My Problem with Dialogue Boxes

[@Rashicora]

Lowkey, not having a blank face is not a bad thing. You might wanna look into how ace attorney does it :3

[@iridophorium]

I think Edgeworth Investigations might be a good example to look at too? It has most of its character expression with the dialouge box with portraits and the blank-ish sprites in the background. But sometimes they're animate the sprites in the background too, with a few premade sprites. (Deltarune does this similarly, but there is more custom animations for the sprites that fit special scenes. Like at the end of chapter two in the lightworld computer room there are some Susie sprites that are just for that scene. It's like what Edgeworth Investigation does but with a wider scope, and as a solo game dev you gotta watch out for scope creep! So. Just said this to give examples of the same concept with two different scopes of the same-ish dialouge system :D)

[@SuperCaleb283]

Double recommend Ace Attorney, but I also think the Professor Layton games could be useful references.

[@Uncon_Arts]

Honestly, I really enjoy the back and forth arrow style dialogue. I imagine a good way to cover the screen is to add a multiply or darker overlay layer (or even a lighter one) and maybe include a grid pattern similar to your videos to obscure the background (without covering it completely)

[@snasnu.tdealer9611]

Yeah the design they settled on here definitely _works,_ but I think this would look a lot better

[@DexyDaddy]

Strongly agreed! It looks great and doesn't feel bland, it feels appropriate thematically, and especially would with a subtle grid maybe scrolling across the bg

[@HackerDragon9999]

"I can talk blahblahblah" "Blahblahblah" "Shut up" 10/10 conversation

[@Geckoreo]

sound like it could be the internet

[@yaboisam3058]

Honestly, I think the back and forth arrow dialogue boxes (5:42) are the best (out of the ones you showed). It's unique and fun! Covering the whole screen feels like a bit much. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it makes me feel like I'm missing something important in the background (even if nothing is actually going on).

[@lesliejacoby9137]

"I can talk. Blah blah blah." Hold!! up his writing is this fire ??? 🔥

[@Izzythemaker127]

Blahbalahla blah balhab

[@De_an]

It's crazy that n0Rtist wrote literal poetry for placeholder dialogue.

[@lesliejacoby9137]

@@De_an I need a movie just for this piece of dialogue to be said by like Chris Pratt

[@TheDexplorer2011]

@@Izzythemaker127shut up

[@docalpaca]

"Shut up"

[@Eyepokai]

I think Deltarune utilises this kinda thing really well, with dialogue portraits for most text, but also having the overworld sprites emote as well in a lot of cases. But also, you could do something like Ace Attourney, where once you talk to someone, a detail image of their upper half shows up, covering most of the screen, with that emoting whilst covering the overworld sprites.

[@sondrekileandersen2901]

To be honest, I think covering up the whole screen with UI removes the characters from the scene. This setting is a really important to understand the situation they are in, which is why most games keep the world visible during dialog.

[@theshuman100]

for instance a dialogue box might obscure a giant enemy waiting for the moment the dialogue stops

[@TrueLadyEvilChan]

I love Metaphor ReFantazio but gosh that UI is everywhere.

[@GooseBibleTunes]

Yea... Quarter of the screen? Yea! Half the screen? If it's done right! Most of the screen?... No, not at all

[@GooseBibleTunes]

​@@TrueLadyEvilChan Metaphors UI is stunning

[@sondrekileandersen2901]

@GooseBibleTunes The only game that comes to mind with a fully covered dialoge screen, that works, is Metal Gear Solid. Not sure why it works so well though, might be nostalgia, and a sense of claustrophobia

[@kumen5341]

Nortist video formula: -problem/topic -what is the sollution -shows example from other game -conclusion

[@man-o-valor]

I don't mind the overworld characters not changing expression, is been done in other games and I don't mind it at all

[@XplosivDS]

Yep, I think he's exaggerating the problem a bit

[@TheGreatOwlMaster]

