Video Game Design and Coding

PLECK lesson 48 · suggested week 10, day 3

Store story content as data

Objective. Use dictionary keys and arrays to separate content from behavior.

Godot Engine Standard desktop editor 4.7.2-stable, GDScript (Godot 4), Compatibility renderer. Headless Godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf passed 106 assertions on the supplied scaffolds, including malformed JSON saves. Audio used the Dummy driver and a synthetic WAV, not a speaker. The visual editor, browser export, and signed-in submission were not tested. The desk still does not run a student's own upload.

About 55 minutes. The due date is chosen by a parent.

Branch diagrams, dialogue data, containers and keyboard focus

Suggested pace: Recall and predict 5 min; Read instruction and scaffold 12 min; Build or design the assigned artifact 25 min; Run acceptance tests 8 min; Explain and checkpoint 5 min.

Materials: Godot Standard 4.7.2 desktop editor (GDScript, Compatibility renderer), Local course folder and prior checkpoint, No paid assets or public account required.

Comes after VGC-L047.

C-DIALOGUE stores passages in a Dictionary keyed by stable IDs. Each passage has text and a choices array; each choice stores visible label and target ID. The rendering code does not need a new function for every passage. IDs are not the same as displayed prose: changing a sentence should not break links. Match quote marks, commas, brackets and braces carefully. The starter story is a worked example, not your final narrative assignment. Replace its prose with your own graph’s content.

Worked example

A passage with key entrance can display any original sentence. Its choice ["Read the note", "note"] links to a stable note key even if the sentence is later edited. Scaffold C-DIALOGUE — Data-driven branching dialogue without personal data Setup: Create Control root Dialogue with VBoxContainer Box containing Label Line and Buttons A and B. Set Box anchors to full rect; Line autowrap if needed. Attach script to Dialogue. Data keys are fictional scene IDs. All three screens can fit in 640x360. This is a self-contained example; replace story text in the assignment. ```gdscript extends Control var page: String = "start" var story: Dictionary = { "start": {"text": "Two paths enter the archive.", "choices": [["Ask the keeper", "keeper"], ["Read a sign", "sign"]]}, "keeper": {"text": "The keeper offers a map.", "choices": [["Return", "start"]]}, "sign": {"text": "Quiet room to the east.", "choices": [["Return", "start"]]} } func _ready() -> void: $Box/A.pressed.connect(_choose.bind(0)) $Box/B.pressed.connect(_choose.bind(1)) _show() func _show() -> void: var entry: Dictionary = story[page] $Box/Line.text = entry["text"] var buttons: Array[Button] = [$Box/A, $Box/B] for i in range(buttons.size()): buttons[i].visible = i < entry["choices"].size() if buttons[i].visible: buttons[i].text = entry["choices"][i][0] $Box/A.grab_focus() func _choose(index: int) -> void: var choices: Array = story[page]["choices"] if index < 0 or index >= choices.size(): return page = str(choices[index][1]) _show() ```

Data-driven branching dialogue without personal data

GDScript (Godot 4, not Scratch, Python, JavaScript or C#). Scaffold C-DIALOGUE. Copy starts from this text. The desk does not run it.

Scene and node setup

Create Control root Dialogue with VBoxContainer Box containing Label Line and Buttons A and B. Set Box anchors to full rect; Line autowrap if needed. Attach script to Dialogue. Data keys are fictional scene IDs. All three screens can fit in 640x360. This is a self-contained example; replace story text in the assignment.

extends Control
var page: String = "start"
var story: Dictionary = {
    "start": {"text": "Two paths enter the archive.", "choices": [["Ask the keeper", "keeper"], ["Read a sign", "sign"]]},
    "keeper": {"text": "The keeper offers a map.", "choices": [["Return", "start"]]},
    "sign": {"text": "Quiet room to the east.", "choices": [["Return", "start"]]}
}
func _ready() -> void:
    $Box/A.pressed.connect(_choose.bind(0))
    $Box/B.pressed.connect(_choose.bind(1))
    _show()
func _show() -> void:
    var entry: Dictionary = story[page]
    $Box/Line.text = entry["text"]
    var buttons: Array[Button] = [$Box/A, $Box/B]
    for i in range(buttons.size()):
        buttons[i].visible = i < entry["choices"].size()
        if buttons[i].visible:
            buttons[i].text = entry["choices"][i][0]
    $Box/A.grab_focus()
func _choose(index: int) -> void:
    var choices: Array = story[page]["choices"]
    if index < 0 or index >= choices.size():
        return
    page = str(choices[index][1])
    _show()

Checks to run in the editor

  • Both start choices work.
  • Return works from each branch; hidden B cannot trigger a nonexistent choice.

Native Godot 4.7.2.stable.official.ed1daf0bf headless compile and representative node-tree/runtime tests passed; see native-qa-results.json. Visual UI, audible output, exports and website submission still need separate checks.

Store story content as data — evidence task

  1. 1. Enter your six passages into a story dictionary using stable IDs.
  2. 2. Make a table of every target ID and verify it exists.

Deliverable. Original story data and target-ID audit.

Acceptance checks

  • VGC-L048-T1. All target keys exist.
  • VGC-L048-T2. Story text can change without changing its passage ID.

Understanding question. Why should “The room is quiet.” not serve as a passage identifier?

Include a downloadable project ZIP with project.godot, .tscn, .gd and original asset files when code changes. A private, teacher-accessible download link to that ZIP is equivalent. Screenshots or a playthrough do not replace editable source.

If this is still shaky. Use three screens and two buttons with C-DIALOGUE. Draw every link before writing dialogue. Start with the first assigned task and re-run its acceptance test before adding the remaining feature.

Optional extra. Create a branch that rejoins the main path while preserving a meaningful choice. Document one changed parameter, your prediction, and the observed effect; optional, not required for completion.

Turn in typed notes and a JPEG, PNG, or WebP screenshot. One https address is stored as text and is not opened, extracted, or run. An MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4, or WebM file up to 4 MB can show a demo. The demo does not replace editable source. Zip and code files are refused. If there is no private link, keep the project on the family computer and review the code in person.

This is a preview. A parent assigns the lesson and chooses the due date after the student is enrolled. The answer key is not on this page.

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