Showing Emotion with Only Dialog

[Bob423 52]

When writing a book, to say that a character laughed, you basically just say they did.

In a game, you usually hear or see them laughing.

 

But I have a problem...What if I'm not using voices, and can't use a laughing animation (or it just won't fit in well) and have a character laugh at something someone said?

I can't seem to get the dialog right for showing emotion that tells the player that someone was making a joke and wasn't completely serious. I used to use faces, but I couldn't find all the images I needed and they were all based on the RMXP RTP sprites and I'm not only using RTP (I mostly am though)

With faces, it was easy because I just showed a picture of the character.

Without, I seem to have to risk making it awkward by adding "ha ha" or something.

 

Basically, this is what I want:

*funny observation or joke*

*acknowledgement of joke and response*

 

This is the dialog:

Michael: Maybe he just doesn't want is little sister to get stronger than him. *half joking*

Cathy: Maybe. *Also joking. Doesn't actually believe it at all.*

 

any suggestions?

[drago2308 4]

As much as i am inexperienced in creating games i can try and offer something of use to you.

 

I would consider over using grammar, and reading the sentences out loud and what would you add to make it obvious what you are trying to say without moving your body a inch.

 

eg.

Michael: Maybe he just doesn't want is little sister to get stronger than him. hmm? *half joking*

Cathy: Maybe?... *Also joking. Doesn't actually believe it at all.*

 

Basicly think of human speech and replicate it the "Hmm?" at the end is usually a signal of jokingness between friends as you nudge their shoulder telling them that girl is hot or something. Also the "Maybe?..." can be read as a drawn out maybe with Cathy rolling her eyes.

 

Hope this helps. This might sound stupid but this is how i view things :/

[Bob423 52]

hm...that does help a little. Thanks :D

[Heretic86 25]

To do this with Dialogue Only, characters may need to literally express a Reaction when something is expected to be funny. I'd literally add in a "Ha ha ha ha" from another character that heard the joke. It helps to fill in the blank. Since the Player is expected to interpret a statement as a joke, sometimes that expected reaction from the player needs to be explicit for the Player to witness from another character in the Dialogue itself.

 

Personally, I prefer Body Language for conveying emotion. Not always possible however.

 

What kind of Message System are you using? Does it support Letter by Letter or subtle Pauses in displaying that text?

[Bob423 52]

Yeah it does. I'm using this: http://www.gdunlimited.net/forums/files/file/63-ccoas-ums-18/

 

While this post has helped me a little, I've found that sometimes, when you want certain dialog between characters, it doesn't always fit anywhere.

That dialog was thought of before I had thought of every bit of dialog before it, so it was like skipping an important part. When I actually got to that part, I ended up scrapping not only that, but a couple other lines as well, while still getting the same message across (which was that a certain character might worry a bit too much about his younger sister).

I've changed plans this way before and it's actually part of the reason I'm writing out the whole story for at least the first game in my series before doing very much work on it.

[Heretic86 25]

Expect a ton of revisions. Especially if your working on a Story Arc or Pacing.

 

Always keep in mind that as a creator with zero limits, you can shuffle and reshuffle certain dialogue to other places in the game. Maybe have the funnies at a campfire later in the game, even if it was intended as being introduced in the first five minutes of play.

 

I think writing the story and script (dialogue) is the best thing you can do. Everything else grows around that.