Sleek And User-Friendly Graphical Interface

Using the latest development tools available, Chat Mapper is designed to be as user-friendly and stylish as possible.  Typically there are several different ways to accomplish tasks through on-screen buttons, menu options, or right-click context menus.  The layout is fully configurable.

Conversations Visualized With Branching Tree Graph

After researching many methods for displaying complex non-linear dialogue, we found that the easiest to grasp intuitively is the tree graph.  With a “root” node defining the entrance point of the conversation, dialogue options stem from this to form what looks like a tree.  Links can be defined between any two nodes, but only one is shown as a “primary” link for simplicity.  Chat Mapper also supports sub-trees via group nodes for easy organization.

Control Conversation Flow With Lua Scripts

In almost every non-linear game conversation, there are choices presented to the player during the course of the dialogue.  With Chat Mapper, it is easy to define conditions using Lua for when each choice will be presented.  For example, you may only want a certain dialogue to be offered when the player has a specific inventory item. You may also define Lua scripts to be executed when the dialogue is displayed to set variable values.

Conversation Simulation

So you have written a complex conversation, but how do you know it will work correctly?  That is where the conversation simulator comes in.  The simulator will present your dialogue tree as a game complete with audio, graphics, and dialogue menus. You can also use the simulator to debug your logic by tracking variables and finding Lua script errors.

Generate Standard Format Screenplay for Voice Actors

After completing your project, you may want to create a screenplay document.  The screenplay can also be automatically pruned to show or highlight only a specific character’s lines.  The script generated follows the internationally accepted formatting for screenplays and can be exported to other editors like Microsoft Word.

Write Custom Exporters

If the export options are not sufficient for your application, Chat Mapper offers a fully featured software development kit that will allow you to write your own exporter in .NET. Using the API, you will have full access to all project data and your exporter can be run from withing the main application.  This option is only available for commercial license holders.

Testimonial: Chat Mapper – What a wonderful product!

“What an amazing program Chat Mapper is! Have been using it now for awhile and it’s truly amazing how easy it is to get into. With an easy to understand interface and conversation tree structures, you always feel you’re on top of the conversation designs. Thanks!”
     – David Buchanan, content member at pokerlistings.com – guide to poker.