Dialogue System for Unity with AI vs Neocortex

Authored dialogue trees stop working the moment a player types something nobody wrote. That is the gap Pixel Crushers' Dialogue System for Unity now tries to fill with a paid add-on for OpenAI, ElevenLabs and other generative AI, and it raises a practical question for teams already using it: add AI to the dialogue system you have, or bring in a dedicated AI character platform?

Dialogue System for Unity is a dialogue and quest framework sold on the Unity Asset Store. It covers a node editor, barks, a cutscene sequencer, quests and a quest log, NPC relationships, saving and loading, Lua scripting, and integrations with articy:draft, Ink, Yarn, Twine and Chat Mapper, and both it and the add-on are still being updated. This post looks at what the add-on actually does, which tool should own which job, and how to run both in one project.

Dialogue System for Unity with AI: what the add-on does

The add-on is a separate Asset Store purchase that requires Dialogue System for Unity. Most of it is a writing assistant inside the editor, and a smaller part runs in the game.

In the editor

• creates conversations from your characters and topics, and writes NPC barks
• polishes existing text, fixes spelling and grammar, and produces variations
• translates dialogue and quests into other languages
• generates actor portraits with DALL-E and voiceover audio with ElevenLabs
• opens a chat with a model for brainstorming quest ideas

At runtime

Optionally, it generates dialogue during play in response to what the player types and to game state. Pixel Crushers points out that you can skip runtime use and only generate at edit time, which avoids AI costs while people play.

Providers and keys

Language models come from OpenAI, or from local models through Ollama. Voices come from ElevenLabs, OpenAI, DeepVoice AI or Overtone. You create an account with each provider, use your own keys, and pay each one directly. If you turn on runtime generation, keeping those keys out of a shipped build and capping what players can spend is your job.

Which tool owns which job

For a wider look at authored tools next to AI characters, see AI NPCs vs Yarn, Ink and articy.

Running both in one project

Many teams do not need to replace anything. Dialogue System keeps the authored spine of the game, and Neocortex handles the characters players can talk to about anything. There is no official integration, so the glue is a short script on your side:

1. Keep authored scenes where they are. The opening, story beats and endings stay in your dialogue database, with their cutscenes and Lua conditions.
2. Build the free-talking characters in Neocortex. In the browser editor, give each one an Agent, Personality, Emotion and Knowledge node. Upload the same lore your writers already maintain. Testing in the editor never uses credits.
3. Share game state. When the player finishes a quest in Dialogue System, send it to the Neocortex character as a recent event, so the innkeeper knows the bandits are gone.
4. Turn actions into quest updates. When a Neocortex reply carries an action such as START_QUEST, your handler sets the quest state in Dialogue System, and the quest log updates as usual.
5. Hand off at checkpoints. Conversation Flows return checkpoint keywords (flowState). When a keyword arrives, start the matching authored conversation.

The result is a game where the scripted moments land exactly as written and the space between them feels alive.

What you pay for each setup

Dialogue System plus the add-on: two one-off Asset Store purchases, then separate monthly bills from each AI provider you use at runtime, metered in their own units.

Neocortex: one plan that covers the conversation and the voice. The Free plan has 2 characters and 200 monthly credits for personal use. Starter is EUR 9 a month for personal and academic projects. Pro is EUR 29 a month for commercial games, with group chat and 5 custom voices. Team is EUR 99 a month with 5 seats and 20 custom voices.

Both together: your existing Asset Store licence, plus a Neocortex plan for the characters that talk freely. For a commercial game, that usually means Pro, and your writers can keep building and testing characters in the browser editor without using any credits.

The bottom line

The add-on brings generative text into a dialogue-tree workflow and leaves the AI stack for you to assemble. Neocortex designs the whole character, its personality, knowledge, voice and actions, in one place, tests it for free in the browser, and drops it into Unity next to the dialogue system you already have.

Pixel Crushers details were last checked in October 2026.

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