Dialog Puzzles
Jun 30, 2015
I don't know why we started calling them "dialog puzzles", they aren't really puzzles, they are more "dialog trees", but "dialog trees" just doesn't have the same flair that "dialog puzzles" does, or maybe it's just me, but I'm going to call them "dialog puzzles".
Maniac Mansion didn't have dialog puzzles. I often getting quizzical looks when I say that, followed by "Yes it did!" and I follow with "No it didn't." and they retort with "Are you sure?" and I come back with "Yeah, I think I would have remembered that."
Zak didn't have dialog puzzles either, nor did LOOM™. Dialog puzzles at Lucasfilm first appeared in Last Crusade and I like to think of them as version 1.0.
For readers that aren't sure that I'm talking about, you might want to check your browser's url. If you came here looking for information on the invasive plant called Thimbleweed, you've probably come to the wrong place, but bear with me, this might be interesting...
Dialog puzzles are really nothing more than a list of choices in the form of dialog for the player to say, or more specifically, for the player to make the main character say. You begin a conversation by doing a TALK TO. The main character usually starts off with a line of dialog, then the other character says something, then the player presented with three to five choice of things they can say.
You choose one of them and that takes the conversation in a new and you end up with some more dialog choices. The dialog trees are typically only a few levels deep and often return to a top node. Choices you've already made often disappear (but not always).
Dialog puzzles in the Lucasfilm adventures were invented to break up long cut-scenes. If you have two minutes of information to get across and you break it up with the occasional choices from the player, it can turn a long slog through dialog into a joy.
The dialogs in Indy were 1.0 because we were really just feeling our way around, trying to understand the rules. Noah Falstein wrote most of the dialog in that game and I thought he did a great job of starting to figure all this out.
But it was Monkey Island where the dialog puzzle really started to shine. A lot of that credit goes to Dave and Tim for being such good and funny writers, but also because we were starting to figure out the rules of what made a good dialog based on the experience with Indy.
I always felt that a dialog should make retrospective sense. Meaning, when you got done with the tree, you should be able to print out the dialog, read it and it should feel like a real conversation, which gets me to one of the most controversial issues with dialog puzzles: You are having a conversation.
The choices in the dialog tree should be lines of conversion, you select them and the main character says them and this moves the conversation forward. It is through the act of having that conversation that you make the choices, the choices do not elicit conversation.
"It would be swell if you could loan me some gas for my chainsaw, fine sir?"
...not...
Ask about getting gas.
In the first example, you're having a conversation with the goal of getting the gas for your chainsaw. In the second, you're telling the game you want the gas and it builds a conversation around that. I inherently dislike the second. It's boring and it takes away the single greatest thing about dialog puzzles: being able to tell four jokes at once.
Someone can say something to Guybrush and then the player sees four funny responses and they read down them and (hopefully) laugh at each one. They don't need to select it, they just need to read it. You can do a lot more character building that way and tell a lot more jokes.
I could go on and on about dialog puzzles. I have a whole list of rules for structuring them that I'll try and dig up at some point and post, but I know what you're thinking: "What the hell does this have to do with Thimbleweed and how do I get it out of my backyard?"
Patience, Grasshopper
I still haven't decided if we're doing dialog puzzles in Thimbleweed Park. It's not that I don't want to - I really want to - but they are massively time consuming to write and implement. Having them increases the dialog in the game by a factor of ten. You're no longer writing one conversation, you're writing ten of them and that doesn't even include that we have five playable characters.
If we do them, the dialog could end up being somewhat generic, with only special lines here and there for the different characters. It doesn't take much to make them feel special, but it's completely unrealistic to expect that all five characters will have completely different conversations without the dialog trees becoming very thin, which might be OK. It's an odd creative problem.
What I do know is that I don't have the time to write the dialog AND do the system programming. One of those will have to give and that starts to run into budget issues. We don't have the budget to hire an additional writer or a system programmer. Making games is all about trade-offs.
