Looking at New Dialog Editor

In my last post I mentioned that I was looking for a good solution for my scripts and dialog woes. After some searching I came across something that might be just the trick. The software is called Chat Mapper, and it is a complete dialog designer and editor tool capable of exporting to a usable XML format. On the site you can take a peek at how the interface looks and has a couple of demonstrative demos.

I imagine using this will tool will provide a structure in which conversations can easily follow and progress with less hard-coding and mind twisting logic. I can see I would be able to separate two major aspects of the game (farm management and visual novel aspect) and run them in parallel oppose to being hopelessly intertwined. This tool may also allow other developers/writers to get involved without me having to build a separate complex application tool.

The immediate challenge is building a robust parser that understands the XML scripts. Unfortunately the trial version does not allow XML exports but there's an example XML file for me to look at on the site. If I'm able to get something I like out of that I may go ahead and purchase the Indie License. I might dip into my donations to pay for it, but I at least see that as a relevant and worthwhile investment for the project.