Maxwelltalker

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-03

Overview

MaxwellTalker orchestrates Maxwell’s scripted dialogue sequences and narrative events in DST. It is responsible for driving speech timing, animation states, sound playback, input skipping, and temporarily disabling player control and HUD. It integrates with the talker component for text display and modifies camera and player controller state to create cinematic moments. Typically used during initial encounters or story-critical events involving Maxwell.

Usage example

local inst = CreateEntity()
inst:AddComponent("maxwelltalker")
inst.components.maxwelltalker:SetSpeech("MAXWELL_INTRO")
inst.components.maxwelltalker.speeches = {
    MAXWELL_INTRO = {
        disableplayer = true,
        delay = 0.5,
        appearanim = "appear",
        dialoganim = "talk_loop",
        dialogpostanim = "talk_end",
        disappearanim = "disappear",
        voice = "dontstarve/maxwell/talk_LP",
        { string = "Well, hello there.", wait = 2.0 },
        { string = "You’ve finally arrived.", wait = 2.5, waitbetweenlines = 0.5 },
    }
}
inst.components.maxwelltalker:Initialize()
inst.components.maxwelltalker:DoTalk()

Dependencies & tags

Components used: talker, playercontroller, health, sleeper, revivablecorpse (read-only checks only).
Tags: Adds maxwellnottalking on instantiation; removes it when speech starts; removes it on component removal.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
speech	string | nil	nil	Key (e.g., "SPEECH_KEY") referencing a speech block in speeches. If nil, defaults to "NULL_SPEECH".
speeches	table	nil	Map of speech definitions (keyed by name), each containing animation, timing, and dialogue data.
canskip	boolean	false	Whether the current speech sequence can be skipped via input. Set to true once speech begins.
defaultvoice	string	"dontstarve/maxwell/talk_LP"	Default sound path used when no per-section or per-speech voice is defined.
inputhandlers	table of InputHandler	{}	List of registered input handlers for skip controls. Cleared after speech ends.

Main functions

SetSpeech(speech)

• Description: Sets the speech to be used by this component. Must be called before Initialize() or DoTalk() to define the active sequence.
• Parameters: speech (string) — The key identifying the desired speech entry in speeches. Can be nil (defaults to "NULL_SPEECH").
• Returns: Nothing.

Initialize()

• Description: Prepares the entity and player for speech. Hides player HUD, disables player control, puts the player in the "sleep" state, repositions Maxwell toward the player, and configures camera zoom/position.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

DoTalk()

• Description: Executes the full speech sequence: plays appearance animation, iterates over speech sections (dialogue, sound, wait), calls talker:Say, handles end-of-line transitions, triggers disappearance animation, removes the entity, and restores player control/ HUD/camera. Internally calls oncancel flow on completion.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

StopTalking()

• Description: Immediately halts current speech, kills talk sound, clears talker, cancels tasks, and nullifies the speech data. Used for emergency termination.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnCancel()

• Description: Handles mid-speech cancellation (typically invoked via OnClick()). Runs StopTalking(), executes Maxwell’s disappearance logic (sound, smoke, animation), removes the entity if animation ends, and restores player state.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnClick()

• Description: Input handler triggered by primary, secondary, attack, inspect, or action controls. If canskip is true and speech disables player, cancels the talk and cleans up input handlers.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

IsTalking()

• Description: Reports whether a speech sequence is currently active.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: boolean — true if self.inst.speech ~= nil, otherwise false.

OnRemoveFromEntity()

• Description: Cleanup method called when the component is removed from its entity. Ensures the maxwellnottalking tag is removed.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: animqueueover — registered during disappearance to remove the entity after the animation completes.
• Pushes: None.

Notes

• The component assumes the entity has Transform, AnimState, SoundEmitter, Health, Talker, and Sleeper components present during speech operations.
• Speech sections are defined in the speeches table under a chosen key. Each section can contain string, anim, sound, wait, and waitbetweenlines fields.
• The component modifies TheCamera and GetPlayer().HUD globally during initialization and cleanup.
• Player state transition to/from "sleep" occurs only if speech.disableplayer is true.
• Input handlers are registered once in the constructor and removed automatically on talk end or cancellation.