Reorder conversation list

[Haytam95]

Hi

I've been writing some conversations and i just discovered that i could improve the order by adding some blank spaces at start and generate fake nesting.



But now some conversations are misplaced. (I understand that they are being sorted by ID and i found that they could be sorted by Title, so i could workaround by adding a number to each conversation at start like 1 // 1.1 // 1.2)



Is there a better way to reorder the conversation list manually or should add numbers to the Title?

[Tony Li]

Hi,

To reorder automatically, adding numbers is the best way.

To reorder manually, switch to Outline mode. (Menu > Outline Mode) Then use the up/down arrow buttons on the right side of each conversation title to move then up and down in the list.

[Haytam95]

To reorder manually, switch to Outline mode. (Menu > Outline Mode) Then use the up/down arrow buttons on the right side of each conversation title to move then up and down in the list.

You really thought about everything Tony, thank you so much.

I'm so happy to have Dialogue System

[Tony Li]

Thanks! Glad to help.

[snarlynarwhal]

Hi! I imagine you'll soon face the next evolution of this issue:

I currently re-order my conversations manually using Outline Mode. But now that I have a lot of conversations, re-ordering them has become cumbersome. I previously used numbers, but if I inserted a new number, I had to rename all subsequent conversations, and of course that broke scene references since conversations are referenced by string.

So I only use numbers for the chapter and level (since those are much less likely to change for my game), but not the conversation order.

Old convention (Chapter/Level/Order Converation-Name):

Code: Select all

1/1/1 Dwerve meets Aerie in the forest

New convention (Chapter/Level Converation-Name):

Code: Select all

1/1/ Dwerve meets Aerie in the forest

This way I can add a new conversation and move where ever I want it without having to update the names of other conversations to match an order-based naming convention. If I move a conversation to a new chapter or level, I do have to update the name and scene references, but this rarely happens for me.

So, so far so good! But now I have about 30 conversations and anticipate the final game will have 100+. If I want to add a new conversation in the earlier levels, I have to press the up arrow a ton to get it where I want it... very tedious and annoying.

Is there another way? If not, I think it'd be very helpful to create new conversations before or after a specific conversation.

[Tony Li]

Hi,

I'll work on that for the next update. Do you have any suggestions for improvement? When all conversations are collapsed, I could turn the conversation list into a reorderable list similar to the Variables list.

Or move the conversation details to the Inspector view so the conversation list is always collapsed in Outline mode.

Or I split the window into two, with the left side holding the reorderable list of conversations and the right side holding the selected conversation's details. (Or top/bottom instead of left/right.)

[snarlynarwhal]

Oh man, all of these sounds great! Hmmm. I think just making it a reorderable list when the conversations are collapsed will do. The split window sounds cool, but I don't necessarily think it'd be necessary.

Maybe you could also add an option to insert a new conversation before or after a specific conversion. Not sure the best way to select which conversation. If in the node view, it could be that specific conversation.

[Tony Li]

I'll play around with a couple of options for Outline mode, as well as an option to add a conversation before or after the current one in the node editor. These changes won't make it into version 2.2.6 (coming out on Monday), but I'll plan to get it into 2.2.7.