Set the right conditions

Before opening the condition picker, finish this sentence: "This response makes sense when..."

If the player needs a key to open a door, put the key check in Mandatory Criteria. If the guard sounds friendlier when the player has helped the town, that fact might be an Optional Criterion on a friendly greeting.

Mandatory means required

Every enabled mandatory condition must pass. One failure excludes the whole Rule.

Use mandatory criteria for things the response depends on:

• The quest is at the right stage.
• The player has the item that will be used.
• A character is present and available.
• This first-time line has not played before.
• A door is still closed before an instruction opens it.

These checks protect the meaning of the scene. Raising a Rule's priority cannot bypass them.

Optional means a better fit

A passing optional criterion adds one point. A failing one leaves the Rule eligible, provided its required conditions passed and it has a positive score.

Consider two greetings at Normal priority:

Rule	Mandatory	Optional
Ordinary welcome	Player has met the guard	None
A wet evening	Player has met the guard	It is raining; it is night

When both optional facts are true, "A wet evening" scores three points and the ordinary welcome scores one.

But with neither optional fact true, the two Rules tie. The wet-evening Rule is still allowed to run. If its words mention rain, rain must be mandatory.

Read the response back against the criteria

If a line says "Thanks for bringing my tools back," returning the tools must be required. It is not just a nice extra match.

Use Game Creator's conditions

Story Engine uses the conditions available in your project. You can check normal Game Creator variables and use compatible conditions from installed modules. Those modules still need their own licenses and compatible installations.

Story Engine also adds history conditions. They answer questions such as whether this Rule has played before or whether a category has been selected recently.

Make a dependable fallback

A fallback is a response that remains sensible when more specific moments do not fit. Give it a passing criterion, often Always True, and the same category as the other responses.

Choose its priority deliberately. A Flavor fallback gives way to matching Normal Rules. A Normal fallback competes with other Normal Rules using their scores.

Make the wording broad enough to remain true. "Good to see you" can be a fallback. "Good to see you again" needs a previous meeting.

Keep facts easy to understand

Use one clear meaning for each variable. PowerRestored, MetGuard and ToolsReturned are easier to work with than unrelated numbered flags.

Write shared world facts to shared variables. Keep a character's knowledge separate when it matters: the power can be off even if a particular character has not noticed yet.

Market Adventure uses this distinction to make characters respond to what they actually know.