For this phase of development we focused our attention on designing and implementing an NPC chat box system with branching dialogue options to immerse the player in our game even more by giving them the illusion of choice

Why the branching dialogue?

We decided to go for the use of branching dialogue rather than giving the player a single more linear conversation, as the branching dialogue makes the narrative of the game more unpredictable and gives the feeling that each response has weight behind them and may or may not impact the story of the game. This is especially true in a horror setting as each choice requires thought and is used to escalate tension felt by the player

As you can see from the photos above it shows the chat box, the players choices and responses, and the NPC responses based on what the player has chosen. The design is is mostly the same as the static chat boxes to provide a sense of unease and familiarity to the player as it looks similar to what they have seen before

Except there is now two buttons at the bottom of only this chat for the player to now respond with, this then reinforces you are now not just reading someone else's old messages, you are now actively communicating with an unknown entity

The "is typing..." indicator was implemented to further heighten the tension felt by the player as there is now a sense of dread as the player must wait to see what the NPC will respond with like they are typing in real time