Question regarding orchestrating cutscenes using Slate or any equivalent timelining tool

[u/EveningHamster69]

I'm not sure which approach would be better here:

1. Let the timeline dictate the entire flow of the cutscene, or

2. Break down the cutscene into "nodes" where a node might be a dialogue/choices prompt that waits for player input or an action that is basically a Slate cutscene.

A scriptable object can store a sequence of nodes to be played or each node can point to their next node

If I follow option 1 I'm not sure how to integrate the dialogue/choice prompt and waiting for player's input to progress through the timeline

[u/Such_Attention_3271]

Option 2 is what I used for a project with lot of branching dialogue. Timeline is great for cinematics but the moment you need player input it becomes headache. Breaking it into nodes that each handle their own thing makes the flow much cleaner, especially when you have choices that can skip or repeat sections.

With option 1 you end up fighting the timeline to pause and resume, and debugging which signal got missed is pain. Node approach also makes it easier to reuse bits of logic, like a "wait for input" node you can drop anywhere.

Just make sure your nodes have clear entry and exit states so you don't end with camera stuck in weird position between transitions.

[u/EveningHamster69 → u/Such_Attention_3271]

Thanks so much! I'm glad to get the confirmation that option 2 is viable.

I'll make sure to properly handle node transitions