Devlog #7 - Fixing the dialogue

Week 11 - 10.08.2018

This week I worked on adding more dialogue and fixing/ changing up previous dialogue. I also worked a little one the restroom scene which I haven't shown in the devlogs yet because there wasn't really much to it before hand. My team mate and I decided that we wanted to break the restroom scene into two different ones where one would be set up in front of the sink and the other would be in a stall where you text your friend. We found that this worked better narrative wise and made each scene feel different and was a good step back from the dinner scenes.

For the dialogue, I wanted to make it so that there was more conversation in each dinner segment so that it would actually feel like time is passing rather than the player just quickly going through one conversation and jumping to the next. I wanted to slow down the pace of the game a little by making each conversation prompt a little longer and more prompts to go through too. This also helped uncover the character of the date which allows players to really understand and feel how the main character might feel. Adding more back and forth talking between the characters was also good to build a relationship between each character. In the previous playtests that were conducted, many players found that there was a big jump from thinking the date was ok and then finding out that he wasn't. They wanted to gradually find out he was a jerk rather than be pushed into it. This was what I worked on for the week and I think it was good for me to do because I don't want to force a message onto people, I want them to understand it for themselves.

This is the new dialogue. The original dialogue is still there but it's about what's shown in the screenshot. I needed to add more dialogue in new scenes like the bathroom stall one and I had to add more to the existing dialogue where it felt like it was too short or didn't flow well. I also added a new dialogue set for the middle segment of the date and fixed up the initial one so that the conversation prompts actually make sense when starting a conversation. I found this enjoyable to do because I was able to play around with  and really learn more about the characters created. The date is a jerk but he realises he can be some times but he might not even notice it until called out. This doesn't stop him from being rude and inappropriate. He might say he's just nervous, that's why he's saying stupid things but that doesn't excuse what he says. Maybe players will have sympathy for the date, maybe they'll hate him even more. I don't know. 

I feel like delving more into the dialogue really digs deep into the characters and even now I'm only scratching the surface. It still needs more refinement but I'm learning more and more about who I want my characters to be and how I want them to be. If there are ever plans of adding more to this game, I think more dialogue would help a lot and add much more to the game than flashy graphics or crazy unique game mechanics. 

The next and final thing I worked on this week was models for the bathroom scenes. I started off with the stall because that was one that had no models in it, just all the programming done by my team mate. There isn't really much to see in this scene because the main focus is on the phone but I still wanted to have her legs in there in the background. 

In this scene, there are two new dialogue paths that can appear depending on how your original phone conversation pans out in the main dinner scene. What's shown in the picture right now is the original conversation because if players aren't able to finish their conversation in the first place/ never touched their phone, they have a chance to talk to their friend in this scene. It's also a scene for players to solidify their decision in going home with their friend or not. If players follow the path where their friend rejects them, they can try again in the new dialogue. Also, my team mate added this cool depth of field thing when you interact with the phone!! I really like it :-))

I then worked on the main restroom scene where I remodelled parts of it to make it look better(?). The original one was done in a week for the game-a-week class and even  so, I feel like my modelling skills have improved a little (I think???) so it needed to be redone. We also locked the character in place in front of the sink and had all the little interactions be through the mirror. This was so that the whole game could just be played with the mouse. And it works well!

The original one had weird models, bad lighting and I wanted to put her handbag there for narrative purposes. I also had to add some more lighting in front of the character so that you could see her face better and you wouldn't see all those weird harsh shadows because I'm terrible at modelling characters, especially faces.

This was a good week, we're close to finishing but there are still a few things here and there that we need to do! I think this will be the last devlog for now(?) but I think I will continue to post more once in a while. Probably just for my own sake so I can look back on this and remember... stuff???? idk 

THANKS FOR READING!!!!!

- Jo :-))))