I feel like the panel design that takes up the entire screen makes the game feel more like a mobile game since the ui is so large, and it hides the environment so it feels completely disconnected. If I were to do this, I would probably use the "implied arrow" design at 5:43 but smaller and at the bottom of the screen, and make the overworld sprites show less emotion or have seperate sprites for the head and body, so you can animate one without touching the other

[@PhantomThiefXI]

You could use dialogue coming out of different communication equipment thats fitting for the speaker like a gramophone for older people, radios for adults, smartphones for children, and then you "express" feelings by distorting the equipment in cartoonish fashion, or using different speech bubble shapes (when having an intimate secret conversation, the dialogue comes out of cups with a string on them; thatd be really cute) This is the most unique style fitting for your games theme I can think of, if you think it isnt STEM enough, i apologize for the misfire

[@Bownimations01]

That sounds so fun tbh

[@Stephen-Fox]

UX is such an important, but under discussed, aspect of game design so glad to hear you're giving it some consideration. Love the stylization of the diagonal panels - Very stylish, but I'm not sure it would be good for Major Story Beats - It feels like a fantastic choice for something in-between reading a singpost, getting directions, or talking to a Youngster who's about to pay you for the privilege of getting his pet rat sent to hospital, and the equivalent of cutscenes in larger budget games where a comic book approach might work better, so you keep the sense of place that the diagonals lose, and allow the characters to... Do things... while talking. You also might retain some sense of place in them (which I don't know if it would bother me, I enjoy the Codec calls which completely lose any sense of place during) that I noticed some people worried about losing if you put the diagonal panels over whatever you're using for the battle backgrounds rather than a purple void to avoid anyone getting a "and now we go into the talking dimension," while potentially helping tie the battle screen to the place more, depending on how abstract your battle screen is. (Are we talking Pokemon circles, the bespoke location-specific environments of PS1 Final Fantasy games, something in between, just happening in the overworld?)

[@adamusprime403]

Expression doesn't ALWAYS have to express a characters tone, it can also be used to express a characters personality. It really depends on what the artist is hoping to depict.

[@hergityf.9251]

I've always liked the art direction of the gen 5 games. The awesome cinematics possible in the 3d space while still having the charm of the 2d sprites is something that I'm really fond of and I'm excited to see how your game turns out. Even that little snippet of game footage in the test area looks very good. Keep up the great work and take your time.

[@Judith-2001]

5:10 I’m shocked to see that character, I’ve only ever seen it minecraft paintings thought it was an original design by mojang

[@Plightning23]

0:35 he got the moves tho

[@FelixHelixihare]

A thing you should remember that the dialog box is more than a vehicle textual information. It can be more than that. It is also a canvas that can be manipulated to convey a whole load of emotions. Red vignette to imply anger. Blue vignette to imply sadness. Shaky text to imply panic. Small text to imply whispers. Font type to imply character traits such as serif for posh folk and monospace for robots. A cracked background to imply hopelessness and despair. Charms and stickers to display character interests. Horror is intensified when it seeps into the UI. In a certain way, UI separates you from the game world. It is a barrier, a middle man. But if the UI also changes alongside the game (even something as simple as the main menu background changing as you progress), the UI then feels like its part of the world, that there is nothing that separates you from the game world. You control the UI, the UI is part of the world.

[@highjinxxed116]

Well said!! Playing around with the UI and making it feel dynamic can be a lot of effort, but I'm certain players would notice it and love it

[@FelgoTheMighty]

Katana zero does this incredibly well, plus allowing to straight up interrupt people

[@matthewthefunnyman2788]

I haven't actually noticed it properly till now but oh my gosh your protagonist/avatar character is soooo cute I love her, the little expression sheets you showed off are super charming

[@Gova_01]

Real with UI design being one of the hardest parts. I'm also making my own game, and designing it is being one of the hardest parts so far. The hardest one for me is the combat UI, since I need it be compact enough to not cover the battle sprites, big enough to show all the info and who is it from, and it needs to work with a different amount of characters since you don't get the full party until halfway through. Right now I'm on a very earthbound inspired design, buy I still need to work a lot on it.

