Creation of a Visual Dialogue System Tool featuring Text Customisation and Interactive Editor Playbackfor Better Usability

Abstract

Dialogue Systems are essential for creating engaging narratives in video game development. This can range from branching dialogues with Non-Player-Characters (NPCs) to simple non-branching monologues that are used for object-inspection or cutscenes. The implementation of such systems often differs as they are adapted to each game’s specific needs. This form of implementation offers the developers total freedom regarding the dialogue system’s design and behaviour, but it is often complex and repetitive and requires attention and dedicated time to be developed. Tools or Assets, for example ones found in the Unity Asset Store when using Unity, provide developers with general and simplified solutions for building dialogue systems. By using these resources, developers can save time and effort that would otherwise be spent creating a system from scratch. This thesis focuses on the development of a novel Unity-based dialogue system tool that streamlines the dialogue creation process through designer-friendly interfaces, the integration of static and kinetic text customisation, and interactive editor playback. By offering a node-based interface, the tool allows visual creation of dialogue trees in various dialogue system models. Additional windows, which handle the management of general and dialogue-specific settings, will also be implemented with a visual-focused interface, ensuring that the tool is accessible for a range of developers, from novices and designers to experienced programmers. In addition to this, the tool also integrates static and kinetic text customisation, like the change of text colour and font or addition of fading or shaking text, allowing developers to visually customise created dialogue lines. Furthermore, this thesis explores the impact of interactive editor playback on user workflow, and whether being able to visualise and customise conversations and dialogue lines in the editor without having to actually run the game enhances the tool’s efficiency and usability in comparison to existing tools. The tool is evaluated in a user study, in which students receive a task that is to be realised with this tool as well as another already existing one, with the experience being discussed in a focus group afterwards. In addition to that, the tool is tested by experts in an expert evaluation process.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Jeremiah Diephuis (Supervisor)