Constructing dialogue

Whether divulging small nuggets of information, engaging in trade, or just adding that little bit of texture, for gaming genres such as the role-playing game, the ability to converse with characters in the surrounding world is often at the heart of the storytelling process.

In this recipe, we're going to examine a technique for constructing dialogue trees loosely based on the Gang of Four command pattern.

Getting ready

An XNA-compatible font of your choice is all that's required for this recipe.

How to do it...

To create a dialogue engine:

1. 1. Add a new SpriteFont to the solution named Dialogue.

2. 2. Create an interface to define how to interact with an NPC during conversation:

   interface ChatSupplier
   {
   IEnumerable<ChatOptionDisplayable> ChatOptions
   { get; }
   void Select(ChatOptionDisplayable chatOption);
   }
   

3. 3. Define the options that can be presented by an NPC in a conversation:

   interface ChatOptionDisplayable
   {
   float DisplayHeight { get; set; }
   string Text { get; ...