[@Hasselia]

I wouldn't describe the avatars of Cassette Beast & 2D Pokémon as "blank", but "abstract". The difference being that it's easier to impose the viewer's own interpretation, or emotions, onto that "vessel". Think about the difference of N's confession in the Ferris wheel, & other cutscenes in B/W vs confronting the villains of US/UM. Gen V doesn't have as much emphasis on the avatars, but on the characters interacting _with_ them. Whilst there is a lot more emphasis on the player character in US/UM, who has a perfectly detailed smile on at almost all times. This is true even when walking through the world of Alola. The camera is more often on eye level of the player character, so you can almost always see the blank, near lifeless expression in the eyes of the character you're controlling. This is in contrast to even Gen VI where the Kalos & Hoenn avatars in a more abstract "chibi" style while the camera is more often in an overhead view. Even in the dramatic cutscenes, the Gen Vi avatars are more expressive than in Gen VII, (with juuuust enough abstraction to _feel_ more expressive than the switch protags, despite them having just as many expressive animations IMO). I personally believe that ICO (& I'd even be bold enough to say Game Freak sometimes) misunderstood this, especially with BDSP. Cynthia's overworld sprite isn't "blank". You can see that she has a half lidded eye expression, with another eye covered, hair ornaments and muted clothing. With her guiding the player along their journey and position as champion, the implication is that she is more a mature and refined woman with experience for the player to rely on. In contrast with many of the aristocratic type of older women in white dress and dark hair that battle, yet seem like they'd be afraid of any ground type pokemon. Nonetheless, it's still possible to impose an emotions for Cynthia onto many cutscenes and dialogue. You might also notice I'm not calling the Gen VI player characters "avatars". This is honestly more of a (slightly vindictive) pendantively, in that "Avatar" directly means "vessel". A term from Hinduism that in video game context, means the player is in that world but acting through a "vessel" of another person. IMO, I think the characters that the players control in Pokémon were always less intended to be "avatars" by Game Freak than the player base felt. I believe the disconnect that some players feel from the jump of 2D to 3D Pokémon is both the lack of abstraction, and GF having more tools to tell the story _they want_ outside the player's control. But this section is just speculation. In regards to the U.I., the first dialogue prototype seems fine to me. The non-speaking party is muted, whilst the speaking party is highlighted with an arrow point in the direction of the listener within the conversation. With this design, you can even put an " *>* " or " *

[@iridophorium]

7:08 Oh! While writing my last comment I remembered something you can use to evoke science papers, footnotes/references! There are several ways you could include these. The game South Scrimshaw used footnotes in it! You can see how effective it is to use footnotes to evoke a vibe of reading a texbook or paper! Clicking a footnote would take you to a section explaining the concept that was footnoted and then return you back to the dialouge where you clicked the footnote. But something that might be better suited to your game is maybe something like this: If a character references a concept or a character, you can add a little footnote marker, and when you click the footnote/the word that is footnoted or press a certain button, it takes you to a encyclopedia page of that thing! I mean like, the "pokedex" if a Stema creature is mentioned, or a character description page (like in Ghost Trick for example) or a tutorial menu for different mechanics that you can look back at (Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia had this). You can do something like this with plots/mysteries too, with pages about things that get added onto when you get more information (Professor Layton has this, and Ghost Trick too but that's more character focused) Of course it would be totally optional for the player to interact with the footnotes, like it's optional too look at footnotes when reading papers. You can add a little box thing when you hover over the word or select the footnote that says something like "Go to the StemaDex entry for Igneone?". like when you hover over the titel of a youtube video title in your sidebar. (I swear I have a memory of a game that had this feature of hovering over highlighted text and it would show you what was referenced, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was!!! Return of the Obra Din maybe???)

