Edit: I fixed it! Here is the solution below!

Store the dialogue in an array much more readable. Have an index that keeps track of the index and increment the index when user press the yes button.

Use getters and setters for getting the index and setting the index and leverage these methods for evaluating the appropriate dialogue logic.

A lot simpler than I thought in the end!

Problem:

Code is in Java.

I don't seem to understand how games update their dialogue when a user presses a button. This is my implementation of updated dialogue appearing in an animated textbox when the main character interacts with a guest-giver in my 2D RPG.

1) Is the dialogue update suppose to be in a dialogue system class update method that constantly updates?

2) Is the dialogue execution flow always executed once meaning it only executed top to bottom once or is it suppose to update constantly? My dialogue updates constantly top to bottom.

I need feedback on design on the code as well anything on your mind. I welcome all feedback. It is probably not the best way to implement quest logic but it is a start. I've been stuck the whole day and decided I need some feedback on the implementation.

public void update(Link link,MouseCursor mouseCursor,Quest quest)
{
 
     if(state == DialogueState.ISRUNNING && optionBox.acceptQuest() && quest.getState() == QuestState.NOTFINISHED )
     {
 
 
            if(link.getTotalGold() < 50)
            {
                     textSystem.updateText(dialogue.getText1());
 
                     if(isXPressed)
                     {
                            state = DialogueState.ISNOTRUNNING;
                     }
            }
           else 
           {
                           Rectangle yes = optionBox.getYes().getRectangle();
                           MouseCursor mouse = optionBox.getMouseCursor();
                           Rectangle cursor = mouse.getRectangle();
                           boolean isPressed = mouse.isPressed();
 
                           textSystem.updateText(dialogue.getText2());
 
                           if(isXPressed)
                           {
                                 optionBox.setDisplay(true);
                           }
                           else if(yes.intersects(cursor) && isPressed)
                           {
                                 textSystem.updateText(dialogue.getText3());
 
                           } 
            }
 
            if(quest.getState() == QuestState.FINISHED)
            {
                              if(isXPressed)
                             {
                                   state = DialogueState.ISNOTRUNNING;
                             }
            }
 
      }
 
}

package com.nicholaskong.Game.Dialogue;
 
public class Dialogue {
 
private String text0 = "Greetings! Young lad! Would     you spare me fifty gold?";
 
private String text1 = "It appears you are still        short of gold.";
 
private String text2 = "You have collected enough.      Would you give it to me? ";
 
private String text3 = "Thank you so much, young        lad!";
 
        public String getText0()
        {
           return text0;
        }
 
        public String getText1()
        {
           return text1;
        }
  
       public String getText2()
       {
           return text2;
       }
 
       public String getText3()
       {
           return text3;
       }
 
 
}
 

The large spacing in the dialogue has to do with me not implementing a feature where the dialogue system should figure out if there is enough room to fit the word in the first row in the dialogue box and place remaining dialogue in the second row of the textbox. The large spacing is there until I figure out how to update the dialogue in the game better.as that is my main priority at the moment.

It's good that you found a solution that works for you. And although I've never worked on anything like this myself, I wanted to suggest that you might benefit from separating the quests from the dialog as much as possible. For example, the logic testing if you have enough gold might be better to have as part of the quest object than with the dialog stuff. If you end up having a larger number of quests, the logic in the dialog class might become difficult to work with.

I would try to do things such that the dialog supports 1 to 4 responses and anything displayed in the dialog (main text, selection options, perhaps pictures) comes from the quest object based on its current status. At any point requiring input from the user, the player's selection from the dialog would return a response of 1 through 4 to the quest object and that object then advances the quest's state accordingly.

It's good that you found a solution that works for you. And although I've never worked on anything like this myself, I wanted to suggest that you might benefit from separating the quests from the dialog as much as possible. For example, the logic testing if you have enough gold might be better to have as part of the quest object than with the dialog stuff. If you end up having a larger number of quests, the logic in the dialog class might become difficult to work with.

I would try to do things such that the dialog supports 1 to 4 responses and anything displayed in the dialog (main text, selection options, perhaps pictures) comes from the quest object based on its current status. At any point requiring input from the user, the player's selection from the dialog would return a response of 1 through 4 to the quest object and that object then advances the quest's state accordingly.

True. I should put the quest logic in a separate quest object. Thanks.