Okay so um, I’ve been TRYING to come up with a coherent and basic, numberic kinda label system for flowing branching conversations! I have it like this, example:
*choice
#"Hello."
*goto intro1-1
#"Have we met before?"
*goto intro1-2
*label intro1-1
She shakes your hand, gives you a smile. "Hi. Nice to meet you."
*label intro2-2
She frowns at you a moment. Her eyes sweep you up and down. "I don't think so, no - sorry."
BUUUUUUT…going on from THERE, I’m not sure how to make it flow in a way that makes sense?!
Like, cause the more they branch I have to use different numbers, and I have to keep each branch with its own line of numbers, like I can’t have the first one continue on from 1-1 to 1-2 because 1-2 is the second branch! And so after both branches, down to the next label, I’ve TRIED doing like 1-1a and 1-2b, then 1-2a, then 1-3b, etc etc…
Ugh.
Just totally getting lost in the swamp of labels!!!
Does anybody please have any more coherent way of making dialogue branch labels? I’m not sure how to do this without it going everywhere!
Should I try like, having the first line of branches be 1-1, then 1-2, then 1-3, BUT having the SECOND line of branches be 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, etc? Or what?
If they’re only a paragraph or two, maybe just keep them under the choice that made them? If not, I usually find it easier to use names to break them up into sections. Like for your example: met1, met2/not_met1,not_met2 etc. And then when there’s a different branch, say you walk to the park or the shops, change the label to park/shops. It just reminds me what the section is about. I’d be totally lost if I tried to keep track of chapters by numbers only like you’re doing with the intro1a/1b/2a…
I guess this isn’t exactly the advice you’re after, but in this case, you’re only making it far more difficult for yourself by adding in labels. Instead, try this:
*fake_choice
#"Hello."
She shakes your hand, gives you a smile. "Hi. Nice to meet you."
#"Have we met before?"
She frowns at you a moment. Her eyes sweep you up and down. "I don't think so, no - sorry."
This way, it’s easy to see what options correspond to what dialogue, and you don’t have to come up with too many label names. You’ll certainly need some eventually, but ideally you should try to only ever use them when you have to. (And don’t just number them… I tried that at first, and it’s just confusing… )
If they’re totally different branches you could create different scene files for them, then you only have to keep going (or using gosub) to chunks of code or text in the file you’re working in.
Put most of the results to you choices under the choice like so.
*choice
#"Watch out!"
*set Erlandrep%+10
*set Ruthless%-5
“Watch out!” you yell, but the blue eyed man
already seems to know.
He straightens with inhuman speed, and he
sweeps aside a cloak you didn’t notice before.
There’s a flash of steel as he draws his sword
partially out of its sheathe, revealing a scant
few inches of the metal. The axe clangs off
the sword with a violent shower of sparks, m
causing the slaver to stumble back; loosing
his footing on the uneven wooden planks. He
falls to the ground, axe clattering out of his
grasp.
Try to find common scenes, even if it’s a small
one, and put it at the end. I always label with words that have to do with the next scene. So for the paragraph above I’d just…
axe clattering out of his grasp
*goto leave
*label leave
boop.
I definitely do that for conversations/short branches. Be careful about nesting heaps of different threads under a single initial choice though as it can get hard to keep track of the correct spacing and you can get misdirects and errors. (Been there, done that, was not fun to try and fix later.)
I’m not sure how to do this without it going everywhere!
)