UI scene Prototype (for text conversations)

The UI scene feature of UDK can be used to present an interactive event for the player. For this project I can use it to create text boxes. These text boxes can be used to construct text conversations between characters. In the screen grab above I have used the editor to write one line of dialoue.

The image above illustrates the kismet structure of a text based conversation. The player activates the scene by touching an invisible trigger volume. The trigger then opens one UI scene (first line of dialogue) and after a few seconds delay, it closes. The next UI scene (second line of dialogue) then opens and after a delay it closes. The delays are addded to give the user time to read the lines and also simulate the pacing of a conversation.

I used a sequence like this in my initial protype (previous assignment) but the UI scenes didnt close by themselves. The player had to press esc' to end them, which would be awkard for the player. The UI scenes here open and close by themselves and have a better flow to them.

The player activates the the UI scene and the first line of dialogue is displayed.

The second line of dialogue is then displayed. This a little rough around the edges but it is easy to render.

The benefits of using UI scens in UDK:

I can get across alot of text (story) fairly easlily.

The problems with using UI scenes in UDK:

current versions of UDK dont have the UI scene feature.
The UI scene tends to crash UDK (for reasons unknown).
I Have to have a UI scene for every single line of dialogue but maybe there's a feature of the UI editor which can help.