Dialogue is a going to be a big part of Making it Home. Early in design discussions, we wanted to make sure the player could actively interact with their journey. We liked the idea that the player would make decisions that mattered on a gameplay-level, but also decisions that altered how they viewed those characters around them and, ultimately, their own situation as the "hero" of this story. Not groundbreaking stuff, of course - games have been doing that for quite some time now. But unlike the hidden stories of Intelligent Design and Cycle 28, we wanted narrative to be front-and-centre this time. Dialogue seems an obvious way to achieve that. And why else have a writer on the team? [previewyoutube=xzzOtzQ6cok;full][/previewyoutube] Firstly, we knew we'd have branching dialogue. The truckstop screens immediately worked as an initial site for these conversations. The player has stopped for a rest, a chance to pop to the loo, grab a snack. They also pick up new blueprint for their vehicle and can earn some cash by taking a shift in the diner... you know, all the usual pit-stops on a long journey. So, they bump into a recurring cast of characters along the journey. One such character is Ellen, our hero's sister. They have a ... difficult relationship. There's a lot of history there that the player gradually learns about as they talk more. As branching dialogue has been around for a good while now, it's easily recognisable as a device. That device has developed as any gaming or narrative element does - from its early, blunt forms, to more sophisticated iterations, and then on to the self-aware or self-referential. One good example of this development is the ubiquitous "being a jerk" option. In many branching dialogue conversations the player would meet a brand new NPC, who says a thing - maybe asks a question - and of the three possible responses one is clearly a nice guy option, one is non-committal, and the last is being a jerk, possibly even outright hostile. The last is often such a huge overreaction it slips into the ridiculous. It becomes the comedy option. "Who would ever say that?" a player utters, as they press that option, just to see what happens. But if players are aware of this, you can be sure developers are too. So why keep doing it? Well, it's something players have come to know and expect. It also makes decisions easier. Taking a supermarket analogy: do you want players choosing between three varieties of apple, or an apple/banana/pineapple? One of those takes actual thought, the other can be done more reflexively or intuitively. But being us, we wanted to take the apple x3 route. No one would deny a Golden Delicious is different to a Pink Lady. But maybe you actually have to think before you decide which one you want today. So, the player needs to think through their interaction with Ellen. They struggle to get along, sure, but is *this* particular response going to cause more problems? Or is it going to make things easier? That felt more active to us. And then there's non-branching tutorial dialogue... But that's a whole other post... [previewyoutube=DObr5Jp2DyU;full][/previewyoutube]