Import Excel/Google Sheet with folder structure

[Taank]

Hi there,
I just started writing my texts in Google Sheets cause this seemed like the easiest way for me. I've installed the excel importer for the dialogue system. At the moment im at like 50-100 conversations. I cleaned everything up by putting them in "root/child/grandchild/conversation". But google sheets or excel does not support "/" in their names. I cannot reimport everything in that structure. Excel just deletes the "/" and is also capped by a maximum of letters in the name. I have also tried CSV but I couldnt add "/" there.

My Questions:
1. Is it possible for me to add my folder structure in Excel/Google Sheets so that after correcting my texts I could just overwrite them without having to assign and rename everything again?

2. I am currently working this way: Writing in Google Sheets -> Importing To unity -> Exporting VO File -> Export Loca Files -> Import VO -> import Loca
Is there a "better" way? Can the loca be also directly implemented with the excel file?

I hope someone can understand my problem. Thanks in advance!
Kemal

[Tony Li]

Hi,

1. Is it possible for me to add my folder structure in Excel/Google Sheets so that after correcting my texts I could just overwrite them without having to assign and rename everything again?

The Excel format doesn't allow forward slashes in worksheet names. I just updated the Excel importer package on the Extras page. It has a new checkbox that lets you specify the conversation title in cell B2:

excelConversationTitle.png (4.24 KiB) Viewed 1006 times

2. I am currently working this way: Writing in Google Sheets -> Importing To unity -> Exporting VO File -> Export Loca Files -> Import VO -> import Loca
Is there a "better" way? Can the loca be also directly implemented with the excel file?

That's the way to do it right now. If you want to directly implement localization in the Excel file, you can extend the script to do that. The Dialogue System and all addons come with complete source code.

[Taank]

Hey Tony

The Excel format doesn't allow forward slashes in worksheet names. I just updated the Excel importer package on the Extras page. It has a new checkbox that lets you specify the conversation title in cell B2:

Really nice!
Thanks for the Importer Update. I hope this works for me as I hope
Is there any way of making more complex dialogues like branching narratives and multiple choices in excel? Or do I have to use twine or anything similar to that?

That's the way to do it right now. If you want to directly implement localization in the Excel file, you can extend the script to do that. The Dialogue System and all addons come with complete source code.

Yeah I actually just saw that I could edit that script. Is there a way I could share my work if it works for multiple languages? I think I am not the only one that may need that

Thanks for your quick response! Love your tool and your work!

[Tony Li]

Is there any way of making more complex dialogues like branching narratives and multiple choices in excel? Or do I have to use twine or anything similar to that?

Spreadsheets are terrible for non-linear dialogues. The Excel import is designed specifically for linear dialogues. You can use the built-in Dialogue Editor window, Twine, Celtx, Chat Mapper, articy:draft, Aurora Toolset, JLC format, or others for branching dialogue.

Is there a way I could share my work if it works for multiple languages? I think I am not the only one that may need that

We haven't set up a sharing ecosystem, but if you'd like to share it you can send a copy to tony (at) pixelcrushers.com and I'll put it on the Extras page, or you can share it in a github repo. Please make sure to only include your code (the modified Excel importer script is fine) and not the Dialogue System source code itself in the repo.

[Taank]

Thank you so much for your help! Guess I have to work with another tool for my branching narrative.

[Tony Li]

You're welcome. If your intent is to write dialogue in a text/spreadsheet-based format, you might be interested in using the JLC format. It's a simple text-based branching narrative format that Mografi developed to write the dialogue for Jenny LeClue - Detectivu. It also includes a Google Docs addon that provides color formatting.