Basic Dialogue

Learn how to write basic dialogue with character names, text, and BBCode formatting

Writing Your First Dialogue

The most basic dialogue is just a string of text:

This is some dialogue.

This line will be displayed to the player as-is.

Adding Character Names

To specify who is speaking, include a character name before a colon:

Nathan: This is me talking.

The text before the colon becomes the character name, and everything after it is the dialogue text.

Variable Character Names

If a character’s name is based on a variable (like player-chosen names), you can use double curlies:

{{SomeGlobal.player_name}}: My name was provided by the player.
{{character_name}}: This works with any variable.

Multiple Lines

Lines of dialogue are written one after another:

Nathan: I'll say this first.
Nathan: Then I'll say this line.
Coco: And now I'm talking!

Each line will be displayed in sequence.

BBCode Formatting

You can enhance your dialogue with BBCode. Dialogue Manager supports all of Godot’s RichTextLabel BBCode tags:

Nathan: This text is [b]bold[/b] and this is [i]italic[/i].
Nathan: You can also use [color=red]colors[/color]!
Nathan: [wave]Wavy text![/wave]

Special BBCode Tags

Dialogue Manager provides several additional BBCode tags:

[wait] - Pause dialogue typing

Wait for seconds:

Nathan: Wait a moment[wait=2] before continuing.

Wait for input action:

Nathan: Press a button[wait="ui_accept"] to continue.

Wait for any of multiple actions:

Nathan: Press any button[wait=["ui_accept","ui_cancel"]] to continue.

Wait for any action:

Nathan: Press anything[wait] to continue.

[speed] - Change typing speed

Multiply the default typing speed by a number:

Nathan: This is normal speed.
Nathan: [speed=2]This is twice as fast![/speed]
Nathan: [speed=0.5]This is half speed...[/speed]

[next] - Auto-continue dialogue

Wait for specific seconds:

Nathan: This will auto-continue.[next=2]
Nathan: After 2 seconds!

Auto-calculate based on text length:

Nathan: This will wait based on length.[next=auto]

[[Random text]] - Pick random text inline

Use double square brackets to pick one option at random within dialogue:

Nathan: I'm feeling [[happy|sad|excited|tired]] today!
Nathan: That's [[great|wonderful|amazing]]!

Each time the line is displayed, one random option will be chosen.

Complete Example

Here’s a complete example combining multiple features:

~ start
Nathan: [b]Welcome![/b] [wave]I'm so glad you're here.[/wave]
Nathan: Let me tell you something [i]very[/i] important[wait=1.5]...
Nathan: [speed=0.5]Just kidding![/speed] [wait=2]
Nathan: I hope you're having a [[great|wonderful|fantastic]] day!
=> END

All BBCode tags must be properly closed with their corresponding closing tag (e.g., [b]text[/b]), except for the special Dialogue Manager tags like [wait], [speed], and [next].

Next Steps

Now that you understand basic dialogue, you can:

• Add responses and branching for player choices
• Use variables and tags to make dialogue dynamic
• Learn about labels and jumps to control dialogue flow