I need a fragment just for Exposition

[fictional_account]

I'm having a hell of a time trying to manage exposition in the midst of my dialogues. I have to put long chunks of text into the Stage Directions box, which should be used for that specific character's emotions while speaking, not for exposition. The only other option I could come up with was to create a new Flow Fragment for every bit of exposition, which is massively confusing for small events in the midst of a conversation because it makes you leave the current Dialogue window.

Please add a fragment type to the Dialogue pane, in this order:
Dialogue Fragment
Exposition
Hub
Jump
Condition
Instruction
Annotation

The Exposition fragment will just be an empty box to put a lot of visible text in, with arrow connectors on the sides so the dialogue has to flow through it in chronological order.

Make sense?

[fictional_account]

So I found this response but as the developer says, there's no clear Exposition option currently. There are text boxes that pop-up if you double click on a connection arrow, thus allowing exposition to be included between speakers and major events. The problem is that it isn't clear how these will be exported. The other option is Annotation boxes which definitely aren't exported.

Here's the post:

...
You're able to write two different kinds of "description boxes":

Doubleclick a connection to create a label on it. (You can find this label in the exported XML file and the Journeys) The thing is, you cannot create a hyperlink to another object within articy:draft.
Or (if this visualized version is fair enough for you) you can simply create an annotation. Within THIS annotation you can create hyperlinks (eg. to important assets and elements for your specific dialogue). But (and here's the catch) You cannot export them...

We found out, that it would be very comfortable to have something in the dialogues that provides the user with more detailed information about it - so yes, it's on our list

[fictional_account]

Basically I'd like to see all the typical mechanics from screenwriting included in the editor, with clear headings that imply how they'll be exported. So dialogue, exposition, stage direction, maybe even camera directions and other technicalities that deserve their own distinct order in a screenplay. Right now it all feels a bit loose and unstructured, as though game creators don't require as much definition as a film crew would. This certainly isn't true.

[fictional_account]

I've been thinking about the structure of storytelling inside Articy:Draft.
So you open a chapter in the Flow Editor. You're now sitting inside a Flow Fragment and you wrote a description of some kind in the level above. So here inside you can add another Flow Fragment with a description or you can add a Dialogue (I'll call it a Chunk). If you open the Dialogue Chunk you only get Dialogue Fragments to play with (speaker boxes).

This segregation of Flow/Exposition Fragments and Dialogue Fragments isn't necessary. Why not allow all Flow fragments to house fragments for speaking parts directly? (and also rename them to something simpler like "spoken element"). This way a writer can drop speaking parts anywhere she wants, and Flow Fragments will begin to serve as the universal organizational object they're supposed to be.

So, the best solution I can imagine so far:

FLOW Element

Flow Element
Spoken Element
Jump
Condition
Instruction
Annotation

The Flow element is the highest level of organization. You can add any/all other pieces inside it. You can also use it as a simple exposition box to tie two other elements together. The text description inside the Flow element's box will be exported verbatim.

The Spoken element is for a single character's single line, identical to the old Dialogue Fragment (I think calling it a Spoken element makes it more clear that this can be a monologue narrator or whatever kind of voice the writer wants).

The rest of the elements will function as usual.

Essentially I think this organization would clarify everything, since the dual Dialogue vs Dialogue Fragment structure makes writing scripts very unwieldy. This new organization would preserve all the current game mechanic design patterns.

[fictional_account]

Also, the text boxes that occur when you double click a connecting arrow would be Annotation boxes instead, thus providing an option for in-flow Annotations as well as the current free-floating Annotations. Hub elements are redundant since Flow elements serve the same purpose (i.e., a text box with multiple anchors on each side).

[fragfest]

I like this. Hope we get to see it.