[@leorick2454]

I think the arrow style looked the best, i just cant explain why i liked it

[@zfourtythree]

I see where you're going with this method, but it might work better if the dialouge screen was just a bit smaller than the scene. You could even darken the scene in the background to give it a look similar to some pause/inventory screens. I would also consider having backgrounds to show the environment during dialogue as the solid one feels a bit detached from the context of the scene. Love how the game looks so far

[@malaksafa4074]

GAME DEV VID LETS GOOO!

[@undertraveler]

Maybe you should just darken anything but the dialogue boxes when they're on screen to take the player's focus away from the overworld sprites

[@scootermcpeanuts6699]

I think this is a good compromise actually.

[@albertopascari2314]

I love how much effort you place in your game. It shows how hard you worked up until now. I honestly can't wait to play the finished product😀

[@Coltingtons]

I don't think it matters if overworld sprites can't fit a wide range of emotions. Generally players eyes are on the text they're reading or the dialogue portraits and not the overworld characters, so it doesn't really matter if the overworld sprites don't fit

[@cosmicskydragon333]

Not true at all, it is very common for characters to move, act, and emote between dialogues. Most good games have done this, Undertale, Mario&Luigi, Final Fantasy, ect.

[@jmh8817]

It's easy to get lost in the weeds of game mechanics, character design, music composition, etc. when making a game, but UX, of which dialogue UI is a part, is a criminally underdiscussed subject. I have a pretty good idea of how I want to present dialogue, but that doesn't stop me every few days from going "but it sure would be nice if I could do it like X instead, and benefit from Y trait..." before I remember that I previously discarded that choice for some other reason. The struggle is real.

[@philiphunt-bull5817]

The back and forth arrows work better, darkening the backround is all you need to draw attention away from it.

[@darknega75]

You should look at The World Ends With You dialogue.

[@PloverTechOfficial]

“Verity”, “Justice”, hmmm I am getting Realm of Elderlings vibes, either way I like the style of the game.

[@aedaniammx7559]

A small suggestion that may work: try stylizing your characters’ faces so they don’t have mouths on the overworld, and keeping the portraits the same. It sacrifices very little detail on the overworld sprite, but stylizes it in a way that is obviously not indicative of the character’s actual design, and is expressionless in a way that can be done within the suspension of disbelief

[@StarBeam500]

I think you may just have to make animations on the actual characters. They don't have to be detailed, but each character in the world should have a basic 2-frame talking sprite (the first frame can be the standing frame) and some basic poses/animations like slouched foreward, sad, excited, suprized, etc. If that charecter uses them. (If your issue is just with drawing legs, not every emotion needs differently posed legs. Some may but it most cases you can probably just copy the legs across each sprite) As the artist yourself, it may be easy to just wait until you get to a point that you need a certain emotion for a character, then add it instead of making a ton and possibly never using them. Most more detailed emotions can be put in the profiles, but leaving room to see where the conversation is makes sure the player still feels like they are in the world, and also makes it easier to have world events happen without having to bring up and down some massive panel. The actual game part of the game is in the world, so hiding the world while in the story takes people away from the game and makes them feel seperate when the game and story really should go together. I don't mean to be too rude (I may just a bit) but I don't think the panel looks good at all. I think the arrow design looks really good if you move it down a bit.

[@KitKitsuneVixen]

the Undertale textbox made me think... what would the Nortist mascot look like in their Dark World form!?

