Writing branching dialogue Thread

In the writing for my current project, I've run into a wall trying to figure out how to write branching dialogue. So, let me ask you guys. How do you prefer to do dialogue trees in your works?

meaning what? Tools? Depth-first or breadth-first? When should the decision be made? (Answer is in-game)

Hey

I wrote a blog post about how to write dialogue trees in response (easier to read). It's a pretty basic approach. hope it helps.

@A-Frique
Nice article with some good tips. Any references on world building? Specifically how to create Nations and characters for games in a believable manner.
Any help is appreciated, Thanks.

There's dedicated software for this that might help you with the technical aspect at least. It's called Chat-Mapper and can be used for free for hobbyist purposes.

Still on the technical side, there's this very informative post by Sunandshadow from GameDev.net.

@GoodEats Thanks, I am glad the article was useful.

As to the references ( so tempting to be greedy ) but...

I would definitely recommend Designing Virtual Worlds by Richard Bartle - don't be daunted by the size, it reads pretty well and covers a lot of topics relating to how to design your world. It expands from the player types and gives you things to think about and possible innovation points for your ideas. You can also just jump to a chapter you want to read about ie. Skills and just read that.

In terms of your specific request for creating nations in a believeable manner- I would recommend reading some sociology books/essays that describe different societies- you can then use that as research and pull ideas from there. Find a society, ethnicity or particular culture that interests you and read up on it. In terms of creating believable characters try Better Game Characters by Design and pick up some screenwriting books to read on how to create characters. There are quite a few on character creation to choose from online.This should help with making interesting characters and getting you thinking and creating in a solid manner.

My suggestions aren't quite a one-stop-shop/turn key solution but you can harvest some nice ideas from these books and blend them in with your own current ideas.

@RNavega Thanks for sharing the links to ChatMapper and the post! I am definitely interested in the ChatMapper for my current project and that post was gold.