Taming the Dialogue of Forgotton Anne

Interactive conversation is an important part of Forgotton Anne. When in-game characters speak to Anne, we want the player to choose how to respond. Here’s a simple example:

Branched dialogue easily turns into a flood of new branches, leading to even more dialogue. Before you know it, we are navigating our way through a massive conversational labyrinth. One of my challenges is to keep these branches under control and decide when to give the illusion of choice and when to present the player with choices that actually affect the story.

The Illusion of Choice

Duality is an important part of the gameplay and story of Forgotton Anne. We try to reflect that theme in dialogue choices as well. We always present the player with two alternative ways to respond – but only two. (Except in one very special case, which I won’t spoil here.)

Even dialogue with just two responses will run wild if not kept under control. This is why we sometimes give players the illusion of choice. For instance, we could conclude the above example like this: