Hi everybody :) I'm currently developing a short adventure game with Lassie AS for my webdesign studies. I am awed by the possibilites Lassie offers! Now, I've been through all the documentation I could find and also through Nige's great tutorial - don't know what I'd have done without it! Thanks man! Now to my problem: How does the Conversation Editor work exactly? The "Anim Editor.txt" file in the documentation refers to a "Conversation Editor article for more information" but I haven't been able to find it. How do I make my _char talk with an NPC? I thought I'd had it all right but when I click on "Talk to" on the verb disc (the TIMe is calling the right convo) my cursor disappears and nothing happens. Any hints on the right way to go about this? Thanks in advance! :)

Thanks for the kind words. First, you need to execute the "playConversation" TIMe (I think that's what it's called). You can find documentation on it in the TIMe dictionary. That will be the trigger to enter into a conversation dialogue exchange. Does that help / answer your question... or was the problem encountered after you did that?

To have a conversation: create your NPC in your room in "talk to" TIMes playConversation('yourconvo') In config/Anim create your "yourconvo" The "talk to" NPC needs to be first in the char sprite list, dunno why but it doesn't work otherwise then just "edit convers" you need at least two topics, ie hello! and goodbye, you use -2 tier on goodbye to leave the convo you don't need NPC in the config/cast list, this can also stop dialog working Hope that helps! sorry its one of the vague points in the tutorials :oops:

Thanks for getting back so me so fast! That was great guys :) The "talk to" NPC needs to be first in the char sprite list, dunno why but it doesn't work otherwise That did the trick! Thank you so much! *hugs* May I request some explanation on this screen though: I'm overwhelmed by the many parameters. I understood now how topics and the corresponding sequences go. But what are the ranks, the tiers, what is advance? Also, I'm not sure what all the numbers on the top ( _root: _2 (#_0) and such) mean. I'd be really thankful for some enlightenement. :idea: Edit: Oh and hey NigeC I just realized you're Paranoia over on the Nordinho forums :oops: Don't know if you've met me (I'm Flamenco_Fleur there) but it's nice to see you there! Cheers! :)

I haven't used ranks or advance lines Advance Line -1 deletes a line after its been said Tier expand a conversion so if you said "hi my names patrick, whats your" npc: "i don't want to tell you!" Add tier "1" the right tier arrow lights up, click the arrow to start another relevant convo , ie char: "come on whats your name!"

OK cool. I'll fiddle around with that. I think I'll stick with dialogue sequences though since my game will be kept short - don't want to lose myself in endless conversation branches :D Thanks a lot!

The game i'm on with has a Monkey Island style insult conversation :? Its not that hard but it does pay to write it down on paper first to help keep track Welcome BTW!

Oh, it's been a while since I wrote that.... however. Lets see. The advance line setting tells the selected line how to advance after it has been played. I believe there are four values: 1: Goes to next tier that extends from the line that was just played. 0: No change. Line is played and you stay in the current tier -1: Goes back one tier from the current tier -2: Exits conversation. Of course, you can't have a -1 in the root tier (since there is no going further back), so that will automatically count as a conversation exit. As for the #_0_1 thing up at the top, that is the current tier address. Think of that as the street address of the menu that you're in. You can specify that address in the advance tier field to make a line play then go to that tier, regardless of the tier extends from the last played line or not. Finally, ranks versus IDs... An ID just gives a line a static, unchanging value to be referenced by. Ranks govern the sort order of the list (lower rank number appear higher in the list, rank of 0 lines are hidden). Hope that helps.

I also have no doubt that LEC had better programmers who had built a much more robust architecture to support option management. I make no secret about the fact that I've had no formal com-sci training and, so there for, are still a noob in the great world of application architecture. I'm getting better, but I have no doubt that Lassie is still a privative application.

I have had the insults working, as a 2 option, write or wrong affair, and tied basic animation to both senarios.. basicilly it uses the flow chart system Adventureman came up with, i may end up struggling but its fun to try!

That's true, such a system would also need to call insults randomly to be answered correctly. Hmmm.... would still take a bit of thinking to get it working right.

the big problem is it wont be random, it'll follow a set path with either right or wrong possibilities Unfortunately the variables system in AS's TIMes doesn't work very well, maybe it could be piulled off with Director tho