Dialogue Text Database Best Practices

[Aislin]

Hello!

What is the best/recommended way for storing the dialogue text in a database outside of Unity and then import it into Dialogue System? I was thinking of creating an Excel spreadsheet, then each dialogue entry would be in int ID, but I've heard XML is preferred so I'm not sure the best format to use for the database.

I'm also wondering that with that tool, how specifically would I reference that text using Dialogue System?

If there's a tutorial out there already on this, if you could simply point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks so much

[Tony Li]

Hi!

"Best" is a relative term.

The most robust is Chat Mapper XML format. You don't need Chat Mapper to use this format; it's just an XML format. You can import and export Chat Mapper easily. You can also import it at runtime.

The easiest to edit by hand is Excel spreadsheet format (CSV). It's also easy to import and export.

If you're looking for a way to store dialogue text outside of Unity without needing to edit it manually, use Chat Mapper XML.

If you're looking for a way to edit dialogue text outside of Unity, and you don't want to use other editing software (Chat Mapper, articy:draft, etc.), use Excel CSV.

If you're looking for a nice way to localize text into different languages, consider i2 Localization. It's a paid product, but it's really nice, and the Dialogue System has i2 Localization integration. It can also auto-translate using Google Translate, which is good for making placeholder text until you have professional translation.

[Aislin]

Makes sense, thanks so much I appreciate your help!