Click and Talk

[@Whisperdraw]

I agree with many of the points you make in this video. However, as a non-native English speaker I can testify that sometimes focusing on the action and dialogue at the same time can be a brutal mental exercise. The state of affairs is that - the way I see it - most non-native speakers use subtitles as a backup. That is, to better understand dialogue when faced with strange accents or deliberate mispronounciation. Couple the listening and reading of subtitles/captions, and the translation/understanding process, with the frantic action of some games, and the result is that you won't be able to focus completely on a single one. However, this does not invalidate the whole point here, and I think you are absolutely right with regards to multitasking. I just think that it's a relatively tight tightrope, and those who tread it better be careful! :)

[@Lomniko]

+Meira (Whisperdraw) I know your pain, mate. Same here, it was really difficult (and still is to some degree) for me to keep track of conversations without turning on subtitles. And if you play an english-only game with your buddies in skype and they all chat in your native tongue, your brain starts throwing sparks and hissing, in an attempt to keep up with processing information in two different languages while playing the game.

[@Whisperdraw]

+Lomeo Ah, yes! I remember playing Borderlands 2 with my friends and just completely disregard all dialogue - which is a great part of BL2's humourous mood! To be fair though, being able to have your buddies on skype is kind of a blessing, in and of itself.

[@wrthfl]

I think "Thomas was alone" would be a great example for this Video.

[@XanderHDD]

Great video, Just Supported on Patreon

[@Shutwig]

This is one thing I love about Kid Icarus Uprising. Have you played it? Sure there are some cutscenes, but overall you have always these characters talking to you or to each other while you're in the middle of the action, commenting on what you do or what they're up to. This makes a great sense of plot developing trough all the game. It's not like the mission reporters you have in your everyday FPS that usually talk to you when there's no action nor the characters in RPG saying the same lines in battle over and over again to make them feel alive; they're really growing as characters as you play. The problems would be that there is little to none change of this dialogues from your actions, since the game itself is pretty linear and that there's nothing more than speaking. as you don't interact with them in the gameplay itself (besides of battles). This is what I understand by listening to the video, if my example is inaccurate please make me understand. And great channel, btw, I really enjoy your content (Great level designs is how I met you, very inspiring serie to people who want to have better understandings on how to approach the player onto gameplay mechanics!).

[@pixelsunbird9670]

I'm making a game with this in mind, didn't know what to call that '' function '' before ^^ now i know! Click and Talk :) Keep on the good work Cagey

[@gulfgiggleanimations4472]

Wonderful 101 does this very well, whenever there's a dramatic backstory to be told, they send throw some basic enemies at you while it's happening. It's also a great way to show growth as the final time it happens, you fight what was sort of a miniboss for the first real level. The fact that at the end you're fighting what once required full attention, is now multitasking with listening to the boss's monologue, shows more growth than any sword upgrade can ever do. Then again, what else would you expect from Platinum Games, every game they've made centers around mastering game mechanics, even Starfox Zero.

[@darkxarth]

I just want to compare this to its more boring cousin: Walk and Talk. In the Batman Arkham games, you are locked into a walking speed to ensure that nothing at all happens while Batman communicates with his allies, usually after a big encounter. As has been said before, it's important to have moments of respite after big action scenes, and Walk and Talk might still be better than a cutscene, but it feels so much more frustrating because you have some control, but cannot do anything interesting. Shadows of Mordor is full of walk and talk moments, but they're handled a bit differently. Your ex-ranger buddy shows up, you two walk to an objective point, and he chatters along the way. However, you have control of your character, so you can move of your own accord, but it auto-walks you if you do nothing. But at least you can enjoy running around and doing things, even if you don't quite have full control of the game.

[@tsartomato]

wake me up inside

[@thpion]

I think that having busy work to do during dialog is a good thing to have in games. However it does not excuse you from having no interesting gameplay in your game what so ever.

[@Lomniko]

Interesting topic, although personally I find myself growing frustrated if conversation pulls my attention away from the game. I don't really get the joy of doing mindless routines inside the game while distracting myself with side activities. Usually if the game is good - I don't want to anything else to distract me from the process. The only exception to this is hack-and-slash rpgs the likes of diablo 2, path of exile and titan quest. Because the gameplay itself pretty fun and static, I can allow myself to listen to the podcast or something.

[@IvoryOasis]

Anything with more involved game play it can't happen so easily without voice overs :/ When using text and giving dialogue paths and whatnot, you typically NEED to stop the player from doing actions (moving to another screen, engaging in combat) .... I wish I could figure out to keep from stopping players in a game with lots of dialogue and no voice overs...but....can't seem to figure out a way. Sometimes you just need to sit there talking to someone.

[@0hate9]

What's the game's name? I couldn't figure out how to spell it from the audio.

[@PolarbearYGT]

which is the hack and slash game at 4:13 ?

[@haldir108]

I dislike the way you framed this, even if the point made is valid. I've never kept playing a game that can't hold my full and undivided attention, and probably approach it differently than somebody who listens to a podcast while playing. For your run-off-the-mill professionally developed game, mixing conversation with other gameplay probably comes down to optimized time usage. You need to keep the player engaged for as high a percentage of the time as possible, but at the same time, you need to be mindful of your pacing and avoiding player fatigue. pausing the action for either conversation or lower tension gameplay might lose player engagement, but combining them allows you to hold back your pacing a bit without risking quite as much in the engagement department. Constructing good flow, good pacing, and delivering as much meaningful content, action or conversation, in as little time as possible is where the click&talk might shine as a useful tool in a designer toolbox.