Your text file - let's call it the_part_where_he_kills_you.txt:
--- Chapter 9 Transition ---
GLaDOS:
Well, this is the part where he kills us.
Wheatly:
Hello! This is the part where I kill you!
[announce_next_chapter]
[unlock_achievement]
Initialization:
use besida::Besida;
use std::path::Path;
// ...
let dialogue_file_path = Path::new("the_part_where_he_kills_you.txt");
let besida = Besida::new(dialogue_file_path);Somewhere in loop:
{
let Some(node) = besida.get_node_mut() else { return };
let Some(event) = node.get_event() else { return };
match event {
Event::PrintChar(char) => {
// append character for typed out text effect
},
Event::Action(action) => {
match actions.as_str() {
"announce_next_chapter" => {
// call UI to announce chapter / animate transition
},
"unlock_achievement" => {
// call achievement system to set specific achievement unlocked
}
}
}
_ => {},
}
node.next_event();
}- Besida: struct that is initiated with path to dialogue file (example) and parses it to dialogue nodes
- Dialogue node: holds speaker name and their speech (in form of events and in form of plain text)
- Event: enum that drives the design - pattern matching when iterating over events makes it very easy to execute actions in sequence as intended when writing dialogue in proposed format
Here's an example with godot-rust where event_tick is triggered by letter display timerevery n milliseconds to simulate typing:
#[func]
fn event_tick(&mut self) {
let Some(node) = self.besida.get_node_mut() else { return };
let Some(event) = node.get_event() else { return };
let mut dialogue_box = self
.base
.get_parent()
.unwrap()
.get_node_as::<DialogueBox>("DialogueBox");
match event {
Event::PrintChar(char) => {
let speech = dialogue_box.bind().get_speech();
let new_speech = format!("{}{}", speech, char);
dialogue_box.bind_mut().set_speech(new_speech.into());
}
_ => {},
}
node.next_event();
}Moving forward I want to add more events such as expressions/emotions of speaker, text speed control, text highlighting or styling in general. Also better ways to read actions when matching.