Q&A: How do you make instructional character dialogue (nags'n'hints) interesting?
Mail time, mail time, maaaaail time
Taking a break from overly verbose dev logs filled with stupid puns that make people unsubscribe in droves to answer some reader questions.
This one came in from LinkedIn:
How do you make instructional character dialogue interesting? Games with companion characters, for example, often have bark lines that tell the player what to do; usually very plain and straightforward. Is that just best practice? Or can we have fun with them?
Great question!
(As always, I’m just one lil guy with my own lil thoughts from my own lil experiences; none of what I say here is gospel, you are free to take or leave it!)
The role of these barked instructional lines – often called “nags” or “hints” – is primarily, well, instruction.
Nags’n’hints are typically delivered when a player is stuck on a puzzle, or goes the wrong way, or just learned a new mechanic and needs some concept reinforcement, etc. The idea is to guide the player to the next course of action.
You’re right that nags’n’hints are usually short and straightforward, and you’re right that it is something of a best practice.
The function of these lines, after all, is to deliver instruction, not necessarily narrative flair:
“Did you check the drawer?”
“You’re going the wrong way.”
“Try drawing your sword.”
[Aside: There’s an aspect of systemic vs. bespoke lines to consider – which is to say, lines that are recycled throughout the game and triggered when certain systemic conditions are met vs. lines that are specifically authored for specific one-off moments in gameplay – but we’ll keep things simple and save the granularity of that distinction for a future article. Assume the distinction doesn’t matter for now.]
But does it have to be so on the nose?
I’m in the camp of let’s have fun with them, myself. Leverage the tone of your game à la your characters to make nags’n’hints more characterful. As much as you can, without muddling the instructional message, use a character’s distinct voice and personality to give instructions some pizzazz.
Take “You’re going the wrong way.” What are some ways we can express that in a character’s own voice?
GLaDOS might say, dripping with sarcasm,
“Oh. You’re going that way. That’s certainly a choice.”Astarion might say, in all his silky charm,
“Did I drink too much of your blood, darling? Feeling a bit woozy? Because you’re going the wrong way.”The narrator from the Stanley Parable might say, ever omnipotent,
“Stanley seemed to have his own idea of where to go, even if it was entirely the wrong idea.”
Do these lines still communicate “You’re going the wrong way”? Yes! Do the lines communicate that sentiment in distinct character voices? Also yes!
But what’s the trade-off?
There are a few trade-offs to this approach of making nags’n’hints more characterful:
The above example characterful lines are longer than “You’re going the wrong way”, which means:
→ more writer load → costs more time/money
→ more localization load, if the game is localized → costs more time/money
→ more VO load, if the game is voiced → costs more time/money
→ more audio load → could cut into other audible things going on in the scene
→ potentially more implementation load, depending on your setups and pipelines
→ more cognitive load on the player to read
→ more subtitle/UX on-screen → more visual load → could cut into other visual things going on in the scene
Another consideration: nags’n’hints often repeat. And long, characterful lines? Not so cute after you’ve heard them repeat 17 times in as many minutes. (The short lines aren’t so cute on repeat, either, but at least they’re shorter.)
So what’s a happy medium approach?
Here’s a nag’n’hint structure you might have seen in a few games (and if you haven’t, you may start to notice it now):
After some amount of time of the player not progressing:
First nag/hint is characterful, on the longer side
After some more time of no progression:
Second nag/hint is a little more straightforward, shorter
After yet more time:
Third nag/hint is outright plain, short
Any subsequent nag/hint after even more time:
A more blatantly obvious variation of outright plain’n’short
Sometimes it’s five, sometimes it’s three, sometimes it’s two – but the general idea is to get shorter and more obvious with the instruction with each progressive nag/hint.
Let’s take that structure and give it to GLaDOS:
First nag/hint: “Oh. You’re going that way. That’s certainly a choice.”
Second: “That’s still the wrong way, you know.”
Third: “Stiiiill the wrong way.”
Fourth: “Try going left.”
Fifth: “Go left.”
Buuuuuut… something’s off, isn’t it?
Because GLaDOS wouldn’t just make a few quips and then point you in the right direction (or left direction, as it were). She would relish in the opportunity to berate you for going the wrong way:
“Oh. You’re going that way. That’s certainly a choice.”
“That’s still the wrong way, you know.”
“Wow. I’ve never seen someone so committed to going the wrong way. It’s almost admirable.”
“Good news: you passed the test for going the wrong way with flying colors. Unfortunately, you failed the test for following obvious paths. I’m actually kind of surprised. I didn’t even think we needed to test for that. I thought literally everyone could follow a simple path. This is a critical discovery for me. I might even have to congratulate you… for proving science wrong about the lowest possible bar for human intelligence.”
That’s more like it, huh? Dripping with the snark we’ve come to know and love from our favorite homicidal supercomputer. And it’s quite the opposite of the so-called “best practice” outlined above – nags’n’hints start getting longer, getting more characterful.
What makes sense for GLaDOS is different from what makes sense for Astarion is different from what makes sense for the Stanley Parable narrator is different from what makes sense for your characters in your game – because they’re each distinct, unique people with distinct, unique voices within the distinct, unique tone of their distinct, unique game.
So what’s the takeaway on making nags’n’hints more interesting?
The takeaway (or at least “a” takeaway; I’m not a preacher of gospel, remember):
Lean into your character’s unique and interesting personality to make their nags’n’hints unique and interesting.
You may have to fight the good fight for the return on investment (ROI) on writing/localization/VO budgets, and trusting the player’s intelligence → but the gains are narrative quality, surprising moments of delight, memorability, etc. (And those things do matter.)
And another takeaway to help you measure impact:
It’s always a good idea, whether or not your nags’n’hints are characterful, to playtest extensively to make sure your lines are hitting the mark.
Are the lines communicating instruction?
Are the lines considering time, place, and narrative pacing?
Are the lines considering the overall tone of the game?
Are the lines avoiding stepping on other aspects of the moment?
Lastly, keep playing games – take note of interesting and characterful nags’n’hints, take note of when they fall flat. Take note of how repetitive they start to feel. Take note of how well they fit the character voices and overall game tone. Take note of the trade-off between clarity and characterization.
And learn from the examples that miss the mark as much as you learn from the examples that nail it. There are what-not-to-dos and what-to-dos aplenty out there; keep paying attention, and keep honing your writer instincts for when it comes your turn to pen some hints’n’nags.