Simple Dialogue Node

Overview

The Simple Dialogue Node is the core building block of any conversation. It displays a single line of text — optionally attributed to a speaker — and waits for the player to press Continue before advancing. It is the node you will use most frequently across all dialogue graphs.

The node supports visual badges that update in the graph editor every 500ms to indicate whether a speaker and camera focus are configured, giving a quick at-a-glance status without needing to expand the node.

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Ports

Port	Direction	Capacity	Description
Previous	Input	Multi	Receives connections from any preceding node.
Next	Output	Single	Advances to the next node once the player presses Continue.

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Node Properties

Property	Type	Description
Speaker	DialogueSpeaker	The character delivering this line. Controls the name, portrait, and optional camera shown in the Dialogue UI. Optional — if left blank, the line displays without speaker attribution.
+ (button)	—	Creates a new DialogueSpeaker ScriptableObject asset inline without leaving the graph editor. The asset is saved to a location you choose, immediately assigned, and opened in the Inspector.
Focus Camera on Speaker	bool	When enabled, the speaker's assigned Cinemachine virtual camera is activated (priority 100) when this node executes. Only available when a Speaker is assigned.
Text	string (multiline)	The dialogue line to display. Supports multiple lines of text within a single node.

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How It Works

At runtime, DialogueManager processes this node as follows:

1. If the Dialogue UI was previously hidden (e.g. during a camera sequence), it is restored.

2. If Focus Camera on Speaker is enabled and the speaker has a Cinemachine camera assigned, that camera's priority is raised to 100, making it the active view.

3. DialogueUI.DisplayDialogue(text, speaker) is called — the line and speaker data are handed to the UI for rendering.

4. OnDialogueLine fires with the dialogue text string.

5. waitingForInput is set to true — the graph is blocked until the player responds.

6. The player presses Continue → ContinueDialogue() is called → the graph advances to the Next node.

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Validation

Condition	Severity
No incoming connection	Warning
No outgoing connection	Warning

No validation is performed for empty Text or a missing Speaker — these are permitted to allow silent pauses or unspeakered narration lines.

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Usage Tips

• The workhorse node — the vast majority of nodes in any dialogue graph will be Simple Dialogue Nodes chained together. Keep text concise per node; splitting long speeches across multiple nodes gives you finer control over pacing and camera cuts between lines.

• Speaker is optional — leave it blank for narration, inner monologue, or environmental text that has no specific speaker attribution.

• No speaker, no camera — the Focus Camera on Speaker toggle is disabled until a Speaker is assigned. If you need a camera change without a speaker, use a Cinemachine Dialogue Node instead.

• Camera focus persists — the speaker camera activated by this node remains active until another node changes it or the dialogue ends. Place a Cinemachine Dialogue Node (Reset to Gameplay) or switch to a different speaker camera on a subsequent node to change the view.

• Creating Speakers inline — use the + button next to the Speaker field to create a new DialogueSpeaker asset on the spot. The asset takes its name from the filename you choose, and is immediately ready to configure in the Inspector with a portrait, name label, and camera reference.

• Multi-line text — the Text field supports line breaks. Use these sparingly; very long single-node text blocks can be harder to manage in the graph editor. Prefer one or two sentences per node for readability.

• Unconnected output ends dialogue — if the Next port has no connection, DialogueManager will log a warning and call EndDialogue() when the player presses Continue. Always connect the output unless you intend this node to be the final line, in which case connect it to an End Node instead.