[@highjinxxed116]

This is a fun video! I'd love to see you tackle the other 'heads' of the beast you briefly showed in your video, I've always been a sucker for devlogs and more technical videos that add a little bit of flair to make it approachable for non dev audiences (me lol) I also really appreciate all the unique visual work you did for this video! You do it for all your videos and it always looks awesome, but all of it being so topical to the discussion at hand really made this a fun watch. And regarding the dialogue boxes, I feel like covering the whole screen is a little excessive :[ personally, it'd really take me out of the game and would make me avoid optional dialogue which I would otherwise read. You say your characters aren't emotionally ambiguous enough for the detailed portraits to work, but I disagree! The overworld sprite not emoting with the portraits doesn't bother me at all. I think the overworld sprite having a slightly more expressive look, to give you a feel for the personality of the characters standing around, is a lot more interesting than having them all be blank faced all the time. A confident character having a flashy smile in their idle/overworld really doesn't distract as much as you think it does! I also feel like the characters are generally not that big and not that centered in the frame, making it less distracting. Like, in a lot of Sonic games, Sonic's face doesn't animate for conversation that happens during gameplay or outside of a cutscene. However, this doesn't make the player feel disconnected from what is being said, since you'd only really notice Sonic's eyes and mouth aren't moving if you looked closely. So maybe this head of the beast is a lot easier to tackle than you think it is!

[@xX_wiLLiam_Xx]

i really like your lineless style

[@maglev0789]

The diamond panel menu itself is really stylish, however I think I'd like it better if the background had a lower opacity so that the scenery is only *mostly* covered. As the top comment said, the scrolling grid you use in these videoes could be a great background for it.

[@lionclan4575]

UI is very important, but also a lack of it can work really well too. Take the paper mario series where there aren't portraits for any character, and yet there is so much emotion conveyed with its art style. it makes liberal use of having its character's sprites more so in sections rather than a solid sprite so they can have different sprites for the arms, feet, head, etc to have some more customization in terms of body expression, and it plays around with the camera a ton too! zooming in when its a closed conversation, zooming out when someone shouts, and playing around with it's fonts and the size of the speech bubbles. maybe it's the 2D art style, but I think checking out how that series does its dialouge might give you some inspiration in terms of how much of an UI you actually need to do what you want.

[@iridophorium]

7:08 If you want stem themed dialogue boxes, maybe you can use the square pattern in the background, like in your presentation of your designs? It definitely evokes stem vibes, since notebooks for more math/science heavy subjects often have squares instead of lines. If you want inspiration, Splatoon* have dialogue boxes with subtle scrolling patterns in the background or their dialouge boxes. The patterns even change depending on what story mode/game you're playing, which is a neat detail. But that's definitely more of a purely aesthetic choice to make, while it seems you're focusing more on layout utility currently. But when you get further into your final design, this can add some nice flavor. *I've definetly noticed it in Splatoon 2, octo expansion and Splatoon 3. I don't remember it in Splatoon 1

[@Zeebsz]

Not sure if it'd fit with the art style you're going for, but I was thinking that turning the interacting characters' overworld sprites completely black would work around this issue, and maybe darkening the screen behind the dialogue box alongside it. I took a screenshot of the video and tried it in photoshop and it seemed to work pretty well

[@Someone-ei5ds]

THE SASS of Verity is overwhelming, I LOVE IT!

[@neo_b]

have you considered using the line art versions for like their pokedex/encyclopedia page… or like make them collectible stickers for a scrapbook in the game also wondering if you’re gonna tackle Mimic enemy & long quest to find 100~ hidden items, they are jrpg classics and pokemon has them too! Mimics: Voltorb lines, Amoongus line, G-stunfisk collectathon quest: zygarde cells, A-Digletts in isle of armor, wisps in Hisui, treasures of ruin Stakes & Gimmighoul coins in Paldea

[@De_an]

No...don't give me 100~ hidden items...PLEASE!!!