In SCUMM all the dialog puzzles were hand coded and it was a pain. For DeathSpank I came up with a script format called Sassy that helped a great deal, but was just a little too wordy and programmery.
Last year, I went to a great talk at GDC by Jon Ingold about 80 Days and was impressed and inspired by the simplicity of their scripting format.
Last week I played around with our dialog system and spent some time figuring out a format for the scripts and implemented it in the engine.
Here is a sample I crapped out as a test:
!talked_to_sheriff = YES
sheriff: Howdee. The name's Sheriff Crook, local sheriff of Thimbleweed Park.
I don't remember calling the feds-a-renos.
That's what you are? Feds?
Hard to miss the goverment issue suits.
:main
1 Damn straight we're the feds. -> crap [showonce]
2 Cut the Mayberry crap, we're taking over this case. -> crap
3 How long were you going to let that body rot in the river? -> rot
4 I'm agent Ray and this is... uh... my partner. -> hi
5 Know any place that serves good pie? -> eat [once]
5 Know any place that serves good meatloaf? -> eat [once]
5 Know any place that serves good hamburgers? -> eat [once]
5 Know any place that serves good hotdogs. -> eat [once]
5 Why don't you shut the place down? -> shutdown [once]
:eat
!++asked_about_food
sheriff: You could try the Diner down the street, but no one eats there...
pause 0.5
sheriff: *whispering* Botalisium. [asked_about_food == 1]
sheriff: *whispering* E. coli. [asked_about_food == 2]
sheriff: *whispering* Plague. [asked_about_food == 3]
sheriff: *whispering* Butylated Hydroxytoluene. [asked_about_food == 4]
-> main
:shutdown
sheriff: Why would I do that? I get a 5% law enforcement discount.
-> main
:rot
sheriff: The river is so chocked full of chemicals from the old pillow factory...
...it's better off there than in a tub of formaldehyde.
sheriff: {chuckle}
-> next
:crap
!sheriff_hostility++
sheriff: Whoa... hold your horse-a-renos, no need to get snippy.
-> next
:hi
sheriff: Nice to meet you, agent-a-renos.
-> next
:next
sheriff: Looks like you heard about our little murder-reno out by the bridge.
reyes: There nothing 'little' about murder, sir.
pause 0.5
ray: *sigh*
Ignore him... he's new.
pause 0.5
sheriff: No sense in wasting everyone's time-a-reno.
This cut-scene is starting to get long and it's only going to get longer.
Let's find the coroner and get you on your way.
{face_front}
Wrestling starts at eight.
reyes: I hope he's talking about on TV
exit
I like writing in pure text, I don't like fancy tools or clicking a bunch of UI to add nodes. I like to copy/paste and reflow large chunks of dialog with ease.
So, there are two things I don't know.
1) I don't know if there are going to be dialog puzzles in Thimbleweed Park.
2) I have no idea how to get Thimbleweed out of your backyard.
- Ron
i thought the dialogue in that games was an interesting and different take on adventure game dialogue....
Ron, maybe Tim Schafer would write dialog trees for free in his spare time?
If you get the needed budget you implement dialogs, elsewise you have a good reason for leaving it be.
Rudbeckia laciniata (eastern North America)
Anemone cylindrica (north central North America)
I'm assuming the story happens in "north central U.S."? Montana maybe?
You want to, and "Thimbleweed park" will never be finished without them (some emotional blackmail here).
I hate having to click through every dialog option just to find the one that will cause the NPC to e.g give me an object I need (and because of this mechanic, the same process for every NPC I interact with).
But I absolutely loved fighting the sword master in Monkey Island, which was really dialog based for those of you who don't know...
Monkey Island, yes ... Anyone ???
If this game was happening in "current time" I'd suggest implementing some kind of texting feature for these tree, eliminating the need for additional voice acting. But back in the 80's.... Did people carry pagers around then?
