How to make progressing dialogue?

[Leith]

I've only been using the program for roughly a week and I've logged about 66 hours into creating my game so maybe this is a little premature, however I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me with NPC dialogue.  
What I'm trying to accomplish at the moment is an NPC in the pub that the player can talk to.  When they do, there are 3 question options, and the Nothing option.
The way I had tried to configure it, was 4 separate event pages.  Each having removed the previous option based on a switch that was turned on if an option was chosen. This works great, however, that's only if the player hits the dialogue options in order.  Otherwise, the entire thing goes haywire and is rendered useless.  So now I'm wondering what exactly I can do to make this work.
Anyone able to walk me through it?

 

[Milennin]

It's not really worth the effort, unless you really want it, but the only way to do it is to make pages that take in account every possible order of options taken, and make different pages/branches for that. Would require a fair amount of switches, though.

 

[Leith]

I'm shooting for quite a bit of detail and complexity in my game, so I'm not cutting any corners.   I want to create a real RPG, one where you're punished if you don't pay attention, which is why I only plan to give one chance to get certain information from certain NPCs, so it is worth the effort.  Would you be able to elaborate your answer?  As it is a little vague.  

 

[Milennin]

You need a switch for every possible combination of picking options. I could make an example, but I can't be bothered because it would take some time and screenshots. It's really not that complicated, just quite some work.


Example of a branch with player picking middle option first, top option second:


Starting page with options 1, 2, 3 (picks answer 2, switch ON for page featuring options 1, 3)


Page with options 1, 3 (picks answer 1, switch ON for page featuring option 3 only)


Page with option 3


Do that for every combination possible.

 

[Celianna]

There is no need for any extra event pages, but regardless, I suggest you ditch this idea of making options disappear the moment you've picked them out. It's not worth it. And if you REALLY want it anyway, I would instead look for a script, eventing it would just be a hassle.

 

[Jonnie91]

You need a switch for every possible combination of picking options. I could make an example, but I can't be bothered because it would take some time and screenshots. It's really not that complicated, just quite some work.

Example of a branch with player picking middle option first, top option second:

Starting page with options 1, 2, 3 (picks answer 2, switch ON for page featuring options 1, 3)

Page with options 1, 3 (picks answer 1, switch ON for page featuring option 3 only)

Page with option 3

Do that for every combination possible.

Actually you can use variables to do this. I have a tutorial for VX which is explains the basics of how to use variables for branching dialogue (accept in this case it's RANDOM dialogue)

 

[Berylstone]

I've only been using the program for roughly a week and I've logged about 66 hours into creating my game so maybe this is a little premature, however I was wondering if anyone would be able to help me with NPC dialogue.  

What I'm trying to accomplish at the moment is an NPC in the pub that the player can talk to.  When they do, there are 3 question options, and the Nothing option.

The way I had tried to configure it, was 4 separate event pages.  Each having removed the previous option based on a switch that was turned on if an option was chosen. This works great, however, that's only if the player hits the dialogue options in order.  Otherwise, the entire thing goes haywire and is rendered useless.  So now I'm wondering what exactly I can do to make this work.

Anyone able to walk me through it?

If I understand you right it sounds like you are wanting to give the player 3 questions that vanish in your dialogue once they are chosen, but continues to show the questions that the player hasn't answered yet. What you might could try is just creating a common event that shows a different combination of questions based on the switches that were turned on and just add that common event after every choice option.

 

[Leith]

If I understand you right it sounds like you are wanting to give the player 3 questions that vanish in your dialogue once they are chosen, but continues to show the questions that the player hasn't answered yet. What you might could try is just creating a common event that shows a different combination of questions based on the switches that were turned on and just add that common event after every choice option.

I'm not all that sure of how to go about common events or their triggers.

Let me expand with an outline to give you a better idea.

Player walks into Pub.

Engages in conversation with NPC.

NPC: "Hm? What do you want?"

(choice screen appears)

Choices:  Are you a traveler?,  Where are you from?, Any information?, and Nothing.

Each choice has a small branch of dialogue.  My desire is so that upon engaging in that particular option, the next time you talk to that NPC, the option you had just used, is no longer there.  The main reason I want this is to force players to really pay attention (I loved RPGs as a kid that rewarded you for talking to NPCs and really listening to their information) and also to eliminate repetitiveness.

Now after some thought at work today, I'm starting to consider saving myself the work and just have variable switches so NPC dialogue changes and is relevant to the player's current level and place in the story.

I'm still not sure what to do.  I'd like to give this topic another few days to see if there is anyone who has script or a method to pull it off.  

 

[Celianna]

I really do suggest you ditch the idea ... but here goes.


You will have to event all possible outcomes. You have 3 questions, and 1 cancel option. So that means these are all the possible choice outcomes the player can run into:

Spoiler

Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


--


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


--


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


--


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


--


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


--


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


--


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3


--


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3

Those are 8 possible outcomes, and you need a bunch of conditional branches to get them to show up correctly based on whether or not the player has asked that question before or not. Give each question a switch, so option 1 is switch 1, option 2 is switch 2 etc. Then turn these switches on when the player selects that question. With it, you can use a conditional branch to check if the switches are on/off and then show the correct possible outcome for the choices.


Again, it's a hassle. Seriously.


Personally, I'd simply have the NPC tell the player "What, you've already asked me that before!" for each question they've already answered. Saves a lot of time and effort.

 

[Leith]

I really do suggest you ditch the idea ... but here goes.

You will have to event all possible outcomes. You have 3 questions, and 1 cancel option. So that means these are all the possible choice outcomes the player can run into:

Spoiler

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

--

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

--

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

--

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

--

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

--

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

--

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

--

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Spoiler

Those are 8 possible outcomes, and you need a bunch of conditional branches to get them to show up correctly based on whether or not the player has asked that question before or not. Give each question a switch, so option 1 is switch 1, option 2 is switch 2 etc. Then turn these switches on when the player selects that question. With it, you can use a conditional branch to check if the switches are on/off and then show the correct possible outcome for the choices.

Again, it's a hassle. Seriously.

Personally, I'd simply have the NPC tell the player "What, you've already asked me that before!" for each question they've already answered. Saves a lot of time and effort.

I guess it was a little naive to think it may be a little simpler.  I think I'll just keep the dialogue available and then have variables change the dialogue of certain NPCs as the game progresses to keep their informative capability relevant.

I really appreciate the example you provided.

 

[Celianna]

Sounds much better


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