[@highjinxxed116]

Honestly I think the "find 100~ collectibles for rewards" quests are very poorly aged, and I wonder why they seem relatively recent in Pokemon games. Back in the golden age of JRPGs, the internet was still trying to find its footing. To find all these things around a game map required thorough searching, maybe collaboration with friends or locals, and if you were lucky; a physical game guide. It was hard to do, and only the most dedicated lovers of a game would go through and do it legitimately. But today? They're often just grindy and not fun. The reward doesn't really feel all that worth it either, at least in Pokemon. Zygarde cells were alright, since Zygrade 100% was admittedly cool, butttttt Spiritomb from Hisui? Like, meh? Spiritomb isn't a new pokemon, it is generally understood to be mediocre (even though it IS cool, don't get me wrong) and we've all seen it before. Hell, a lot of players probably already owned one before. It didn't even get a regional form. It doesn't feel rewarding to do either, because once I got through the main game and did a few sweeps of each area by hand, I ended up just Googling it. You could just say "well then don't!" and I really tried not to, but depriving myself of the easiest solution when I'm not having fun doing it 'the real way' just didn't seem right. Since I had to do it for the dex entry, it just became an obstacle. Swooping the map three times over because I missed two whisps and I don't know which ones. It was honestly the one mechanic in LA that felt like a miss, since the actual dex completion did feel fun and rewarding to do. I'd like to see N0rist tackle this but I sincerely hope that if it IS added to STEMA, the age of the internet will be factored in!

[@neo_b]

@ i just find it neat because both collectathons & mimics can be adapted really well into a stem themed game

[@Sal_sotry]

0:44 the way the characters look here reminds me a lot of the music video for Turn The Lights Off by Tallyhall

[@determineddaaf3]

I've seen some good suggestions in the comments! For me most of the screen being covered kind of takes me out of it, especially for more casual conversations, but I think it can work.

[@slime-vine]

the dialogue box covering the whole screen is pretty daunting and oppressive honestly. in my experience i personally prefer boxes covering the lower half of the screen with a border and portrait, that might be a good idea if you're planning on doing many emotes for your characters. for the issue of the player/npc sprite outside the box not reflecting the emotions inside the dialogue boxes... i think just removing the mouth from the overworld sprite would be perfectly fine with the very minimalist style you work in already. honestly you could probably make the dialogue sprites a bit more detailed since they'll be a bit blown up from everything else in the game seemingly. best of luck to you!

[@adamroquemore6410]

I feel like Disco Elysium has the best dialogue UI I've ever seen. Legit, if you put your text aligned vertically social media feed-style in a box on the right-hand side of the screen and let the portraits take up the rest of it, that might be the best of both worlds.

[@AlphaPizzadog]

I think being able to remove the box / reduce its opacity with a button might be useful

[@anonymousfog501]

1:52 i was not prepared for mr. har har harhar har to show up

[@dany_fg]

If you want to you science in the design you should use Lorem Ipsum, as it will generate a random length of text (within reason) in order to view both short and long types of texts. this is essential in a lot of text based UI, so that you won't be surprised when the text overflows the dialogue box.

[@glauberksks8165]

The idea I had was to cover the entire screen but not with a dialog box like in the video, but rather to add a background that matches the location/route you are in, and then you add the half body portraits. (Kind of like the camera is doing a close up)

[@whiz8569]

I remember a quote from Derek Yu who said "Text boxes ... [are] surprisingly tricky and offer lots of opportunities to explode in complexity." They're one of those things that are so common, players take it for granted, but can be really tricky to implement, especially if you're making it from the ground up!

[@spicyrainbows4561]

I love the idea of the scientific figures!! I probably have a bias towards them as a chem nerd, but I think it's a really creative and cute idea that I could see working out.

[@Bzlaabnieni]

I’d be really interested in seeing a devlog for your project in godot, or even some of the base code! It looks SO good already!

[@soninhodev7851]

tbh, in the game i'm developing, i will go with the classic of a dialog box at the top of the screen, with the speakers portrait. it should work just fine, since my character sprites have few facial expressions. and also my player character is a mario type, where he can only talk in either pentamime, or, small blerbs of voice acting, but those lines are primarily used for gameplay, just like mario.

