Adventure Dialogue Editor

Version 1.2
by Marcus 'MAC' Röckendorf
Copyright (C)2008-2010 by Bullshit Softworx

What is it?

Adventure Dialogue Editor is a tool to create dialogues and export them to Wintermute Engine (WME) or TDAE with ease. It not only supports dialogues with the basic WME functions like characters talking, responseblocks including the response flags like showing always, once and once per game, but also features enhanced functionality by adding remarks and codelines directly in the editor.

Features

- Dialogue branches support to make show always/once/once per game work
- Remarks and codelines can be inserted
- Addable conditions to every responseline
- Optional automatic talking of the responselines after clicking
- Conditions for each respond line
- Character lists can be saved for using in different dialogue projects

Window overview

Main window

1 - Commands:

In the upper left corner of the window are 4 commands to add to a dialogue. Just click one to add it to the currently active dialogue branch. If a line in the dialogue is selected, the new command line will be inserted before it, otherwise it's appended after the last dialogue line.

Talkline
Use this to let a character say something.
Codeline
Use this one to insert a single line of code to the script that is exported. You can use this to let an actor move around in the dialogue for example.
Remark
Can be used to add a remark in the exported script for documenting things or inserting directors commands.
Responseblock
This is the point in the dialogue where the responses are shown in the game to be clicked by the player.

2 - Characters:

Beneath the commands you find a list for the characters in your game. Each character can both have a real name (shown in the editor and the text export files) and a name for the corresponding entity in WME (used in the exported scripts).
With the buttons Add / Edit / Del you are able to add a character to the list, edit it and delete it. If you double click on a character in the list while one or more lines in the dialogue are selected, the character will be inserted in the character row of the dialogue (only works for Talklines and Responseblocks).

3 - Current project:
Browse for a project file to be associated to the dialogue. This is only useful if you use voice-over soundfiles in the dialogue. If you use the browser to open a soundfile, the path will be relative to the project path. The project is saved with the dialogue.

4 - Dialogue branch:
This is where the different dialogue branches of which your project consists are shown. The current dialogue branch can be changed with the combo box at the top. The button "Add dialogue branch" creates a new branch called "Unnamed". The names of the dialogues can be changed be simply typing in the combo box, but remember to press the ENTER key after editing to apply the new dialogue branch name. Remember to only use letters, numbers and the "_" character and avoid spaces, because it's the name of the corresponding function in the exported WME script.
To edit the text of a dialogue line in the list view just double click it in the 3rd column (Text/Code/Remark). Single click to select it. A selection can be moved up or down by using the cursor keys up/down together with the CTRL key. To change the soundfile of a talkline double click the 4th column of the line (Soundfile). If you double click the open icon to the right a browser window will open up to let you select the file.

Responseblock Editor window

This window shows up by double clicking on a responseblock line in the dialogue.

Responselist - The responses are shown here. Double click an entry to edit it (in the Responseline Editor). The responses can be moved up and down by using the cursor keys up/down together with the CTRL key.
Add response - Opens the Responseline Editor to add a new response to the block.
Delete response - Delete the selected response from the block.

Responseline Editor window

This window shows up by double clicking on a response line in the Responseblock Editor.

Response - Enter the response here.
Link to level - Choose a dialogue branch to jump to when the player clicks the response line in the game. If you don't want to jump to a new branch then just leave it empty.
Conditions - You can specify conditions for the response to be shown in game. If you for example want that this line is only shown if a certain variable is set you can add it here (e.g. TalkedAboutWeather==true).
Flags - Choose if this response is shown always / each time this dialogue starts (once) / only one time in the whole game (oncegame). Also specify if the response should be talked automatically by your character if the response is clicked in the game. You have to specify a character in the RESPONSEBLOCK line in the dialogue to make this work. In addition you can choose if the current response loop should be quitted when response is clicked.

Menus

File
New - Clear everything in the editor to start a new dialogue project.
Load - Load a previously saved dialogue project (*.adedlg).
Save - Save the current project (*.vdedlg).
Save as - Like Save but with a forced save requester showing.
Load character list - Load a previously saved list of characters (*.adechr).
Save character list - Save the current list of characters to a file (*.adechr).
Export WME script - Exports the actual project to a script to be used in WME. To use it in your game include the exported dialogue script file to your scene using include "Dialog_Default.script" (with your script name of course) and call the main function to enter the dialogue like this Dialog_Default();
Export TDAE script - Exports the actual project to a script to be used in TDAE.
Export text - Export the project to a simple formated textfile for using with voice-over actors for example.
List of recent files - The last five previously opened files are listed up for quick loading.
Quit - This tells you the lottery numbers for next week...

Edit
Cut - Cut out the selected dialogue lines and copy it to the clipboard (CTRL-X).
Copy - Copy the selected dialogue lines to the clipboard (CTRL-C).
Paste - Paste the content of the clipboard to the open dialogue branch (CTRL-V).
Delete - Delete the selected lines in the dialogue (DEL).

Help
Help - Opens this fine help document.
About - Infos about the application.
Associate files - Associate the "*.adedlg" file extension to this application for quick launching from the explorer.

How to make a dialogue (Mini tutorial)

This is a small step-by-step tutorial to get familiar with this app. You may also load up the demo dialogue and see how it's structured.

  - Insert a talkline (Click on the TALKLINE button in the upper right corner).

  - A talkline is now inserted to the current dialogue branch (which is by 
    default called "Dialog_Default". You can change the name by editing it
    in the combo box on the top of the dialogue, but don't forget to press 
    enter to overwrite the old dialogue branch name).

  - Double click the 3rd column of the talkline (Text/Code/Remark) and enter
    your text to talk. Press enter or click anywhere to save your changes.

  - Optional double click the 4th column of the talkline (Soundfile) to open
    a browser window to insert the corresponding voice-over soundfile.

  - Insert a responseblock (Click on the RESPONSEBLOCK button).

  - Double click on the responseblock line in the dialogue - the
    Responseblock Editor window shows up.

  - There are no responses in this responseblock yet so click the 
    "Add response" button - the Responseline Editor window appears.

  - Type in a response and click OK.

  - Add another response, type it in and check "Leave loop if clicked".
    Click on OK again. You see it's red colored in the responses list,
    that means it quits the response loop if clicked.

  - Close the Responseblock Editor.

  - Add a new dialogue branch by clicking on "Add dialogue branch" in the
    upper right corner of the main window.

  - It's called "Unnamed" by default, change it by clicking the combo box
    with the branch name in it and edit it.

  - Press enter to apply the changes.

  - Add one or more Talklines to it as described above.

  - Switch to your first dialogue branch and double click the RESPONSEBLOCK
    line again.

  - Double click the first response to open up the Responseline Editor.

  - Make this response call up another dialogue branch by selecting one in the
    "Link to branch" combo box - everytime this response is chosen in your game
    it switches to the given dialogue branch.

  - Click OK and close the Responseblock Editor.

  - Now you have some dialogue elements added but those element are not linked
    to characters. First, if there are no characters in the character list on
    the left, add one.
  - Select one or more talklines in the dialogue that you want to link to a
    character.

  - Double click a character from the character list to link it to the selected
    dialogue lines.

  - If you previously selected to let a character say a response in the
    responseline editor, link the character to the responseblock, too.

  - To see the resulting code just export it from the "File" menu.