The creators of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 showed dialogues from the inside: new screenshots and a developer's perspective

Work continues on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. The developers decided to talk about dialogue creation.

The creators of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 have made another appearance. The developers have shared a new dev diary focused on dialogue design.

The developers offer a chance to see the game’s dialogues “with your own eyes”—sharing a snippet of the game code.

The creators of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 broke down this example: 

“Above is a screenshot from our editor, Inky, showing how player choices branch into perception and relationship stats.

In the top choice, Phyre [the protagonist] objects to Lou barging into a private meeting, and if Lou isn’t used to that kind of behavior from Phyre, she will be slightly taken aback, replying “Touchy today,” before returning to the branch that everyone else who picked that option sees: “My child and I have no secrets, do we, darling?”

Regardless, choosing that option will negatively affect Lou’s opinion of Phyre—denoted by ~Lou_DislikedThat—which, over time, can build into her perception of Phyre as a bully, empath, or sage. (RF_Unimpressed) represents the nature of her displeasure, which feeds into the user interface players will see.

In the second, softer choice – “You’re welcome” – Lou’s interpretation of Phyre’s response is once again colored by her existing perception of who Phyre is, which in turn influences whether her opinion of Phyre goes up or down.

If she is used to you being aggressive, but here you pick a softer route, she will assume you are being sarcastic and become annoyed, lowering her opinion—after all, Lou is fluent in sarcasm, so it is no stretch that she would project that onto others.

However, if you aren’t typically aggressive, she will take your word for it and respond favorably, and her opinion will rise accordingly. There is no merge in this branch: players see either “Well, no need to be sarcastic,” or “And that’s partly thanks to you.””

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Cover art author: The Chinese Room, Paradox Interactive. Image source: store.steampowered.com

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Screenshots author: The Chinese Room, Paradox Interactive. Images source: store.steampowered.com