diff --git a/game/.gitignore b/game/.gitignore
index 26c1e02..d609af2 100644
--- a/game/.gitignore
+++ b/game/.gitignore
@@ -88,4 +88,4 @@ config.txt
 
 # Generated dialogue files
 [Aa]ssets/Data/Dialogue/token*
-[Aa]ssets/Data/Dialogue/dialogue.csv*
+[Aa]ssets/Data/Dialogue/dialogue.data*
diff --git a/game/Assets/Scripts/Dialogue/DialogueDatabase.cs b/game/Assets/Scripts/Dialogue/DialogueDatabase.cs
index 4b3d504..256964c 100644
--- a/game/Assets/Scripts/Dialogue/DialogueDatabase.cs
+++ b/game/Assets/Scripts/Dialogue/DialogueDatabase.cs
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ using UnityEditor;
 
 public static partial class DialogueDatabase
 {
+    
     public static string EDITOR_DialogueFile =>
         Path.Combine(Application.dataPath, "Data", "Dialogue", DIALOGUE_FILENAME);
     
@@ -62,18 +63,16 @@ public static partial class DialogueDatabase
         }
 
         Debug.Log($":: importing dialogue");
-        var sbFile = new StringBuilder();
-        var sbLog = new StringBuilder();
+        var sb = new StringBuilder();
         var lines = 0;
         foreach (var row in values)
         {
-            sbLog.AppendLine($"{row[0]} {row[1]}");
-            sbFile.AppendLine($"{row[0]},{row[1]},");
+            sb.AppendLine($"{row[0]}{SPLIT_CHAR}{row[1]}");
             lines++;
         }
-        Debug.Log($":: imported {lines} lines of dialogue\n{sbLog}");
+        Debug.Log($":: imported {lines} lines of dialogue\n{sb}");
 
-        File.WriteAllText(EDITOR_DialogueFile, sbFile.ToString());
+        File.WriteAllText(EDITOR_DialogueFile, sb.ToString());
         if (!File.Exists(EDITOR_DialogueFile))
         {
             Debug.LogError($":: import failed: file doesn't exist: {EDITOR_DialogueFile}");
@@ -95,7 +94,9 @@ public static partial class DialogueDatabase
 
 public static partial class DialogueDatabase
 {
-    public const string DIALOGUE_FILENAME = "dialogue.csv";
+    private const char SPLIT_CHAR = '|';
+    
+    public const string DIALOGUE_FILENAME = "dialogue.data";
 
     public static string DialogueFile
     {
@@ -119,7 +120,7 @@ public static partial class DialogueDatabase
         int count = 0;
         foreach (var line in File.ReadLines(DialogueFile))
         {
-            var parts = line.Split(',');
+            var parts = line.Split(SPLIT_CHAR);
 
             var key = parts[0];
             var text = parts[1];
@@ -144,5 +145,4 @@ public static partial class DialogueDatabase
             ? _dict[key]
             : $"<color=\"red\">MISSING[{key}]</color>";
     }
-
 }
\ No newline at end of file