Dialog XML Importer. Index. User s Guide

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1 Dialog XML Importer User s Guide Index 1. What is the Dialog XML Importer? 2. Setup Instructions 3. Creating Your Own Dialogs Using articy:draft a. Conditions b. Effects c. Text Tokens 4. Importing Your Own Dialogs Into Unity 5. Integrating the Dialogs into Your Project 6. Creating New Dialogs Inside Unity

2 1. What is Dialog XML Importer? Dialog XML Importer is a solution for importing the dialogs you ve crafted in articy:draft into your Unity project and then utilising them in your game. With a click of a button you can import all the Dialogs, Dialog Fragments, Hubs, Jumps and Connections from the XML export file of your articy:draft project. It is also possible to set and check conditions, as well as various other advanced things, by using our custom-designed tag system. It will give you the ability to do complex things with your dialogs. 2. Setup Instructions Once you have imported the package to your project, you can open the import interface through the Window/Dialog XML Importer menu item. Pick your settings in the main view (See section 4. Importing Your Dialogs Into Unity for more detailed information). Then click the button to go to the configuration screen and enter the player name in the Player Name field as it appears in your articy:draft project. The other fields you can leave empty for now as the importer will fill most of them automatically when you import your dialog xml file. Once you re done be sure to hit the Save Changes button. You re now ready to go back to the main screen and hit the Import button to get your Dialogs into Unity!

3 3. Creating Your Own Dialogs Using articy:draft 3a. Conditions You can specify different conditions for your DialogFragments to have them only be shown under certain conditions. Type the conditions for your DialogFragments in the field labeled Insert menu text, separated by semicolons. If you want the condition to be false, then add an exclamation mark before the condition or add =false after the condition. 3b. Effects You can alter conditions, send messages to GameObjects, and other things using our Effects system. Type the effects for your DialogFragments in the field labeled Insert stage directions, separated by semicolons. To set the condition s value use the syntax condition_name:new_value. E.g. TALKED_TO_NPC:true or ORCS_KILLED:10. To send a message to a GameObject use the syntax SEND_MESSAGE:name_of_gameobject:name_of_function:parameter, where the parameter is optional. E.g. SEND_MESSAGE:Player Character:PlayAnimation:Greeting. 3c. Text Tokens Our dialog system supports two speech bubble types: the normal speech bubble and the player s choice bubble. The normal bubble type is used by default. You can add the tag [choice] (or [c] for short) among the DialogFragment s text field to create a player s choice out of the line in question. We also support embedding condition values within your DialogFragment s text. Just add the condition name inside square brackets within the text. The DialogHandler will replace it with the condition s value during runtime. E.g. Hello, [PLAYER_NAME]! becomes Hello, JackTheDragonSlayer89! if that is the string stored inside the condition.

4 4. Importing Your Own Dialogs Into Unity Open the import interface through the Window/Dialog XML Importer menu item. Below you will find detailed explanations of all the options listed on the screen. a.) XML File Path - Hit the Browse button and find the XML file containing the dialogs you wish to import into your project. b.) Import Language - You will want to leave this field empty in most cases. Only if you have Dialogs written in multiple languages in articy:draft, you can specify here the language of the dialog you want to import at this time. c.) Add Language Suffix - Check this if you want to add the import language as a suffix into the names of the imported dialogs. E.g. Dialog Name(English). d.) Import Character Names - Do you want the importer to automatically fill the Character Names list in the configuration screen with any entries it might find in the XML file? You will want to leave this checked in most cases. e.) Import Conditions - Do you want the importer to automatically fill the Conditions list in the configuration screen with any entries it might find in the XML file? You will want to leave this checked in most cases.

5 f.) Omit Dialog Connections - A common mistake that people make when creating dialogs in articy:draft, is linking the dialogs together in the flow view and this can result in an unintended behaviour with one dialog linking right to next one in-game. By checking this option the importer will not create any connections leading to dialogs, thus fixing the problem in most cases. The DialogHandler that comes with the package does not currently support on-the-fly jumps between dialogs, so you will most probably want to leave this option checked and create only self-contained dialogs in articy:draft. g.) Fix Missing First Entries - Another common mistake people make is forgetting to link the first DialogFragment(s) of each dialog to the start node. If you check this field the importer will detect dialogs with missing first entries and it will automatically link the DialogFragment to the most likely intended first line with the Dialog. h.) Override Existing Entries - Do you wish to override any pre-existing Dialogs with identical names to the newly imported ones? Again, you will usually want to leave this checked, since ideally you should be making all the modifications to your Dialogs in articy:draft and not in Unity (even though that is also possible with our assets). i.) Import - Clicking this button actually imports the Dialogs from the XML file you specified. But you might want to visit the configuration screen before you do. j.) (Configuration Screen) - Click this button to get to the configuration screen that contains some additional options. k.) Player Name (Required) - Before you can import your dialog you need to specify here the name you ve used for the player character in your articy:draft project. l.) Character Names - Here should be a list of all the characters that you use in your articy:draft project. You don t usually have to add anything here manually as the importer automatically populates it when you go through the import process. This list is used to populate the character popup list in the DialogFragment inspector. m.) Conditions - Here should be a list of all the conditions used in your articy:draft project, along with their types and starting values. n.) Save Changes - Remember to hit the Save Changes button if you wish to save the changes you made to the settings. Note that clicking the Import button will also save the settings. o.) (Import Screen) - Click this button to return to the main import screen. Character Portraits: If you want to display portraits for your characters place the images in your project folder under */Resources/Portraits/ and name them identically to the entities you have used for your dialogs in articy:draft.

6 5. Integrating the Dialogs into Your Project The package comes with a component called DialogLauncher which allows you to launch your imported Dialogs with a single mouse click. Find the DialogLauncher component in Assets/Dialog XML Importer/Scripts/ and drag-and-drop it onto an object in the scene. Now make sure that the object has a Collider of some sort (e.g. Box Collider) attached to it. Then select the object in question and, in the Inspector view, fill the Dialog Name field under the DialogLauncher component with the name of the Dialog that you wish to be launched when the object in question is clicked. Leave the language field blank unless you have imported Dialogs in multiple languages with a language suffix added to the end. 6. Creating New Dialogs Inside Unity While The Dialog XML Importer has been created mainly with the workflow in mind that the Dialogs are crafted in articy:draft and merely imported to Unity, the system does also allow for creating dialogs from scratch within the Unity editor. To accomplish this you first need to create a new Dialog by choosing the Assets/Create/Dialog menu item. A new Dialog should now appear inside your assets folder under Resources/Dialogs. After you have given the Dialog a fitting name, you re ready to start adding new DialogFragments to it through the Assets/Create/DialogFragment menu item. Note that there s no need to rename DialogFragments by hand as that process is automated. You can create a connection from one DialogFragment to another by dragging and dropping the target DialogFragment asset on top of the Connections field of the DialogFragment that should lead to it. Be sure to link the DialogFragment that begins the Dialog to the Connections field on the Dialog asset. Give the DialogFragments text by clicking the speech bubbles and typing in the desired text. DialogFragments with no text will be skipped over. Choose the character for each DialogFragment by clicking the character portrait and picking your choice from the list that pops up. You can add more characters to the list through the Dialog XML Importer configuration screen accessible through the Window/Dialog XML Importer menu item.