Ohh. Imagine that. Remember in Earthbound for SNES, you would call the pizza delivery place to make an order. And then 5 mins later, the pizza guy would find you and drop off your pizza. Say the dialogue puzzles are limited to a character's pager. You can text someone 1 short line, and 5 mins later you get a response to which you have 4 options to respond with. (Instead of breaking up longer cut scenes with dialogue puzzles, you'd be breaking up dialogue puzzles with gameplay. Ha!)
Love it. There's your solution. People who love DTs can still have them. People who hate them will be able to endure them.
..."but bare with me, this might be interesting..."
should be
... "but bare, with me, this might be... interesting"
(That or "bear.")
Tbh, I would not mind waiting longer for the final release or giving more money if it meant dialog puzzles.... Regardless, I'm hoping to up my pledge tier when Ron gives us more info on that ;)
Concerning dialog trees:
I think they also have another purpose: They help you identify with the character a bit more if you can choose the "tone" of your answer. In the sample script you can choose to be polite ("good cop") or be pretty a**holian about being a Fed ("bad cop"). I like it when a game gives me the illusion that I have some degree of influence.
Like in Monkey Island where I would - of course - select: "I am Guybrush Threepwood - You are all going to die!"
I would love it if Thimbleweed Park had at least some dialog options.
But that's just my personal preference.
Ps: Dialog puzzles sound amazing in the thimblecon convention possibly relating to whos the best super hero or comics!
I think dialogue puzzles are great for immersion and for providing subtle hints to solve certain puzzles. What I don't like about dialogue puzzles is when, instead of a hint, they ARE the solution to the puzzle. That feels cheap to me. Even though I loved Broken Age, I think that game had way too many puzzles which where solved just by talking.
- Maniac Mansion didn't have one (TP is more likely in the 1987 than 1990)
- It has sense if you are playing with one character (Guybrush, Indy), not with more than one.
But of course, you can think of different sentences to be said by different characters.
I remeber that if Zak gave the bottle of rum to the guard at Stonehenge, nothing happened. But if Annie gave it, something different (and very important!) happened.
THAT'S what I would see in Thimbleweed Park.
That being said, I'd advise against Dialog Trees because even though I love them (especially the insults and the puzzle to get the necklace from the head of the navigator), you don't have the budget for them.
- I have extensive writing experience, especially comedy
- I have extensive puzzle writing experience
- I have a LOT of free time and would do it for free, for the love of it
I'm serious, and can provide evidence of my abilities. Please consider it!
Maniac Mansion came first. It had no dialogs trees. Then, later came Monkey Island. It had dialog trees. Thimbleweed Park is a mixed blend between both of these. The story is completely unique, and this is why the decision to having dialog trees should be made in the light of ....
Does the dialog flesh out the story?
How much of the core story can you support with additional dialog?
Do I want to make another game like this, after this one? Or even a third? Make this one more like Mansion, and the second more like Monkey Island?
If you are not going to make another game like this after Thimbleweed Park? I'd say .. include some dialog.
If you think you might be making more? Don't do the dialog thing. Unless it helps carry a lot of the weight of the story.
I like both styles and this choice is a dilemma. Hence why I ask if there is going to be more. Because next time around, I'd do the other thing.
The one thing I did not like was that you could always just try out all possible combinations and that would pretty much solve the puzzle (and unlike puzzles where you had to combine inventory items, there was no running around through different rooms and it pretty much boiled down to going through three or four choices a number of times). I think the only situations where your choices in a dialog puzzle made any difference were in Indy IV, where you could choose one of three different "second acts", and the ingenious sword fighting puzzles in MI, where at first I did not even realize that I was solving a puzzle until after I had collected 4 or 5 witty comebacks.
It would be great if you did dialog puzzles in TP, but make them so that choosing the wrong answers would permanently block some (easy) ways to solve a puzzle and only leave you with the hard, longer, more sophisticated and funnier way.
So yeah. Nobody said it would be easy.
Granted, something similar could probably be done without a writing a fully-fledged dialogue-tree...
You are standing in front of a house. A man is leaning to the wall smoking a cigarette.
