One of my favorite games this year was Arranger, a tile-based puzzle-adventure game. I played it on my iPad while I was recovering from a cold and was charmed by its style and excellent puzzle design.
However, I struggled to engage with the text and dialogue. I wasn’t connecting with the words, parsing felt difficult, and my focus would drift. Why? Was it the text? The presentation? Or something else?
Let’s break it down and compare Arranger to another game, A Short Hike, which uses a similar dialogue design. But I remember being very drawn in by A Short Hike’s dialogue.
Disclaimer: I’m not a writer, and English is my second language, so here is me trying to understand why I had a preference for one over the other. First, let’s start with a high-level look at how the dialogue systems are deployed.
NPC Engagement Design 🔗
Arranger uses a traditional adventure game flow for NPC conversations. Engagement is commonly force-triggered on approach. Once the dialogue is done, the player can choose to re-engage the NPC for a short affirmation script (usually to remind the player of the goal) that can be re-triggered indefinitely.
Arranger's engagement design is quite similar to a Zelda game
A Short Hike leans into player agency and the toy-box nature of its core design. NPC engagement is always player-controlled and (entirely?) optional.
It also uses a re-engagement design I’m a big fan of. On engagement, high-level information is frontloaded with a short script. When the player is released from the conversation, they can choose to re-engage for more narrative details or just move on. The twitchy player can go jump off a rock, and the curious player can get to know the characters more.
In A Short Hike, personality and depth are revealed to players who re-engage
The Scripts 🔗
Here’s the script for the first NPC interactions in both games.
Arranger 🔗
JEMMA
Morning, Susie Q!
SUSIE
I’ve ASKED you not to call me that, Jemma. Susie, or Miss Susie will do just fine.
Expand Script
JEMMA
Aw, c’mon! This might be the last day I ever get to use it!
Wouldn’t that be sad if you never got to hear it again?
SUSIE
Devastating. Now today’s a big day. Are you feeling ready?
You’ll need to be prepared for anything out there…
…no one would blame you if today WEREN’T the day, after all…
JEMMA
It’s the day, Miss Susie! I’m ready!
SUSIE
Hmm. It pains me to say it, but you actually DO look ready this time.
JEMMA
I am! Will you come with me to open the gate?
SUSIE
I wouldn’t miss it. Now where did I put that gate key?
A Short Hike 🔗
AUNT MAY
How’s it going?
I haven’t seen you all day.
You been busy?
CLAIRE
Uh, kinda.
Well, not really.
I’ve just been waiting for a call.
Expand Script
AUNT MAY
Well, there’s your problem!
There is no reception out here.
CLAIRE
Wait,
WHAT!?
AUNT MAY
Yeah, I mean, pretty much no reception.
You might be able to get some at Hawk Peak.
CLAIRE
Oh… yeah, I guess.
But that’s pretty far, isn’t it?
AUNT MAY
It’s not that far!
We’ve all made the trek before.
I figured you would have gone already.
CLAIRE
Oh… yeah.
I’ve been meaning to go.
But… I just… I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
AUNT MAY
Well, today’s as good a day as any.
CLAIRE
…
AUNT MAY
Just take White Beach Trail and head north at the fork.
Then follow the signs to Hawk’s Peak.
No problem!
I’m sure there are linguistic descriptors that can be used here. Again, I’m not a writer, so I’d describe the difference as: A Short Hike’s text feels like a conversation, and Arranger’s text feels more like writing.
There’s something I appreciate about the very brief lines in A Short Hike. It’s like I can parse each one in a breath and then move on.
Arranger’s lines are wordier, maybe more poetic, but I’m unable to flow through them in the same manner. There are several full stops within a string, more complex vocabulary, and it occasionally deploys “eye dialect”—spelling that suggests a character’s accent—which consistently trips me up. This, I think, contributes to me losing the conversational rhythm.
Presentation and Features 🔗
The text speed in both games is fast. Arranger is pretty much on par with my reading speed, while A Short Hike speeds ahead. Neither game offers options to adjust text speed, but both games allow tapping to instantly complete the line.
Arranger's textbox animation at 0.25 speed
Legibility in both games is excellent. The fonts are sharp and contrast well against the text boxes. Arranger plays a sound effect with each new box, while A Short Hike plays one when the speaker changes. Arranger also uses an idle animation on the text boxes, which keeps the screen from feeling too static.
A Short Hike's textbox animation at 0.25 speed
One notable difference in the presentation is that all NPCs in A Short Hike are assigned a unique color for their text. In Arranger, only Jemma gets a special text color treatment.
Both games animate the speaker with little bobs. Arranger appears to use a ping-pong ease on the sprite, while A Short Hike translates or scales the heads on the Y-axis.
The Voice Beeps 🔗
I couldn’t quite work out how the beeps were implemented just by looking at footage, so I reached out to Adam Robinson-Yu, creator of A Short Hike, and he actually sent me the code snippet of the text beep functionality used in the game.
Each frame a number of characters are revealed based on a set speed. Whenever a character is revealed, it plays a beep (from a random set) if a certain amount of time has passed since the last beep.
| A Short Hike - Captured VO beeps |
|---|
I didn’t ask Adam, but it appears a couple of “sets” are used; then I’m guessing each character is assigned a personal pitch shift for further variations. This gives every NPC a unique voice, which makes the back-and-forth feel like different people talking.
Arranger’s beeps appear to be similarly implemented, but there is no variation between characters. The same pitch and sound bank are used for everyone.
| Arranger - Captured VO beeps |
|---|
It doesn’t try so much to be “voices” like A Short Hike; it’s more an auralization of the text. But it still has a lot more personality than the typical typewriter sounds you find in Ace Attorney and many other visual novels. I really appreciate the audio design; I’ve not heard bleeps like this before.
Summary 🔗
The narrative intentions between both games are clearly different. Arranger is a linear game: every player will experience the dialogue along its golden path. Meanwhile, A Short Hike’s “toybox” and explorative core extend into its dialogue design.
My preference for A Short Hike’s dialogue mainly comes down to its casual rhythm and easy-to-vocalize text. Furthermore, the short text strings and engagement design give me more agency in how much I want to read or learn. Finally, A Short Hike’s text beeps really help add personality and reinforce the rhythm and back-and-forth of the dialogue.
Exploring Further 🔗
Linear storytelling delivers a controlled, artistically guided experience but risks alienating players who don’t vibe with the author’s style and pace—something I’ve seen plenty when working on Night School Studio’s games.
Can a more linear story still work with A Short Hike’s engagement design? I would also like to explore the range of text beeps more. They clearly worked well in comedic and lighthearted settings, but can they provide an effective performance for a drama?