RPG-Style Text Box

[BenMo]

Hello! This is my first post to the forums.

I'm trying to make an RPG Style Text Box. I need the text box to

1)be able to load certain lines from a file (Example: line 1 in the file would have one person's line, and then line 2 would have another person's line that gets displayed after user clicks next)

2)Print the text character by character like in most RPGs instead of displaying the entire line at once.

I'm using a Rich Edit Object, and I'm trying to load the whole file into another Rich Edit Object and pull lines from there, but I'm not sure if this is the best way to do it.

Tips? Examples? Thanks!

[integrality]

get the progressive text tutorial.

cant remember where it is today tho.

[Nick]

To get text that appears to be "writing" itself, follow these quick steps:


1. Create two strings, one for display, one to be hidden. Create a counter.

2. Set the hidden text to the text you want to be displayed on screen.

3. Create the event:

[events]
*Always (or a time period of your choice)
-Add one to the counter
-Set the onscreen string to: Left$(string$( "Hidden string" ), value( "Counter" ))
[/events]


This will basically calculate the number of letters at the begining of the string equal to the counter. This is how i do it, but their may be better ways, i don't know. This method may cause small issues with the word at the end of each line of text, trying to be on the previous line, then realising its too long and moving to a new line.

[BenMo]

That works great! Thanks. Next, I need to be able to read a certain line from a file. I'm playing around with loading the file from the Rich Edit, but no luck yet...

[Nick]

Well, you can either use an external file, like an ini file [obj_ini]
But personally, i would use the window list object [obj_list]

I'm sure you can find an example of how to use the ini object around here somewhere.

With the list object you could just store the lines of text in them, each line will have it's own number, then you can retrieve that line by:

[events]
*When player clicks Next
-Set hidden text to: List Line Text$( "List", LineNumberWanted)
[/events]

Then, after that run the events to read out the text.

[BenMo]

Ok, I've figured out a way to do that. However I'm still stuck using the Rich Edit object, which I don't really like because I can't use the cursor. Is there anyway to get rid of the cursor, OR is there another text object I can use that can be on top of active objects?

[Nick]

If you just want text use the standard String object [obj_string]. I always use that for everything, I've never used the Rich Edit object.

If you want the string object to display above active objects, make sure you have unticked "Display as background", as this option will treat it as a backdrop object.

[BenMo]

That's perfect! Thank you so much!