand.

Ok then... So if I understand you correctly, you want to say something like this:



Hmmm, assuming I understand you correctly, I would use either a sprite-unit or a pure sprite for the areas. That, or I would use becons. Be careful though, as the becons could make someone have a seisure. Also, if I remember correctly, unit-sprites or pure sprites for the becons don't have their animation.

ok you confused me.. ive never heard of pure sprites and stuff is that where you make a unit and it decides your choice? sorry my fault not yours

Do you mean when you talk to someone you can respond with a few choices that you choose and whatever you choose the guy you are talking to says something different?

If I understand you correctly, then each dialogue decision should be put in this form:

Edgar: Do you accept this mission?

1. Yes.
2. No.
3. I need more time to think about it.

And somewhere on the map you can give them a civilian with 3 beacons (or units) labled as 1 2 and 3 and the player has to move his civilian to one of those units to make the decision.

I think hes talking about with no beacons.. He confuses me

He wants the players to have the ability to actually "speak" to the NPCs as they would in an actual game of D&D.

For example:
DevliN says "Good day, anything I can help you with?"
Option 1: No thank you.
Option 2: Yes, I need to find a job.
Option 3: Yes, ale! NOW!
Option 4: DevliN you suck and make mediocre maps. Why even try anymore?

Essentially, he wants to know how to give the players the freedom of choosing different replies to NPC dialogue.

Your best bet is to make a section with 4 beacons named 1, 2, 3, and 4. When you go up to an NPC and he says "Good day, anything I can help you with?" you can go to one of the beacons depending on which Option you want to reply with.

I prefer the barracks system but thats just me (make it so a marine is option 1, fbat option 2, ghost option 3, and medic option 4). Then the player just builds whatever unit he decides to "answer" with.

Yeah that makes sense as well. And that takes up less locations. I wasn't sure, though, if he wanted more than 4 options or if any Terran ground units were going to be in use.

To answer your question, branching paths that affect what's going to happen later will take a lot of triggers and switches. For this kind of dialog idea where there are options, you'll need one switch for each of the options (that can be re-used through the whole game) and a different switch for each question being asked.

So basically, using your example:

(NPC)Garon
bla bla bla
I'm sorry but i cant help you
This would be "Switch Garon A" (for example)

player one
There must be something you can do
or
Can you at least give me some information
or
Ha... you thought i needed your help, your wrong ill destroy you like so many others...
And the first choice would be "Switch Choice 1", the second would be "Switch Choice 2", etc. If you're gonna use the Barracks idea the other guys were talking about, then those switches would be set depending on the Terran unit "brought" to the Barracks choice-making location.

So when NPC Garon asks that question, Switch Garon A should set. And then Player 1 will make a choice, like choice 2. So a trigger with the conditions that Switch Garon A and Switch Choice 2 are set, would cause whatever you want to happen.

That's basically how you would do dialog choices. Hopefully you can understand my explanation, and I'm sure someone else can go into more detail if you need someone to.

That works as well, but can be a huge waste of switches depending on how many NPCs there are.

Yeah but I think that's the simplest way to do it. I guess you can replace switches with other counters. But either way choices means a lot of conditional triggers to do.

Actually I think you can just do it like this:

Trigger

Players:

¤ Player 1

Conditions:

¤ Player X brings at least 1 [Specific NPC] to [Location Around Player 1]

¤ Player 1 brings at least 1 men to [Location Choosing Option 1]

Actions:

¤ Display text: Omfglolz u no it.

I suppose you could do it either way, and I doubt one more condition really makes all that much of a difference.

Sinister, do you pla to have these conversations branch off into other conversations as well? I mean if you choose Option 1 and the NPC replies, do you have to choose another option after that? If so, you can go with the switch idea or you can go with death counters (which would save some strings as well). For the death counter idea, do:

1 Death (Unit) = Start of conversation.
2 Death (Unit) = NPC's reply to Option 1.
3 Death (Unit) = NPC's reply to Option 2.
4 Death (Unit) = NPC's reply to Option 3.
5 Death (Unit) = NPC's reply to Option 4.

So then you'd have to add another condition (this is for the start of the conversation) which would be:

Trigger

Players:

¤ Player 1

Conditions:

¤ Player X brings at least 1 [Specific NPC] to [Location Around Player 1]

¤ Player 1 brings at least 1 men to [Location Choosing Option 1]

¤ Player X has suffered exactly 1 death of (Unit).

