Creating Conversations

The narrative choices you make for your project don’t have to be sophisticated to be immersive and leave an impression on players. Even simple interactions can have a meaningful impact on gameplay.

This page will give you a crash course on writing for conversations, then dive into how you can structure different types of conversations. You will also get some tips on using the Conversation graph as featured in the Conversation Template in UEFN.

For an in-depth dive on the device itself, see the Conversation device page.

Writing for Conversations

Before you connect your narrative to gameplay with the Conversation device, make sure that your conversation flows, makes sense, and fits the kind of experience you’re building. If you’ve never done any creative writing before you should:

• Play games that use narration and conversation. Having an example of what good (or possibly bad) conversational writing looks like can help your creative process.
• Think about the NPCs with speaking roles. Having an idea about where the characters are from, what kind of life they lead, and who they are will help you write better dialog for them and stop them from all sounding the same.
• Think about how the people in your life talk. This can help you find vocal cadences or ways of speaking for different characters.
• Think about what is happening during the conversation. Life doesn’t stand still when you’re talking with someone. Think about where the conversation is taking place and if anything should be happening in the background.