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Computer Science and Software Engineering Capstone Presentations

Summer Quarter

August 21, 2020

Matthew Munson

Ihsan Halimun

Camden Brewster

"Dynamic Text Generation Tool for Game Design"

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kelvin Sung

Abstract

The Dynamic Text Generation Tool for Game Design or "DinoText" is a tool designed for game designers and writers. Its goal is to make conversations more immersive by constructing dialogue from fill-in-the-blanks in which a sentence or fragment is chosen from a list and dynamically inserted. This allows for a large number of combinations to be quickly created, and improves the gameplay experience by making dialogue less repetitive. DinoText also allows the selected sentence or fragment to link to game specific attributes, such as the player's health or the attitude of a non-player-character (NPC) toward the player. This enables designers to create interactive dialogue that models complex relationships between players and NPCs.

Over the course of nine weeks the system's backend, API, and user interface were completed according to the project's capstone contract. Feedback from experienced industry practitioners was applied and two separate workflows were defined for dialogue designers and writers, who are often different people. Suggestions from game developers also influenced the design of the program's API, so that the graphical user interface can be bypassed entirely if the development team is using a different tool.

The DinoText user interface is designed to be used by people without a technical background and is intended to be intuitive. The system's API is designed to be simple and easy to integrate into a game engine. DinoText is the first open-source tool of its kind and enables those without a programming background to design game dialogue. It is hoped that this system will allow game designers to create more immersive stories and in-depth relationships with NPCs.

Updated August 20, 2020, 01:24