Simulating speech of two actors at the same time

[Soulrender]

This may sounds really silly, but I reached point where are quite extended dialouges in my project. Mostly when party members are arguing between themselves (about various things). I want to avoid using repetitive mechanics of dialouges where one actor says his line, then another one and so on.

I saw nice plugin that allows to use multiple message windows with faces at the same time, wich basicly could solve my problem, but due the game resolution I use for my game it's out of option (3 windows almost covers entire screen and getting right order of reading texts might be troublesome), so I figured out I simply use one window with colored text (each color is assigned to specific actor) and show those lines at the same time in one window, wich is nice and comfortable for reading, however this solution has downside - I can show only one face or none. (scaling faces and putting them in one frame of sheet also is out, because faces have sliced edges)

I'm asking how you would or you do with situations like I described above?

PS (If title is missleading I'm putting reference image https://prnt.sc/vngck8)

 

[Andar]

it depends on how much effort you want to place in.

the absolute maximum would be to have someone program a message plugin that allows a different structure for the message window - like two faces on opposite sides at the same time.
But that would require quite a lot of programming work and may cause compatibility issues.

the easiest way would be to trick the player with displays in a different form.
have a show picture command place whatever picture(s) you want as message borders (can be any format you can do in GIMP with busts or faces all over).
Then place a show text with invisible windows above it, pretending the text was placed inside your pictureborder.

 

[Zero_G]

You could use a text plugin for message bubbles (have the text a top of the character). That way the message window is as big as the message, if needed you can make the font of the message smaller.

But for this to look good you probably would need to make all conversation events use that system.

 

[Sheklon]

If this is happening in a cutscene where you can disable followers and use events to represent them, then you can ditch the faces and use reaction balloons on them (for instance, actor 1 and actor 2 show an exclamation mark at the same time) to show which ones are participating. But this is only if indicating who is talking is more important than using facesets for you, of course.

 

[SigmaSuccour]

I would:

1. Use Chau_Simple Popups.js
   
   

   Simple Character Popups by chaucer

   This plugin lets you create popup messages above characters heads in maps.

   chaucer.itch.io
   With this, I can have small messages pop up over characters, (with different colors) without needing a face art to represent them.
   
   
2. Use WindowManager.js
   
   We can make any number of windows, of any dimensions, with any amount of pictures/text inside them using this plugin.
   
   
3. Use AO_BalloonWindow.js
   It's basically a timed speech balloon you can pop up over events and characters. We can have multiple of these popping up at the same time. And it also supports face arts.

And there are all sorts of plugins, like SoR_GabWindow_Right.js and FTKR_ExMessageWindow2 that provide a different message/dialogue system (apart from the default show text command). I can have one system of dialogue for one type of conversation, and a different system of dialogue going on for a different type of conversation, at the same time.

 

[Wavelength]

This is definitely not a game mechanic - I'll move the topic over to General Discussion.

Most of the ideas described so far are good for conveying the simultaneous speech, but they require you to go with a different message display system, so that's high commitment unless you're using simultaneous speech a lot.

For easier ways to do it, you can simply accept that the multiple speech bubbles will cover the screen for a few seconds... OR, you could sequentially show the characters' speech getting cut off by one another to give the effect they were speaking at the same time. For example:
Alice: "So it's decided. The best place to go for dinner is--"
Bob: "The Italian Restaurant on the cor--"
Carol: "The Chinese Restaurant on Main Str--"
Alice: "The Mexican Restaurant in the ci--"
(beat)
Bob: "...I guess it's not decided after all."

Also, if characters are saying the same thing at the same time, something I like to do is just create a custom Face to go in the window which shows each of the people speaking at the same time, such as this example, and then just put the dialogue once in a single message box. Although, you could (and should) add a larger frame around the divide between each face, so it doesn't look like a cyborg that wants to crush you and your planet.

 

[Soulrender]

@Wavelength your idea was on my mind, but there is problem with faces generated in MV/MZ, they're big, so scaling and cropping them will be difficult to do it.

This chau_popups plugin looks as the best idea.

 

[Frogboy]

Here's what I did when I wanted to have two characters talk at the same time. These two little demon twins spoke most of their dialogue in unison to ramp up the creepiness.



I just created a single face graphic with both of their faces copied and pasted in Photoshop so that I could write two lines by each half face. Sounds like you might not want to go this route but this should give you an idea what it looks like just in case. Even if you're not interested in this, maybe someone else with the same question is. It's super easy to do, too, so it's got that going for it as well.

 

[Soulrender]

@Frogboy Oh! How could I not come up with vertical face merge... And pretty neat font you have.

 

[Sheklon]

Here's what I did when I wanted to have two characters talk at the same time. These two little demon twins spoke most of their dialogue in unison to ramp up the creepiness.

View attachment 169076

I just created a single face graphic with both of their faces copied and pasted in Photoshop so that I could write two lines by each half face. Sounds like you might not want to go this route but this should give you an idea what it looks like just in case. Even if you're not interested in this, maybe someone else with the same question is. It's super easy to do, too, so it's got that going for it as well.

While I like the graphical display of this, I'm not a fan of repeating the same line like that. Unless each of them eventually says something different, using only one line creates the idea of simultaneity better, in my opinion. It also saves space in the text box for more lines, which is a nice plus.

 

[Soulrender]

I think it's just sample how could I do it, or they twins that they think the same.

 

[Frogboy]

While I like the graphical display of this, I'm not a fan of repeating the same line like that. Unless each of them eventually says something different, using only one line creates the idea of simultaneity better, in my opinion. It also saves space in the text box for more lines, which is a nice plus.

I wasn't sure if only writing the text once would get the point across so that's the way I went. By all means, go with what works for you.

I think it's just sample how could I do it, or they twins that they think the same.

This screen shot came from my game Eremiel. It's an action game where you run around on the map, shooting and dodging enemies. These little demon twins are a boss battle, the only one in the game where you have to fight two boss enemies at the same time.

So in the context of my game, saying some of their lines together at the same time made a lot of sense. In most games, however, I would likely use a similar setup for characters that talk at the same time while saying different things.