# Characters & Dialogue

Source: https://docs.skaz.io/guide/characters

> Give your Skaz story a cast: characters with a portrait for every emotion, the Dialogue block, and player replies in visual-novel style.

A story can have a **cast**: characters you define once and then put into any
scene as a conversation. Each line shows who is speaking — their name in their
colour and their portrait, with the face that fits the line.

## Creating characters

Open the **Characters** tab in the editor's inspector and click **Create
character**. For each one you set:

- **Name** — shown on the name plate above their lines. It can hold a
  [variable](/guide/variables#displaying-variables-in-text), so a player
  character can be called `{{name}}` and wear whatever name the reader typed.
- **Colour** — the name plate, the outline of their lines, and their accent in
  the editor.
- **Emotions** — one portrait per mood: *neutral*, *angry*, *delighted*,
  whatever your story needs. The first one is the default, used whenever a line
  doesn't pick a mood. PNG with a transparent background looks best — the
  portrait stands in front of the scene.

Characters belong to the story, not to a single block. Rename someone or
redraw a portrait and every line they speak picks it up the next time you save.

## The player character

Tick **This is the player** on one character and they become the reader's own
voice:

- Their lines stand on the **right** of the scene; everyone else stands on the
  left.
- The choices at the end of a dialogue are presented as **their replies**, under
  a "*Name* replies" label in their colour.

Only one character can be the player. Ticking it on someone else moves it.

## The Dialogue block

Add a **Dialogue** block from the **Scene** group on the toolbar. In the
inspector:

- **Background** — the image the conversation happens in front of.
- **Lines** — click **Add line**, pick who speaks, pick their emotion if they
  have more than one, and write what they say. New lines alternate speakers
  by default, because that's what a conversation is. Reorder with the arrows.

Then give the block choices or a link onward, exactly like a
[Text](/guide/blocks#text) block. On the canvas, the block shows its first few
lines with each speaker's name in colour.

> Create at least one character before adding lines — the Lines section points you
> to the Characters tab until you do.

## What players see

The scene fills the stage with the background, the speaker's portrait slides in
when someone new starts talking, and one line sits in a box along the bottom. A
click, **Space**, **Enter** or **→** moves to the next line. After the last
line, the choices appear — and not before, so nobody skips a conversation by
accident.

## Checks before publishing

The [pre-publish check](/guide/publishing#before-you-publish) flags a Dialogue
block with no lines, and any line spoken by a character you've since deleted.
Variables used in lines count as read, the same as in text.

> The editor's [preview](/guide/previewing) shows a dialogue as a transcript — all
> the lines at once, with names and portraits. The visual-novel stage is what
> players get on the published story.