View Full Version : Dialogue on mobile devices
Fengol
19-11-2008, 11:58 AM
I've been struggling with a game concept for the latest comp and it's probably because I haven't played anything on my phone beyond a bad implementation of sudoku. My latest idea is for a rpg type game but I'm concerned about displaying dialogue in such a small screen space.
What kind of options or alternatives do I have? Am I even wasting my time and should just look at a hack 'n slash?
Pseudonaja
19-11-2008, 12:09 PM
phone screens are made for text, but you'll have to add a setting for small, medium and large fonts. You'll also probably have to display full screen text, pressing down to scroll (maybe add a 3-pixel scrollbar so you know how far down you are)
these are just my ideas... i don't know what i'm talking about
Fengol
19-11-2008, 12:12 PM
that's cool for displaying text from the NPC but traditionally the user would also have 3-4 dialogue options to respond with; how do I handle that?
Pseudonaja
19-11-2008, 12:23 PM
Well you can either do it like NWN where you scroll all the way down and when you reach the bottom there's a linked line for every option, with numbers... or you can display text, read and press next, display reply options...
On a biggish phone like an N-series Nokia or HTC, everything should fit into the screen, specially with text on small.
And keep your dialogue short... obviously...
What's that MMO that runs on phones and PCs? Maybe try that and grab some ideas...
Pseudonaja
19-11-2008, 12:25 PM
Found it: http://www.shadowoflegend.com/
dislekcia
19-11-2008, 01:42 PM
Dialogue shouldn't be tricky, just do what you'd normally do in GM but in a 240x320 maximum resolution. Design around that, instead of worrying about phone compatibility issues, those would be for later when the prototype is nailed down and enjoyable.
Cyberninja
19-11-2008, 06:21 PM
Depending on the amount of text needed, you may want to try the graphic route. Make pre-rendered menus of all your text options in graphic form. Like so:
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/5830/menusgq4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
If you're worried about the font clarity, try using a pixel based font. Like the ones shown in the image above. Da font has some really nice ones. They remain crisp even at low resolutions: http://www.dafont.com/bitmap.php?page=2
*Again, this is probably better suited to games with limited text.
Kensei
21-11-2008, 12:36 PM
I played an RPG on my phone a while back.
To overcome large bodies of text you could do like the Pokemon, or any JRPG really, series - with 3 lines of text and then an arrow to progress to the next 3 lines of text.
For player options, have a pop out to the centre of the screen if there are more than 3 options
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