Dialogue Systems

What it does

When your agent uses it

• NPC conversations
• Character voice

Example prompts

• “game dialogue,”
• “NPC conversations,”
• “choice design,”
• “/dialogue-systems”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Predictable outcomes: Reading the choices should allow rough prediction of results. "Burn the innocent village" should not lead to a good…
2. 2Emotional differentiation: Not all choices should be "nice words vs. mean words." Even with the same intent, the method should differ
3. 3Rule of 3: 2-4 choices, optimal is 3 (proactive/neutral/aggressive variants)
4. 4No false choices: If every option leads to the same result, the player feels betrayed
5. 5Silence is also a choice: Treat "..." or timeout as a meaningful response

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 8e8d35c. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md.

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Dialogue Systems loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 78 tokens; SKILL.md has 450 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~78

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.4k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from revfactory/harness-100 at commit 8e8d35c, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© revfactory). 450 words, ~1,397 tokens.

name

dialogue-systems

description

A specialized skill for the dialogue-writer agent covering game dialogue systems. Provides character voice design, choice psychology, bark systems, cutscene direction, and emotion tag systems. Use for 'game dialogue,' 'NPC conversations,' 'choice design,' 'character voice,' and similar topics.

Character: Seasoned Mercenary Captain
- V: Heavy military terminology, minimal emotional vocabulary. "Operation," "retreat," "supply"
- O: Realism, mocks idealism. "Heroes die young"
- I: Habit of ending sentences with "...yeah." Frequent imperative sentences
- C: Short sentences, occasionally long monologues (when reminiscing)
- E: Never expresses emotions directly. Shows only through actions

Weight = Irreversibility x Scope of Impact x Emotional Investment

- Irreversibility: Re-selectable (low) ~ Permanent (high)
- Scope of Impact: Immediate dialogue change (low) ~ Ending change (high)
- Emotional Investment: First-met NPC (low) ~ Long-time companion (high)

[Dialogue] — [Reaction shot 1-2 sec] — [Dialogue] — [Long silence 3-5 sec] — [Decisive line]

Absolute prohibition: [Dialogue][Dialogue][Dialogue] in succession — no room for emotions to build

DIALOGUE_ID: D_[Chapter]_[Scene]_[Sequence]
SPEAKER: [Character Name]
EMOTION: [neutral/happy/angry/sad/fearful/surprised/contempt]
CONDITION: [IF flag_xxx == true]
VOICE_NOTE: [Acting direction — "whispered," "suppressing anger"]

[Dialogue content]

-> CHOICE (if choices exist)
  A: [Choice text] -> GOTO D_XX_XX_XX / SET flag_xxx
  B: [Choice text] -> GOTO D_XX_XX_XX / SET flag_xxx

© revfactory, Apache-2.0. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in en/05-game-narrative/.claude/skills/dialogue-systems of revfactory/harness-100.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 8e8d35c