Text speed
There are a number of text tags that control the speed that text appears on the screen. These override the options the player can choose in the preferences screen. The default is for all the text to appear instantly.
Characters per second
This setting works for narration and dialogue. On average people read at about 200 to 300 words per minute. The average word length is five or six characters. That works out at between 17 to 30 characters per second. People don't read words character by character though, instead recognising and consuming whole words.
| Tag | Function |
|---|---|
{cps=20}text{/cps}{cps=*2}text{/cps} |
Controls the speed at which the characters that make up
the text are displayed.
The =number form sets the absolute speed.
The =*number multiplies the current speed
by the given amount.
|
Dialogue speed and interactions
| Tag | Function |
|---|---|
{clear} |
In NVL mode this self-closing tag causes a page-break
(equivalent to the statement nvl clear).
It should be used on a line by itself.
|
{done} |
Text after the self-closing done tag is not displayed, but
is taken into account for the purposes of formatting.
Note: If using the {nw} tag it must appear
before {done}.
|
{fast} | Text before the self-closing fast tag is displayed instantly even if the text would otherwise be displayed at a slower speed. |
{nw} | The self-closing no-wait tag causes the dialogue to immediately advance without player interaction once all the characters have been shown (and voiced if self-voicing is on). |
{p}
{p=0.2} |
This self-closing tag is the paragraph pause that starts
a new paragraph of text.
Without an argument it waits for the player to advance the
dialogue.
With an argument it will wait at most that number of seconds
before advancing automatically.
Note: If you just want a line break use the escape sequence \n.
|
{w}
{w=0.2} | The wait self-closing tag is a pause within a dialogue. Without an argument it waits for the player to advance the dialogue. With an argument it will wait at most that number of seconds before advancing automatically. |
Used together the {w}, {done}, {fast}
and other tags here can be used to create the appearance of animating
sprites during dialogue.
Opinions
People read at different speeds. Some like text that dribbles out a character at a time for nostalgic reasons, but most are going to want to read at the speed they are comfortable with. Having to double-click every dialogue to see the whole text in a reasonable time (for the reader) is frustrating and leads to fatigue. Keep use of these features to a minimum if you can.