OPEN > DOOR
The door is locked.
USE > CHAINSAW > ON DOOR
You take out chainsaw and start it.
The leaning man runs towards you.
MAN: "Whoa, whoa, whoa... what are you doing?"
YOU:
opt1-1 "I was going to commit a breaking and entering, do you mind?"
opt1-2 "I just wanted to check if my chainsaw was still working. Seems to be."
opt1-3 "Stand back or you might be the next in the chain of chainsaw massacre victims"
(which ever you choose -> ) MAN: "Look, I have a key alright"
YOU: "Great! Can you open the door for me?"
MAN: "I could, but why should I?"
YOU:
opt2-1 "I'm a federal agent, and I'm conducting an investigation"
opt2-2 "I was here earlier, and forgot my... um... partner in there"
opt2-3 "I think there could be a note with a president's face on it for you inside..."
(if you chose opt2-1 -> ) MAN: "Oh, you are with the feds... Ok, no problem. Here you go."
(if you chose opt2-2 -> ) MAN: "What? If there's someone inside, she can open the door herself."
(if you chose opt3-1 -> ) MAN: "Sounds fishy, no dice. You can't bribe me."
So, I would say, keep the opportunities for conversations to minimum, keep the conversations themselves lean, and I think there should be some sort of action after successful dialog.
I hope that you find time in the budget for scripting a variety of conversations for each character - as you say, the opportunity for humour is greatly increased when you have a range of responses to read through, including self-deferential or fourth-wall-breaking lines.
I also hope that we might see the triumphant return of Insult <Activity>TM. Perhaps there's room for Insult Darts? Or Insult Tree-cutting? Or Insult Lock Picking, where all the doors have a range of silly knock-knock jokes you need to find the correct response to...
I really like them, especially in Indy 3, but I always found that the lack of "talkative" interaction in Maniac Mansion to be part of the "magic" that rendered it the classic it is.
You can interact with the NPCs by giving them stuff and performing action, and in reply you occasionally get some phrase. But you cannot stop and talk to them. You need to perform actions, not to find the correct route in a dialogue tree to trigger the result you need.
Also, this contributes in making the NPCs more elliptic (and that was a plus in Maniac Mansion).
I'd even go so far as to say, ditch the "Talk to" verb entirely, if you decide not to have dialog trees anyway - and trigger the dialogs when your characters do something specific. Trigger conversations as small scenes, maybe entirely non-interactive then.
I'd prefer this much more than taking the dense dialog trees from Monkey Island and toning them down. It's either one or the other. Both have the magic, it's just a different kind of magic.
♫ It's a kind of maaagic ....
It's a kind of maagiiiiic ... ♫
That is exactly what I was thinking.
Moreover, as someone said, some games did suffered from the abuse of dialogues. I'm glad to find out I'm not the only one that found displeasant going in a new location and thinking "gosh, another room full of people to talk to... I'm not gonna make it". Over time this become frustrating and repetitive. In the case of Indy3/Indy4 and MI/MI2 this was quite balanced... but, still, I favour the absence of dialogue trees.
Interaction comes from doing things, not from annoying and talking with NPCs to death. :)
I think dialog trees/puzzles should only exist if you cannot traverse the entire tree. Not only that, but what you decide to say should make a puzzle easier or harder (but never making anything impossible nor the result being the omission of vital clues or info; the clues or info would just be less/more cryptic).
All that being said, I would hope Ron would be able to raise some more money to budget for some good dialog puzzles or find some chump/s with the ability who could volunteer their time.
* No dialogs: I like The Cave and it doesn't have dialogs. Only a narrator telling the story. I remember the TV series "The Wonder Years" where you could hear the thoughts of the protagonist. Maybe this could be like what was thinking Mulder and Scully when they investigate? But this doesn't mean that you understand what to do next.
