A free game dialog language I'm making for my personal game framework.
New dialog scripts should be made using the .dia extension. The name of the file should be unique to the project.
Dialog files consist of one or more sections. To start a new section of dialog, write the title in PascalCase in between two pairs of dashes:
--TestSection--
Each section is made up of one or more lines of dialog. Each line begins with the speaking character's ID, a colon, and the text you want them to say:
--Greeting--
Stalone: Hello World!
Internally, the dialog system will call GetName(string id) to get the speaker's name for display. If none is defined, it will display the ID.
Add multiple speakers by separating names with a comma:
--PizzaFans--
Stalone: Who likes pizza?
Twosen, Threena: Me!
For longer dialog lines you can wrap your text in ^^ and indent from the second line on:
--MoodyExposition--
Stalone: ^^It all started on a Fall night a couple
years back. There was a chill in the air and
everyone seemed tense.^^
You can add comments using two forward slashes //. For multiline comments, use /* to open and */ to close:
--Greeting--
// This is a comment.
Stalone: Good morning! // So is this.
/*
This is a
multi-line
comment
*/
By default, the reader starts at the first section in the file. If you have more than one section, it's important to connect them otherwise the dialog script will exit at the end of the current section. To connect them, type an open square bracket, the keyword goto, the name of the section you want to "go to", and a closing square bracket:
--Greeting--
Stalone: Hello World!
[goto Goodbye]
--Goodbye--
Stalone: See you later!
It's common in dialog for characters to ask questions and let the player answer using multiple choices. To do so, start a line with a ? and a space after it, then write the choice that will be displayed. Any additional dialog should be indented below the choice.
--Drinks--
Stalone: I'm thirsty!
Twosen: What'll you have?
? Something strong.
Twosen: Careful, this soda is pretty fizzy!
? Something interesting.
Twosen: This is called a Capri-Sun!
? Milk, please!
Twosen: Is 2% okay?
Stalone: Ah, that hits the spot!
You can store and reuse simple values (floats, strings, or bools) using variables. Define or update a variable inside square brackets anywhere in your dialog.
--Color--
Stalone: What's your favorite color?
? Blue
[color = "blue"]
? Green
[color = "green"]
? Red
[color = "red"]
Twosen: My favorite color is [color]!;
Stalone: That's a nice pick!
Keep in mind, once you set a variable’s type, it cannot change.
[color = "blue"]
[color = "plaid"] // This works
[color = 25] // This will display an error
Variables will help us create branching dialog. Surround some dialog in an "if/else/elseif" condition to conditionally display it.
WIP
We can use Choices and Variables together to conditionally display choices. When the choices are provided via the OnChoice(List<Choice> choices) virtual method the disabled choices will have the Disabled property set to true.
WIP
This project supports the same BBCode tags Godot does, with some additional tags provided.
Using the PagedText node, the text will display like a typewriter at a steady pace (30 chars per second by default). You can override this with a speed tag. The value is a multiplier of the default, so less than one is faster, and and greater than one is slower. Writing a closing tag resets the speed to the default.
Stalone: Hi, how've you been? [speed=0.4]...[/speed] Not much of a talker, huh?
Setting the speed to a value of 0 will make the text write as fast as it can. If you need it to change for the rest of the line, just omit the closing tag:
Stalone: One of my favorite things about apples is-[speed=0]OW! I JUST STEPPED ON A MOUSE TRAP!
The pause tag makes the PagedText node stop for a specified amount of time in seconds ([pause=2]).
The auto tag can be used to have the PagedText node auto-proceed at the end of a page or line after a short pause, determined by the length of the text displayed. The pause time can also be specified in seconds ([auto=3]). If used outside of a dialog line, it will be enabled until the tag is closed [/auto] or the dialog script finishes.
The end tag will automatically end the script.
--Greeting--
Stalone: Hello! Do you want to chat?
? No.
Stalone: Oh, ok!
[end]
? Yes.
Stalone: Great! What's your favorite breakfast food?
...
The goto tag will make the dialog script "go to" a specified section.
--Greeting--
Stalone: What's your favorite breakfast food?
? Waffles.
[goto Waffles]
? Pancakes.
[goto Pancakes]
--Waffles--
Stalone: Waffles are my favorite too!
[end]
--Pancakes--
Stalone: Pancakes are good, but have you tried waffles?
WIP
WIP