WIP My First Mod: Character Dialogue and Events?

Discussion in 'Characters' started by GustheTruBus, Jun 17, 2018.

  1. GustheTruBus

    GustheTruBus Void-Bound Voyager

    Hey there Chucklefish Forum!

    I'm very interested in becoming a SMAPI modder. For a long time I've wanted to dive into the world of content creation, but I've had this artificial mental barrier holding me back telling me "you can't do it."
    But since I'm learning more about Java and C# anyway for school, I think it's about time to really take a serious crack at it. Stardew Valley seems like a wonderful place to cut my teeth on this subject.

    So I'm in the process of going over the C# fundamentals and the basics of object oriented programming - I've also taken a look at several of the advanced modder pages on the Stardew wiki, including the one specific to creating in-game events. I've checked out some of Pathoschild's open source code on github, which, surprisingly often looked quite simple, which was encouraging. My first impression is that familiarity with the games files and how it parses CA's variables is a lot more important than programming knowledge.

    My question for the forum is - exactly how do I get started? I'm planning on starting simple, just adding a couple lines of dialogue that can be accessed in the the first day or the game or something, to get my bearings. Once I conquer that I'll launch into a more long-term project to add much more expansive character arcs for more of the cast of Stardew Valley. I've always felt that too many conversations in the game are surface level, only the events give you a better idea of who the characters are. I want to create a mod where conversations can continue past that "first look," and even more importantly, past the first couple of years to add longevity and character in the late game.

    Going into this for the first time, I'm a bit unclear where or how to start though. For instance, to create an event would I write a bunch of "raw code" in a text editor and then export that as a certain type of file? I'm still reading the documentation and I'm sure I'll be able to answer some of my own questions, but a bit of advice and guidance concerning the logistic aspects of mod creation would be very welcome and appreciated :)
     
      irene21000 likes this.

    Share This Page