Actions:

¤ Display text: Omfglolz u no it.

This would be the next choice, after he replies to Option 1:

Trigger

Players:

¤ Player 1

Conditions:

¤ Player X brings at least 1 [Specific NPC] to [Location Around Player 1]

¤ Player 1 brings at least 1 men to [Location Choosing Option 1]

¤ Player X has suffered exactly 2 death of (Unit).

Actions:

¤ Display text: You're so right, I am beautiful.

Great ideas guys. ive decided to use becons.Your right it would be a lot of conditioning so instead ive put two becons. A answer positivly becon and a answer negativly becon. in the bottom right of map there is a small inclosed area. every time you make a choice it will place an archon this will be your alignment. for example if you decide to do a side quest and help an old man find his daughter. you will receive one archon. if you tell him you dont have time for this you will recive one dark archon this will deside the ending of the game. i havent decided how many it will take yet but if you are significanly evil you will get the Absalute power ending. if you are signifacanly good you will revieve the happy ending. and if your are nuetral you will reveive destruction ending. the pllayer will be able to see his alignment and decide how he wants to act. also different alignment will decide which quests becom avalable. thanks again for your help.

I am still looking for ideas so post any you have

If you're looking for ideas you might wanna make a thread in the Maps in Production section.

But just off the top of my head, since you're doing this based on D&D it would also be interesting to see the other part of alignment being used - Law vs. Chaos. The quests would probably be combined with a Good or Evil quest I guess (unless you can think of any action that is Lawful/Chaotic yet not Good or Evil) but for example once you go deeper into the Evil path, there would be one quest to take over and enslave monsters or people, and that would lead you to be Lawful Evil, or a dominator/devil king type. Or there would be another quest that just involves burning a village to the ground, and that would make you Chaotic Evil, or a destroyer/demon king type. And on the other hand, a Lawful Good person would be righteous and probably serve as a kingdom's knight, and a Chaotic Good person would be a rebel who could be working to overthrow the secretly abusive government. Law vs. Chaos would add a lot more depth to the usual Good vs. Evil thing.

Thats a very interesting idea i was actualy going to put it where if your good who can be elected as King of a kindom and if your evil you can take it by force. if you dont mind explaining the consept in great depth i will seriusly consider imputting it in. i just dont fully understand the consept

and one more thing how would i imput this into my alignment system

Basically alignments in D&D are a comination of Good/Evil and Lawful/Chaotic. Of course you know what Good/Evil is. But Lawful generally means you follow your own set of rules, keep your word, and are trustworthy and honorable. Chaotic generally means you follow what you feel like, like freedom, and are reckless but flexible.

So combining Good/Evil with Lawful/Chaotic (but not counting Neutral) you have 4 combinations... Lawful Good, for example, would be the classic hero who is honorable and fights for a noble cause. Chaotic Evil would be the unpredictable monster who is out for whatever he can get, and probably destroys things for no good reason. Chaotic Good would be the rebel who fights for good, but recklessly and however he wants (think Robin Hood: steals from the rich but gives to the poor). Lawful Evil would be the diabolical villian who plans everything out and knows exactly how he'll get things done.

That's pretty much it. In a game that already leads to 4 different endings, and I think you might not even need a Neutral ending. But now we're getting off topic... we should take this to one of the other forums.

Edit: I was thinking the way you would put it into your alignment system is, just like you have Archons & Dark Archons to count as Good & Evil points, you can have 2 other things to count as Lawful & Chaotic points. So really you just have the same system, but with another factor besides Good/Evil. You know, if the player has a lot of Good points and a lot of Lawful points, he'll get the Lawful Good ending (like he becomes king or something)

Nono.
For multiple endings...let's say you have a "Kill everyone ending" or a "You win the lottery ending." Kill everyone is if you respond more negativley than positivley. Winning the lottery is if you respond more positivly than negativley.

Everytime you respond negativley, add one custom score for player 7.
Everytime you respond positivley, add one custom score for player 8.
At the end, if player 7 has the custom highest score, you get "Kill everyone."
But...if player 8 has the highest custom score at the end, "You win the lottery."

See how it works?