Concepts

Character Maker 4.2

Concepts

The Character Maker package is a network based application. To use it, go to the Run Character Maker web page. Each user has their own Character Maker account, and each user's characters are loaded from and saved to their account on the server. If you don't have an account and try to log in, then the Character Maker server will automatically make you an account with the name and password you tried.

Character Maker characters are organized into topics. When you start conversing with a character it begins in one topic, and as the conversation progresses the character moves from topic to topic. The character can only be in one topic at a time. Each topic contains a unique set of rules for responding to the user's input.

Topics contain keyword and response pairs. Characters' responses are generated by matching user input to a keyword and then carrying out a response associated with that keyword. Keywords and their associated responses are specific to a particular topic – they are not shared between topics.

A topic might recognize the keyword "mother" and respond to it by saying "Tell me about your mother." If the user says "I hate my mother," then the computer would respond with "Tell me about your mother."

Each response contains text, possibly an image, and a link to another topic. Each response must link to a topic, even if it is the same topic. When a response is activated by a keyword the character says the text, shows the image (if one is specified), and moves to the topic specified by the link (even if it is the same as the current topic).

Those are the concepts needed for authoring a character with Character Maker. The user interface is described in the next section, Authoring.