Speakers and emotions

Speakers attach display names and image asset IDs to line text and choice prompts. They are part of the dialogue definition and are resolved by the server.

Define speakers

local dialogue = MrDialogue.new({
    format = 1,
    id = "blacksmith",
    entry = "hello",

    speakers = {
        blacksmith = {
            name = "Mara",
            icon = "rbxassetid://123456789",
            emotions = {
                happy = "rbxassetid://234567891",
                concerned = "rbxassetid://345678912",
            },
        },
        player = {
            name = "You",
        },
    },

    defaultSpeaker = "blacksmith",
    defaultIcon = "rbxassetid://456789123",

    nodes = {
        hello = {
            type = "line",
            text = "The forge is finally hot.",
            emotion = "happy",
            next = "reply",
        },
        reply = {
            type = "line",
            text = "Can you repair my sword?",
            speaker = "player",
            next = "done",
        },
        done = {
            type = "end",
        },
    },
})

defaultSpeaker applies when a line or choice prompt omits speaker.

Icon resolution

MrDialogue chooses an icon in this order:

1. The image mapped by the node's emotion.
2. The speaker's icon.
3. DialogueDefinition.defaultIcon.
4. No icon.

An empty icon string explicitly resolves to no image.

Narration

Set speaker = false to override defaultSpeaker for a narration line:

storm = {
    type = "line",
    text = "Thunder rolls over the valley.",
    speaker = false,
    next = "warning",
}

Narration contains no speaker payload. It cannot have an emotion.

Validation rules

• Speaker IDs and emotion IDs must be non-empty strings.
• defaultSpeaker must refer to a defined speaker.
• A node's string speaker must refer to a defined speaker.
• A node's emotion must exist on its resolved speaker.
• speaker and emotion are valid only on lines and choice nodes with prompt text.

Dynamic names

Speaker definitions are static data. For a dynamic player name, either build the definition with the name before calling MrDialogue.new() or render it inside a custom adapter based on your own application data.