* Full dialogs: I like Monkey Island. It was my entrance to adventure games. But too much dialogs can be repetitive. Of course, it's fun the first time, great jokes, but after that you need to continue playing and if the dialogs doesn't guide you, you're completely lost (that happens to me, not in MI). Then, you're reading the same dialog forever...
* Fixed styles: Discworld (from Psygnosis) solved the dialogs using icons for each kind of conversation: generic, joke, question and insult. But it's like then gas example. The same thing in Sam & Max.
They can be awesome, like in Monkey Island 1 and 2, where they really add to the humor and the characterization...
BUT, dialog puzzles also have the potential to be very tedious.
I remember in Curse of Monkey Island coming across new characters and sighing, because I knew I was going to have to sit through a very long dialog tree, clicking over and over to make sure I'd exhausted all the paths to get all the potential character and plot info.
It was like a huge interactive exposition dump that slowed down the game, when I just wanted to get back to solving the puzzles, exploring the settings, and finding the humor in the "look at" descriptions and combing objects and things like that.
I also found that was the case for parts of Grim Fandango too, mainly in the beginning... dialog puzzles can sometimes feel like it really is just a "tree" where you have to go through and exhaust every possibility and it can end up being a bit of a chore.
So I'd say if you do them, please make sure it's just a few paths of top notch stuff for each conversation, rather than loads and loads of "just ok" dialog..
I think you have hit on exactly where dialog puzzles in some games go wrong. Many adventure games in particular ruin the fun of reaching new locations by also having a bunch of new characters, each with long dialog puzzles. Trying every branch in the every dialog tree becomes work, but you know you have to do it because who knows which branch might contain a piece of information or item you need or whatever.
In games like that I lump the dialog puzzles in with cutscenes, in that they are actually taking the player out of playing the game. With that in mind I think that dialog puzzles (like cutscenes) add to a game only if they are concise and to the point. And there needs to be some reason for each ones existance (humor being a good enough reason).
The example you posted here Ron is about the perfect length for a dialog puzzle IMHO. Also hopefully if they are short like that we can still enjoy the fun of dialog puzzles without trading off much else in the game.
I mean, look at the step up in Indy 3. Zak already had quite a bit more triggered dialog than Maniac Mansion, I think, but Indy 3 really got it going. But I remember how disappointed I was in Indy 3, as you could only talk to a select few of all characters. With many characters, the "Talk to" very just ... did nothing. It behaved like "What is", when you hover the cursor on something cool, only to find out it's just decoration.
I was fine with "What is" not registering stuff, it still feels like a big, fully functional world to me regardless, but not being able to talk to this or that person felt like someone was needlessly putting a stop to my sense of curiousness.
But if it's not just "toned down" but really done well, that'd be a bit like having the dialogs of Indy 3, but this time there is no invisible barrier there, designed to stop you from running face first against the wall of the matrix, so to say. Characters could all respond in some way, now.
That happened in Curse of MI, where each new major location was introduced with a pretty long animated cutscene, followed by even more plot info with dialog puzzles with every character.
Maybe it's fine if it's one or the other, just to get the plot rolling and some characters explained, but not both, right after each other...
You need to look at each character individually and decide whether or not that character is likely to enter into dialog. Whether or not the game is likely to have existed in 1987 is irrelevant.
How do I become a pirate? Who is LeChuck? What is the Secret of Monkey Island? Guybrush needs answers people!!
Anyway, how often do you strike up a conversation with a bunch of lunatics, or a talking tentacle?
Just for entertainment, I coded up a toy that can handle the above dialog puzzles with a few minor modifications: I changed "exit" to "-> exit", I don't handle "!talked_to_sheriff = YES", no stage directions, and I require a 'greeting' block since I don't have a game that can ask for any conversation node.
https://github.com/mbensley/thimble-dialog/blob/master/dialog.py
Seems Ron can simplify his dialog work a bit.
Great job Mathew. Now I'm dreaming of features to add to this dialog puzzle scripting system.
It'd be neat if particular nodes in the trees could select an element from an array of character lines, so that most of the tree would be the same, but at certain nodes, each character could have a specific reaction to a particular turn of phrase.
