Using Playmaker to develop a game Adventure game-like

[RBuster]

As I said in the title, I want to develop an adventure type game that is just based on conversation, that is, it will have no actions. For the management I'm using the Dialogue System plugin and I intend to produce the characters / animations / lip sync in Reallusion Character Creator / IClone. I will import all the animation files e the character to the last unity version to mange them throught Dialogue System.

I also intend to create a UI and some meters (which will change according to the player's answers), I also need to include the answers in a database for later consultations. As I don't understand much of Unity's programming and I have the Playmaker plugin, I was wondering if I can do everything in the game using it.

[wetcircuit]

Yes… but.

I suggest taking a look at a story engine like Ink (it's free: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/integration/ink-unity-integration-60055)
Ink has Playmaker actions on github.

While Playmaker can 'do anything' (as long as it can happen with a runtime state machine) Ink is specialized for handling story flow, character dialog, variable conditionals, and choice menus. There's also a stand-alone writing tool (Inky) that can export an interactive html page for play-testing without Unity.

Integrating Ink with Unity/Playmaker, is delegating the story flow to Ink while Playmaker handles your media files and everything that happens within the scene (play animations and audio, load scenery, walk around the environment, etc)

Ink has writing advantages over other story engine tools (Twine, Fungus, et al) in that it's lightweight and can run outside Unity (allowing other non-Unity people to help with the development). There's a small learning curve for the scripting syntax – it can create complete text adventures on its own, and can talk to Unity via 'stage cues' like a script.

You can do it all with Playmaker, and you can do a lot with a Dialog System –– there is even an integration of Dialog System for Ink –– but if your main focus is on story, I can't recommend Ink enough.

[RBuster]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check Ink, but I only didn't understand if still need the dialog system if I will use Ink or if in your opinion it would be worthwhile to use the 3 plugins together (playmaker/dialog system/ink).

[wetcircuit]

I bought Dialog System…, but once I started using Ink I forced myself to just learn Unity's UI system. I did look at the DS/Ink integration but it seemed cosmetic once the story was all Ink. DS is designed for a specific kind of game, with the little photo of who is speaking next to short quips of dialog… I don't think it's going to help you with a cinematic presentation… The author has created different styles, but what I wanted was so minimal I was barely using DS.

I use Playmaker to read the text from Ink, parse the stage instructions, then display to player with Unity UI.