[@trojan-not]

7:07 I actually really like how this looks

[@sam_bamalam]

I kind of like the science figure idea! You can combine it with the Nine Sols approach with the manga piles but you’re revealing the images. Maybe remove the “Fig. 23” with the character’s name? I think there’s something cool and interesting there that you’d make work really well

[@DoveJS]

I think what you have is pretty good but I don't think you have the cover up the screen that much. The player won't be paying as much attention to what isn't changing about the full-body designs, especially if the portraits are much bigger and flashier in their expressions. People who are watching someone else play the game would notice more aspects because they're not as primed to pay attention. The player needs to decide between stimuli and determine what matters based on the ever present feeling of needing to be alert so they can respond correctly. This goes down during calmer periods, such as dialog, but as long as the conversation is engaging, it WILL gather up most if not all of the player's focus and from there an entertained player's willing suspension of disbelief will help fill in any gaps too (which is why full animation isn't needed.) That said, you could also explore your dislike of drawing backgrounds and legs by trying out some small ones to softly fill up the dialog box and/or make full response images for the main models like if their entire pose changes to emphasize their response, especially if you keep the dialog box that big. As in, try to find some way to make it interesting for you. Not something you have to do but it could be a way to get more creative with those and be more memorable if for example you suddenly jump to a full body image when there's a massive reaction to something lol. IDK because I'd also be reluctant and even if you try it, you may find you still don't like it, but that's a thought if you want to really grab someone's attention. It's sort of a blend of the visual novel and that super cool comic book dialog cut-scene the kitty game did? ALSO having seen this, I'm very curious about your thoughts on BeastieBall which I found out about recently and decided I needed to have after watching an LP and trying out the Demo (and I don't play that many games these days nor do I have a lot of spending cash so it was like a Christmas gift to myself this year.)

[@LuluLotus175]

0:36 IS THAT A GOD DANG PIZZA TOWER REFERENCE!? Nice👍

[@normalertyp5467]

keep going champ, you are inspiring

[@herothecrow994]

The idea that the fun game mechanics are the easy part and the UI and text is the hard part hits very close as someone who just finished making a game for school and couldn't even manage to finish a full pause menu

[@TableTime45]

1:57 IS THAT FREY FAZBEER?!?!

[@stampg_wifey_era]

6:03 personally this is my favourite hp box its compact nice looking and gives you all the info you need! 5:49 i feel like theres ways to make a panel look intersting im quite a fan of them but i think covering the whole screen isint a good idea in a game like this unless its used sparingly! personally i also feel like some kind of shadowed overlay would be nicer, maybe you could also look at bug fables and paper mario's text boxes? i feel like theyd fit quite well with your style

[@DangerDurians]

Before movies, there were silent films And just like metal gear, dialogue in those covered the entire screen

[@WeirdWimp]

0:35 PIZZA TOWER REFERENCE

[@uanamenezes7689]

If i ever encounter this problem i am probably going to still pose up the characters in the more detailed dialog boxes but just change their faces in the overworld, that way it gets the point across But still isn't that much work. Anyway, interesting video a always, i wish you luck in your gamemaking :)

[@Rato-56-1.0]

Honestly im only watching this bcuz of the undertale/deltarune textbox in the thumbnail

[@ilyatepeyolotich6459]

I dont think i like covering entire screen with a solid rectangle. I understand the idea, but i think it woud look better with screen distortion like some blur plus a brightness drop. Otherwise it looks like the dialog is happening on another plane of existence. Like when you get a phone call in gen5.

[@ilyatepeyolotich6459]

I would leave the current diamond shaped dialog screen but remove the solid background maybe leave it as an outline for shape language.

[@JACOB-iq6ee]

First design was the best (3:10)

[@radioactivefoxsiddy]

If i were to recommend something, have it zoom in a bit and blur the screen except the dialogue box, while having it on the bottom still, may be more fluid and may look better

[@Alllies-rz17ou]

YES ANOTHER VIDEO!!!! 🎉🎉

[@asher3311]

i like how the arrow one looks, not really a fan of the panel that blocks most of the screen

[@Zero_de_Nova]

YOu coude go the RPG Maker approche with Emotion Bubbles in the Background. It changes just enought that even a Stock Picture show emotions.

