Pixel Crushers Forum

Hello,

First time user of DS and I'm also using Adventure Creator. I thought DS would be a useful tool to use to improve the look and UX. But, I'll be honest, I'm a complete noob, no scripting experience and finding this incredibly difficult to fathom. It took me a long long long time to get to grips with AC so I'm hoping for some newbie help to get started. I've tried following the manual and tutorials but I just can't get my head around it.

It would be really great for some tips on how to add bubble like conversations, where the speech appears over each player and NPC. I really like the look of the 'Mobile Standard Dialogue UI' but rather than the text appearing at the top for the NPC and the response at the bottom of the screen I'd like it above their heads, smaller size so the 'bubble' adjusts it's size to the length of the sentence.

I really have no idea how to even start. I've set up the dialogue manager, added actor scripts to my Player and NPC and can't figure out what to do. Could you possibly give me a step by step (bullet point) guide on what I need to do please? I'm so sorry, this is scrambling my brain. I'm sure once I've got that kick start I'll be able to get cracking.

Thank you in advance

Additional: I've set up the AC bridge, created a test conversation and applied the Speech Bubble Dialogue UI to the Canvas.

This is what I have so far:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kolpxgzusofy7 ... 3.png?dl=0

Hi,

Nice art!

I'll show the steps I used to add dialogue bubbles to AC's 2D Demo scene. I'm going to include lots of screenshots, so don't let the length of this post intimidate you. It's all pictures.

Dialogue bubbles require a little extra setup. Unintuitively, that initial setup is a little more complicated in 2D because the bubbles use a type of UI called "world space". World space UIs were originally designed for 3D, but they work fine in 2D with the steps below. But first we'll get the basic dialogue set up:

1. To tell AC that we're using the 2D Demo, I inspected AdventureCreator / 2D Demo / ManagerPackage and clicked Assign managers:


2. I didn't want to have to sit through the intro while playtesting, so I inspected the OnStart cutscene and disabled the last action:


3. I added the Dialogue Manager prefab and left the Basic Standard Dialogue UI assigned to the Dialogue UI field. It's OK because we're not going to end up using it. I also assigned a dialogue database containing a test conversation and added an Adventure Creator Bridge component:


4. The TyreSwing was close at hand, so I chose it to be the NPC in this example. I changed its hotspot's Use interaction to point to a new interaction that I named "Tyre swing: Use Conversation":


5. I configured this interaction to start a Dialogue System conversation, and specified that the conversant is the TyreSwing GameObject.


At this point, if you play the scene, it will look similar to your screenshot:



So now we just need to add the dialogue bubbles. As I mentioned before, this is where 2D requires an extra step. We're going to create a special camera to draw the bubbles on top of whatever else is in the scene.

6. In the Hierarchy, right-click on MainCamera, and select Camera. This will add a new child camera. I named it UICamera and configured it like this:


7. Then inspect the MainCamera, click the Culling Mask dropdown, and deselect UI:


The MainCamera, which has a Depth of -1, will first draw everything except objects on the UI layer. Then the UICamera, which has a Depth of 0, will draw only objects that are on the UI layer.

8. Now we need to add our bubble and put it on the UI layer. From the Project view, drag Prefabs / Templates / Bubble / Bubble Template Standard UI Subtitle Panel to be a child of TyreSwing:


9. Add a Dialogue Actor component to TyreSwing. Select the actor that it represents, change Dialogue UI Settings > Subtitle Panel Number to Custom, and assign the Bubble Template Standard UI Subtitle Panel child that you just added:


10. Inspect the Bubble Template Standard UI Subtitle Panel child. Set the layer to UI. (Answer 'Yes' to include all children.) Adjust it so that it looks right. I used these settings:

which looks like this:


11. When you play the scene and interact with the TyreSwing, it should look like this:


You can save your customized Bubble Template Standard UI Subtitle Panel child as a new prefab, and assign that prefab to Dialogue Actor components in the future instead of having to add child objects to everything.

When it comes to dialogue bubble UIs, everyone has a different idea of how they want player response menus to work. If you have any questions about setting up your response menu, just let me know. One way that works a bit like Oxenfree's dialogue is to assign a Dialogue Actor component to the player. Set the Menu Panel Number to Custom, and set up a Bubble Template Standard UI Menu Panel using steps similar to the ones above.

Oh thank you so much!! I will try this and let you know if I have any further questions.

With the responses I want a back and forth type scenario where it's just chatting, but for starting an actual conversation with multiple questions, I'll need the response menu at the bottom, I think I'm happy with setting that up. I will create my own textures at some point but the ones included are perfect for testing things out.

I've been playing around with DS for a few hours today and it's beginning to make more sense now. As with everything, it's key to be patient and try things out, make mistakes and learn. Once I have the basics set up I'll look to add my talking and other dialogue animations to the characters. And then look at Barking as I'll need a few NPCs to do that.

Really impressed so far, such a great tool and it will definitely help my game look more polished. Can't wait to try out the other features too.

Thanks again and have a happy new year!

Glad to help! To set up back-and-forth without response menus, inspect the Dialogue Manager, and untick Input Settings > Always Force Response Menu, and tick Subtitle Settings > Show PC Subtitles During Line. If there is only one player response then that response will play automatically.

If I glossed over anything too briefly in my previous post, just let me know what you'd like clarified. And have a happy new year, too!

Ok so I understand it a bit more now (I think). That worked great, thank you.

So, I've used the Mobile template for my scene and resized the panels, added my own continue button etc but can't work out how to position the dialogue above their heads. I must be missing a few steps. Let me know if you need any further screen shots.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/49clpgsiix0k9 ... 1.png?dl=0

Hi,

From your screenshot, it looks like you're using the old Unity UI Dialogue UI system's Speech Bubble Dialogue UI from the Deprecated folder. If possible, I recommend using the Standard Dialogue UI system as described in the steps above. If you're set on using the older system, we can get it to work; let me know and I'll adjust reply with the steps.

I'll use the up to date one and see how I go. Thank you again

I'm so sorry, I'm still having trouble setting up the basics. I've followed the steps you mentioned and did the exact same for my Player, adding the bubble template, unticking the force response etc, but I still can't get it to work properly.

In the screenshot below, the speech bubble on the NPC goes off the side of the screen, is there a way to constrain it? The NPC follows the player around and keeps out of the Player's way. When it's in the middle of the screen it looks fine.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cjmkyyto3t3ly ... 8.png?dl=0

Secondly, the Player's dialogue line doesn't appear at all. Viewing the inspector, nothing seems to trigger the bubble template to switch on.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ojt0jokw7rbqj ... 3.png?dl=0

Please let me know if you need any further info or screenshots.... I have a feeling you'll be hearing from me quite a lot so I apologise in advance!