First Person Narrative

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DavidusX
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2022 12:40 am

First Person Narrative

Post by DavidusX »

I want to make a narrative as I go along. LIke a Phillip Marlowe detective story.. "I knew the dame was poison, as soon as I looked at her. Here in San Francisco there are many of these types..... blah." I want to get started! Can the canvas be frith in front of the player? Like in the First Person Narrative adventure asset? Getting started seems daunting and complicated. Create a database, nodes, all that stuff. Can I used text effects? Does there have to be a box? I want the text to be right in front, lower front of the First person camera. THen, I guess conditional stuff.... he examines a book.. "A strange book. I can see he had smutty tastes." etc. It is a game, but heavy on the text. "It was an old worn out building. The kind the bums liked to sleep in." I really want to wax poetic with the dialogue.
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Tony Li
Posts: 22149
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: First Person Narrative

Post by Tony Li »

Hi,

Yes, you can do all that. There will be a little learning curve at the beginning as you set up the basic structure of your project, but then you'll be able to write full speed ahead.

> Can the canvas be frith in front of the player?

Yes. That's the default behavior.

> Getting started seems daunting and complicated. Create a database, nodes, all that stuff.

Start with the Quick Start tutorial. Then go through some of the other tutorials, in particular the Interaction Tutorial. If you have questions, post here and I'll do my best to help.

> Can I used text effects?

Yes. I recommend using TextMesh Pro and Text Animator. It has the best text effects for Unity, and it's on sale on the Asset Store right now.

> Does there have to be a box?

No. The default dialogue UI has a background box, but you can simply disable its Image component to get rid of the box. Or you can assign a different dialogue UI such as the Letterbox UI. (See the Dialogue UI Tutorial. The video version is better for this one.)

> I really want to wax poetic with the dialogue

You absolutely can! Lots of really well-written games use the Dialogue System, such as Disco Elysium and When Silence Fell.

This article might also be helpful: How To: Configure Standard Assets First Person Controller
DavidusX
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2022 12:40 am

Re: First Person Narrative

Post by DavidusX »

Thanks for your detailed reply. I am buying, learning tons of software. I have great controllers and environments. I am the type that BUYS more stuff...on the sales. I have GKC, UFPS, Adventure Creator...and more, I mean a LOT more! But I simply want to make a game that is like a Philip Marlow episode, a Pat Novak Episode. These are great old time radio dramas, where words were used to paint the story. The narrative is pricelessly clever.
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Tony Li
Posts: 22149
Joined: Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: First Person Narrative

Post by Tony Li »

I have found that a great combination for first person narrative games is Adventure Creator + Dialogue System for Unity.

Adventure Creator can handle the menus, saved games, scene changes, player movement & camera control, and interaction with objects in the game world. The Dialogue System can manage all of the narrative -- dialogue text, voiceover, etc.
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