[@zixvirzjghamn737]

7:10 this is amazing why didn't you use this

[@jinga9862]

I think the Scientific diagrams would work for The Stema-Dex.

[@lostsoul2335]

Great video, good luck!

[@orchetrance3230]

2.5D style reigns supreme!

[@malaksafa4074]

Miside has a cool dialogue box mechanic you could reference (haven't finished the vid yet.)

[@TurretBot]

7:06 wait i love this then again, i'm a nerd

[@Crafting_Table_]

WANDERSONG MENTIONED

[@TheDimensionalArtist]

I like the Sudden realization of:Wait... That's not pointed at me, is it?...

[@Craftomon360]

How is there only ONE Undertale/Deltarune reference in this?!

[@N1ghtL1ght64]

tbh need to see nortist doing sick tricks real

[@gladeburst]

I know this is offtopic, but you’ve made me buy WanderSong just because I like the style of it!

[@gladeburst]

Oh my god this game is so good

[@gladeburst]

Just beat the game, actually a really fun game!

[@dyloaniso2175]

Can you add some way of getting really difficult battles in your game, like Cynthia in diamond pearl and platinum. It is ok if it is optional or toggle able and is preferable for me so you can speak to more people.

[@havibav1342]

nORtist vs dialouge box boxing match when

[@Agent-Happy]

DELTARUNE text box genius way to show purpose

[@Zyyk0]

Maybe you can look into crosscode for aome inspiration:) Beautiful dialogue style in that game

[@niskat1848]

I think it's an overkill to cover up whole screen. I don't think that's really a problem that both dialogue and overworld sprites might be seen at the same time, considering that they have different detailization and expressions. Also Your characters are so pretty! Love your artstyle

[@erinkarp]

Game dev vid!

[@TalysAlankil]

silly question, but why *aren't* your sprites vectors? it seems perfectly suited to your art style

[@-flowerbed-]

You should check out the disco Elysium text box and how they made it

[@Zancibar]

This may be obvious (and/or you may say it yourself later in the video) but just in case I want you to know that you can use a "UI Layer" node in Godot to easilly get a 2D interface that is rendered in relation to the screen as opposed to the scene

[@exammole4545]

It looks clunky if you cover up the entire screen nglnglngl

[@entomoid]

something I don't like about pokemon, is that there are undeniably weak pokemon, maybe they are too slow. It could be because they are too common, maybe they are too early to warrant such power, bug types and normal types are common victims of this trend. I don't want to have a monster I like be an up hill battle to use, or to have a monster I like sit in my party and not contribute, sometimes a pokemon is built for 2v2s, or team battles, or wild battles, but the the monster is not worth sending out unless there criteria are met.

[@aricheec7722]

the full screen dialogue kinda interrupts the setting and gameplay, no?

[@dragoknight589]

My short-term memory is trash so conversation logs are damn near prerequisite for me to enjoy these kinds of games because of my trash short-term memory.

[@alligatortears5344]

what about like those school science papers that like show a skeleton or something and have underlined words that connect another line to the part of the body it is talking about?

[@NickyG0y]

As a gamedev... ui will be my 13th reason why...

[@Joyeniyi]

Leave Justice alone bro... Let my man speak.

[@vanirie434]

I really like the concept of the fullscreen design, I feel like there's a chance to play with it like having them be a text message/phone call or maybe having a character's thoughts and observations pop up as thought bubbles in-between the lines of dialogue -- or even having them stick *to* the characters the viewpoint character is talking to 🤔It's definitely less-iterated on than the visual novel portrait style.

[@highjinxxed116]

THIS!!! I LOVE this idea!! You could do this with just the protagonist, since we are playing as them after all, but occasionally giving it to other characters would allow you to add a lot of little flair or personality details that wouldn't come up naturally in conversation!