First Build

Hello everyone! I want to share with you the story behind the simple and modular dialogue system I created for Unity. I decided to build this system to make my life easier when developing my future games. Since every game needs dialogue, I wanted a base system that’s modular but not too basic—something I can use in any simple project without changes, yet easy to modify for bigger projects. For the demo, I used a mobile-style visual approach, but for my next game, I might try something different, like speech balloons similar to Night in the Woods. I’m still thinking about the best way to do it.

What sets my system apart is that it really saves time. It’s straightforward and simple: just install the package and try it out. No coding needed to get started. You create a dialogue canvas prefab, drag it into your scene, create dialogue XML files, add character portraits to the Resources folder if you want, and just play the dialogues. Dialogue systems may seem simple at first, but when you try to build one that actually works well and saves development time, you realize how much effort it takes.

I spent around 4 to 5 days developing this system, not counting breaks due to some personal issues. The system is based on many dialogue tools I’ve made over the years, so I already had a solid technical background before starting. The system doesn’t have many features by design; the demo is clean and lightweight, which is a good thing. It’s easy to integrate and extend if you want to add features later.

I didn’t face many technical problems during development, but Unity gave me some headaches—especially when it suddenly refused to compile for WebGL. The only fix that worked was copying the Assets folder into a new project. Unity can be frustrating sometimes.

I chose to use TextMeshPro because almost every Unity game uses it nowadays. It’s almost a native asset and allows for great text control. Even though this system is meant to be a base, integrating TextMeshPro is easy, but you can also use Unity’s native text if you prefer.

My target audience is intermediate Unity developers who want a solid base dialogue system for their games. I don’t really recommend it for beginners, but if you’re new and need help, feel free to ask me.

I don’t plan to add many new features, just keep the system updated with new Unity versions, fix bugs, and maybe add essential tools. Contributions to the project are always welcome!

To get started, just install the package and use the sample canvas as your base. The dialogue initialization script is just an example to help you understand how it work s.

Thanks for watching, and I hope this system helps speed up your game development!