During our Easter Break for our Animation for Creative Industries module, after I had created the finished animations for my Sea Bunny, I then wrote up a document for its dialogue that would be featured in our game project. Along with this, I had also come up with an outline for how our game’s opening sequence would work as a tutorial, which has been outlined at the beginning of the dialogue document with notes, actions and guides for how the tutorial should play out.
This document can be divided up into three sections: the opening tutorial, tutorial dialogue for the minigames (which I included due to feeling that without guidance, the player would have no idea how to operate the minigames), and dialogue for the rising water reaching different levels in the submarine, with additional sentences to heighten the idea that the Sea Bunny, whilst being a digital guide, is also scared of the submarine being fully submerged, adding a darker edge to the atmosphere of the game through said expressive dialogue.
Below is the Sea Bunny dialoguefrom the document I had created for our game design group members to transfer into the Unreal project. The dialogue is subject to change currently, and more may be required later down the line.
Thalassophobia- Sea Bunny Dialogue lines
Note to Game Dev students: Lines with [INTERACT BUTTON] need to be filled with the proper button for controls.
—–
Opening Tutorial-
“Hello Operator! Welcome to your first day aboard the USS Orca!”
“It seems that you’re the only hire we have here today, but thats okay!”
“Our state-of-the-art underwater craft has been built so one person is fully capable of operating it, and it has been guaranteed to be 100% safe!”
“Today, due to budget cuts, the company you’re employed at has tasked you with journeying to underwater caves to search for treasure to trade for profit!”
“The quota you need to fill can be seen at the top left of your screen.”
*Note: If we do implement the quota for the loot gathering, this line can be changed to better suit how we show the player the quota.
“But before we start, let’s run through our control protocols to get you started!”
*Sea Bunny then lists off the main controls for player movement in the submarine, and only moves to the next part after the player does the correct action. E.G. move, jump, etc.
*After the player completes the controls tutorial
“Great job, Operator! Now then, time to get this submarine moving! Head to navigation to start the sub, if you’re lost, then follow the marker on your screen!”
*Red HUD marker appear on screen, holding in the direction of Navigation. Teaches the player to follow the marker for important goals/tasks on the submarine.
*After player gets to navigation
“Great job Operator! Now to interact with the main computer, press [INTERACT BUTTON].”
“It seems there are three different paths that the submarine can take, some of them seem quite dangerous, but they may net up more profit! In order to choose a path, simply press the button under the difficulty you want.”
“I think we should start simple and select the ‘Easy’ path Operator. Hit the button and we can get started!”
“Great job Operator! Now we just sit back and wait to arrive at our destination. I’m sure nothing will go wrong in the meantime.”
*3 seconds pass, player is locked in place. Then the walls burst, and water starts pouring in.
“Oh no! It seems the wall has been protruded by the ocean’s water pressure! Never fear Operator, these are quite easy fixes. Simply hold down the [INTERACT BUTTON] whilst standing in front of the hole to fix it!”
*After the player fixes the wall.
“Phew! That was unexpected! Great job Operator!”
“I promise that this submarine has been guaranteed to be completely safe…”
“I’m sure that was just a fluke.”
*A crashing sound is heard offscreen, the camera shakes.
“…”
“…We should probably go check on that, Operator.”
*As the player runs to the centre of the submarine, they see the sub slowly filling up with water as more of the walls have water pouring in, one of the nearby tasks being broken as well.
“Oh no! More water is pouring in, and our systems are breaking down too! Don’t worry Operator, you can manage this until we get to our destination!”
“Just press the [INTERACT BUTTON] in front of the task and you’ll be able to fix it like with the water! I believe in you, Operator!”
—–
Minigame dialogue *Used to teach the player how to fix each of the tasks
Navigation- Selecting course
“Welcome to Navigation! Please select one of the three difficulties for paths you can take on our voyage! Harder difficulties have a higher chance of more loot!”
Matching Numbers Minigame
“Match the numbers with the ones at the top! If the bar reaches zero, the number will change, so be quick Operator!”
Squid Vent Minigame
“We’ve got a breach in the vents! Click on the squid to reduce their health to nothing and tighten the vent screws to push them back!”
Water level Minigame
“Match the water level with the marked area on the bar! You must do this three times Operator!”
Sea Bunny Reboot Minigame
*Three variations of glitched out text. Applies to all dialogue as well before Reboot Minigame can be completed.
“AMFksdm$%6ksdmk^MASMFoWQKM^DNODFLMamj&wdfpQK36NdDSmncsoaDMNWwmiwD)WKAODFWK)”(MD£”KSMDoapDKSAm”
“Imfp30mI(mrko3-slkm(imfsld-vmnDnfgkmntuinfpKOFOJImnkvw!?11!”
“DSAMowpmodasmoIWDM i0w9Dkmwv miW)Eu9dklmWD 09d, mWDOKAIEd920jkmksd 0w90klmdMwidopk,D”)(ikd3”
*Once player completes the reboot minigame
“Rebooting… Rebooting…”
*Sea Bunny reappears
“Whew! That sure was scary. Thank you Operator!”
Simon Says Minigame
Match the order the buttons flash! If you hit the wrong button, the task will reset!”
Spam Emails Minigame
“Our business email is flooded with spam! Answer the correct company emails or else our quota will go up!”
Crane Minigame
“Looks like some pearls got stuck in this machine. If we use the crane to get them out, we can add them to our quota Operator!”
Sonar Minigame
“Boulders are approaching the submarine, but the radar is malfunctioning! Click where you see the boulders approaching to destroy them with torpedoes. If you fail, the submarine might sustain more damage.”
Water Level Dialogue
Blue lighting-
10%
“Warning: Water level in submarine has reached 10% Operator!”
25%
“Warning: Water level in submarine has reached 25% Operator!”
Yellow Lighting-
50%
“Warning: Water level in submarine has reached 50%, please be careful Operator!”
75%
“Warning: Water level in submarine has reached 75%, I’m getting worried, Operator…”
Red Lighting-
85%
“Warning: Water level in submarine has reached 85%. This might be it, Operator…”
95%
“Warning: Water level in submarine has reached 95%… Goodbye, Operator.”