Characters¶

Characters represent the speakers in your dialogue. Define them once, then reference them across all Dialogue nodes for consistent naming and styling.

Managing Characters¶

Characters are managed in the left panel under the Characters section.

Adding a Character¶

Click + Add in the Characters section. A new character is created with:

Name: Character (edit to rename)
Color: Blue (rgba(74, 144, 217, 255)) by default
Portrait Path: Empty

Editing a Character¶

Each character card shows aligned property fields:

Field	Description
Name	Display name (e.g., "Guard", "Princess", "Merchant")
Color	RGB color picker — used for visual identification in the UI
Portrait	File path to a portrait image, with a live thumbnail preview and [...] browse button
Voice	Voice assignment dropdown (visible when voices are loaded — see Voice Synthesis)

A colored indicator square is shown next to each character name in the left panel header, matching the assigned color.

Portrait Preview¶

When a portrait path is set, a small thumbnail is displayed inline next to the path field. Click [...] to open a file picker (supports PNG, JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF). Portraits are cached in memory for fast rendering — changing the path updates the preview immediately.

Portraits also appear on Dialogue nodes on the canvas (at medium zoom and above) and in the Inspector when editing a Dialogue node with a linked speaker.

Removing a Character¶

Click the delete button to remove a character. Dialogue nodes that reference the removed character will retain the speaker name as plain text.

Relationships¶

Each character can have named relationship tracks (e.g., Friendship, Trust, Fear) with numeric values and configurable min/max ranges. Relationships are managed in a collapsible Relationships section within each character.

See NPC Relationships for full details on defining relationships, modifying them via Event nodes, and using them in conditions.

Using Characters in Dialogue Nodes¶

When editing a Dialogue node in the Inspector, the Speaker field lets you type a character name. Characters you've defined are available for consistent reference.

The speaker_id field in the data model links the Dialogue node to a specific Character by UUID, ensuring updates to the character name propagate correctly.

Bark Dialogue¶

Characters can also have bark/ambient dialogue lines — short context-sensitive lines for use outside the main dialogue tree. Manage barks in the dedicated Barks panel.

See Bark Dialogue for full details.

Characters in Export¶

Characters are exported with human-readable IDs. Relationships are included when defined:

{
  "characters": [
    {
      "id": "char_1",
      "name": "Guard",
      "color": "#4A90D9",
      "portrait": "portraits/guard.png",
      "relationships": [
        { "name": "Trust", "default_value": 0, "min": -100, "max": 100 }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "char_2",
      "name": "Princess",
      "color": "#E84393",
      "portrait": "portraits/princess.png"
    }
  ]
}

Dialogue nodes reference characters by their exported ID (e.g., "speaker": "char_1").

Tips¶

Tip

Define all your characters in the left panel before building the graph. This makes it easy to maintain consistent speaker names.

Tip

Use distinct colors for each character — this makes it easier to visually scan the left panel and identify speakers at a glance.