The non-linear nature of games demands that the script be organized and presented dif-
ferently from a play, movie, or television script. If players have branching conversations
with NPCs, as they might in an RPG or an adventure game, the script will need to take
on a special form conducive to the non-linear nature of the interchange. Here a script
might use small amounts of pseudocode, using IF-THEN-ELSE or SWITCH-type syn-
tax to communicate when the players would hear different pieces of dialog.
Returning to our adventure game example, here is one possible layout for a more
non-linear conversation. This game uses the old “keyword” conversation system,
where the players type in a word and the character being talked to may or may not have
information about that subject:
IFthe player asks about “FLIMFLAM”:
PAUL: A FlimFlam is a drop of dew, fallen from the morning sky, carefully
wrapped in a baby leaf from the Tree of Plenty. It has special curative proper-
ties for Humanoids, when rubbed on the back of the neck.
IFthe player asks about “TREE”OR“PLENTY”:
PAUL: The Tree of Plenty has been my people’s source of life since before any
of us can remember. Without the shade it provides, my people grow exhausted
in the noonday sun. Without its leaves, we have nothing to eat. Without its
strength, my people are weak.
DEFAULT, if the player asks about anything else:
PAUL: I do not know of what you speak, stranger. We are not the most intelli-
gent of peoples; we are not as wise as a great traveler, such as yourself.In-game dialog may be randomly varied between a number of expressions that commu-
nicate the same information but say it differently. Simple OR statements between
different lines of dialog can communicate to the reader of the script that the game will
randomly choose between several different lines of dialog.
Once again returning to our adventure game, here we have a sample of dialog that
players might hear during actual gameplay:
When the player bumps into PAUL, he says:
“Oh, excuse me, begging your pardon.”
OR
“Oh dear, I seem to be blocking your way.”
OR
“My mother always said I was born to get in her way.”There is no industry-standard syntax that dictates the form of an interactive script. It is
up to the designer, producer, and scriptwriter to come up with a form that best docu-
ments the dialog they will need to use in their game. Some RPG games, such asDeus
Ex, involve so much conversation and branching dialog trees that they employ fairly
robust and advanced scripting languages for the designer or writer to use to implement
the dialog. Designers will often want to write their interactive script to match the syn-
tax found in such an editor, so that when it comes time to implement the dialog the
process will be greatly simplified.
314 Chapter 17: Game Development Documentation