The conversation system in Alcarys Complex is nothing really massive or in-depth, but I’d thought I’d explain the design rationale behind it, and the way it differs from existing systems that it could reasonably be compared to.

In the game, you have the ability to talk to two kinds of non-player characters (NPCs). The first is your normal NPC, the one that provides information or some kind of witty chatter. This dialogue only changes with advancement in the story – if the city capital blows up, the NPC is going to comment on it. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise.

The second kind of NPC is the conversationalist.The conversationalist opens up the conversation with maybe a vague line, or a question directed at one of the three members of your party. At the end of this message, you’re given a choice, not between the dialogue you want to respond with, or a choice between the good or evil option (a la the morality system). Among your characters, you choose who responds to that call, and depending on who you choose, the conversation may twist and turn in various ways.

From a design point of view, by abstracting the conversation to the character instead of the player, I remove the problem that arises when the player’s values contrast with what the game is trying to do. I also provide myself a baseline: since I have a defined character speaking with a defined NPC, they can both find something to talk about.

Early in the game, it’s not really clear who has a distinct advantage when it comes to using this system. You only have two characters in your party for almost the entirety of the first act. Granted, they are pretty much foils to each other, and it becomes clear early on that one’s hot-headed and impulsive. Still, there’s not much to work with, especially considering that the player has just been introduced to this system.

Later in the game, however, you get more choices. Each of these characters has a distinct personality, and eventually, the player will learn (I hope) to get into the mindset of “so-and-so would attempt [x] to resolve [y] situation, so maybe he/she’s not the best choice,” giving a bit of depth to these characters and why they think they way they do.

Hopefully.

I really came up with this method because I was driving myself insane writing NPCs, an act that remains completely incomprehensible to me, so I don’t know how much this helps!