I love the idea of auto parsing these to ensure some basic correctness, and aid with debugging.
Also, as this parser is parsing this input file, you could have it generate a language specific file, and actually just insert references to the language file into the resulting code. That way you'd have one English file that someone could translate into other languages, and it should just fall into place. There are of course lots of issues with translations, but this would at least separate out the script markup from the language to be translated.
And don't forget you might want some minimal amount of markup for the text, such as bolt, italics, super script, (TM) symbols, etc. :)
Please see this image: The Maniac Mansion characters in DOTT style!!! --> http://www.bonzenmann.de/villa.png
I liked how different LucasArts games had those different styles -- they all had great pixel art, but different flavors within the same overall format.
The Dig is the most beautiful, stunning, serene, jaw to the floor thing I have ever seen in a graphics adventure. I don't care what reviewers were rambling about Super VGA at the time. Very few games made the absolute most out of VGA, and The Dig was one of them. I look at these beautiful screens, the scenery and I just tear up. It grips me. It is just so ... soooo *unbelievably beautiful!*
The thing when you compare all these styles is, like with much other pieces of Art... you don't want to pick one. You want them all.
It is not just Nostalgia, I think the C64 graphics/style of Maniac Mansion is unforgettable. The PC and Amiga/Atari ST screens are higher res and ... they have the look we're getting in Thimbleweed Park, but when I actually play the game, for some reason I return to the C64 version more often than not.
If I absolutely HAVE to tell you what styles I prefer, top 10-like ... then here goes.
1. Monkey Island 1 Amiga/PC Vga
2.The Dig
3.Indiana Jones 4 PC
4.Maniac Mansion Amiga/PC EGA
5.Maniac Mansion C64 / PC EGA v1
6.Zak Mc Kracken C64
7.Zak Mc Kracken PC EGA v2
8. Full Throttle
9. Monkey Island 2
10. Indiana Jones and the last Crusade EGA
I never liked LOOM, even though I adore the looks of it as much as Monkey Island .. the game somehow ... without the verbs and all ... it just ... made me sit in front of the screen and keep wishing it had verbs. Rinse repeat. I haven't finished it even until today, despite numerous attempts. I try again .. and immediately realise why it ... bores the hell out of me :(.
Monkey Island 1 / 10
Fate of Atlantis / 10
DOTT / 9
Zak McKracken / 8
Indiana Jones and the last Crusade / 8
Maniac Mansion / 7
Monkey Island 2 / 6
Grim Fandango / 6
Curse of Monkey Island / 6
LOOM / 5
Sam & Max / 5
Full Throttle / 4
Escape from Monkey Island / 2
I tried again and again to play Sam and Max. I finished the LucasArts game but ... I have all three seasons of the Telltale games and it .. just .. is ... too ... goofy ... for me. I can't help it.
Glad TP is not going to look that way.
However it would have worked as well with a more serious art style.
Other adventure games (just like Larry 7) imitated this style but didn't convince me at all.
My personal favourite in this matter is the Monkey 1 style, followed by Monkey 2.
I love cameos! Chuck the plant has also been a great idea! By the way: What about inventing a successor for Chuck the plant, since Disney should have the rights for Chuck? Maybe a cactus... or a man eating plant like the one in Maniac Mansion... or an evidence eating plant?
I LOVE Dialog. I play the adventure games mostly for the dialog. Please make the dialog rock!
I own a company in México that does software development, we have made some small entertainment apps for the iOS and software for other companies, currently we are working for a USA startup that does money transfer (we are configuring their server to be PCI compliance, developing their backend and mobile apps), they are actually already on production, but improving their software. The benefits of working with a Mexican company is that we are close (almost have the same time zone) and your currency is worth more here than there, thus a good salary in México is really a fraction of a good salary in the USA.
If you are interested to talk more about this, please drop me a mail, as i'm serious about it.
The stress of entering a room filled with NCP you can/ have to talk to. That's usually the time to save and quit and go to sleep. Yeah, being a goldfish I don't remember too well what was said when I stop playing halfway through a conversation. :D
I especially dislike when the dialogue trees are so large that the programmers do not control them properly and you get inconsistent dialogue. E.g. When your main character uses the name of the NCP before he has heard it, just because you decide not to prune the tree in order. (Had that a few times in Tales of MI). Typically I try to choose the goofy lines first, guessing on the right lines to continue the story afterwards.
Another thought: you can drop the generic talk to verb ( in one of the first posts you needed some space for the switch to verb, right?) and instead trigger dialogue (in fixed or tree form) by using items. This can also help to limit the length of each dialogue. E.g use FBI badge on shopkeeper will get you a different dialogue than use chainsaw on said shopkeeper.
In the first you will ask the obvious investigation question, in the second you ask for the cash in the register.
I also hate when you select a line of dialogue and the main character says something different... Unless it is on purpose for comic effect (5 bad-ass comebacks and then Guybrush going "yes, Dad")
Are you sure you are really stuck without money? Can you give some more details?
Even though the airport tickets are non-transferable, Zak can buy an expensive refundable ticket and give it to Annie, who can use the ticket on the terminal and get a full refund.
In my experience I never found myself in big trouble in having Annie with low cash. It happened just a few times and solved by buying the tickets she needed with Zak.
Step 1: Buy chemical compounds to make herbicide
Step 2: Carefully mix herbicide chemicals. (Try not to breath fumes too much)
Step 3: Spray herbicide over backyard. (Try to aim at the Thimbleweed)
Step 4: Rake, rake, rake
Step 5: Pick up dead Thimbleweed and throw it in large garbage bags
Step 6: Repeat Step 1 until all Thimbleweed is gone
Step 7: Hire landscaper to fix your backyard
Step 8: Enjoy cool summer drink
I usually jump straight for Step 7 and be done with it. :)
When I saw Thimbleweed Park my dream was: If they use simple backgrounds and not too much animation, then they can maybe easily go nuts on the scope of the puzzles and rooms. That would be fun and such a great world to explore: Imagine an adventure game so big that you have Maniac and Zak and Indy3 inside! And complicated elevators, walking Eds, obscure alternate solutions and bus drivers.
I think it would be best to use dialogue trees only at places where you have some really good jokes or problems with a puzzle. Don't use them everywhere. Then you can stay in budget and you have more freedom with the scope
It's easy to be silent when you are in a haunted house style adventure and basically trying to escape from the scary things. When the game is about detectives, who mainly are about interacting and exploring, it would be weird to not have discussions where the player would be the one who's pulling the strings. And that being said no one is saying that the game has to be filled with these puzzles all around and bore everyone to death, just use them (very) sparingly and when the story calls it to do so.
Even the language of cinema uses long bouts of silence to add some extra impact when the expected event occurs. Same goes for movie dialog, it is not necessary to constantly blabber on to make a deep impression. Of course, nowadays it has to be constant explosions and constant jammering or the kids leave the theater. But I don't think those kinds of kids will play Thimbleweed Park anyhow. Less material, less work, but much bang for the buck. But of course, that material has to be really good or that equation won't work. Plus you would eliminate discussion fatique that I too have been encountered sometimes (or actually turn it to discussion anticipation).
Also, I could imagine the dialog customization for each character wouldn't have to be that agressive. For example, a discussion with a bus driver or a store clerk could be the same with all characters, easily.
I don't of course know the story, the amount of characters in it or the business of writing/managing/funding a voice cast for a video game and many other things but those things came to my mind.
When you have very much dialog, everything has to be translated and voiced. I read fast, so i tend to skip the voice anyway. (apart from cutscenes)
So maybe some dialog could be "voiceless", not without reason though. This could be monologues, dreams, talking with deaf people (combined with refined stanesque handwaving), talking to a fish underwater,... ok no more valid ideas atm, but this list could be much longer.
(patent pending)