HELP LETTER BY LETTER TEXT

I’m trying to figure out how to write an As2 code that puts in text letter by letter like in an rpg. I get the basic idea, you have it put the string in a variable then run it so that on enter frame it puts in the next letter to a dynamic text on the screen which is connected to a variable. Can someone give me an idea of it in coding language? I don’t know how to tell it to pick a specific letter out of a string. Thanks in advance!!!

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/as2/reference/flashlite/WS5b3ccc516d4fbf351e63e3d118ccf9c47f-7fba.html

use the substr() function as described(with example) in the link above.

Originally posted by nebster100:

I don’t know how to tell it to pick a specific letter out of a string.

Programming is not magically knowing stuff.

So could you be so kind and rtfm?
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/String.html

there aren’t too many public methods, just read the short description and try to figure out which one you need

http://aftershockstudioshq.com/2012/04/as3-class-typewriter-v1-simulate-typing-on-your-text-fields/

Thanks all!!!

It’s called typewriter text but the important thing is: DON’T DO IT!

It’s stupid, it’s infuriating, it’s demeaning to anyone who has a reading proficiency above first grade. If you’re dead set on doing it anyway, at least allow players to skip the typewriter part, say by clicking anywhere, or better yet to skip the entire dialog sequences, say by clicking anywhere.

Originally posted by Ace_Blue:

It’s called typewriter text but the important thing is: DON’T DO IT!

It’s stupid, it’s infuriating, it’s demeaning to anyone who has a reading proficiency above first grade.

No offense, but this should be completely disregarded. Letter-by-letter text really does make a game look more professional and polished; much moreso than if you simply plop the text on the screen instantly. Just make sure the rate is fairly quick—faster than the average person reads, at least.

If you’re dead set on doing it anyway, at least allow players to skip the typewriter part, say by clicking anywhere, or better yet to skip the entire dialog sequences, say by clicking anywhere.

This, however, is absolutely vital advice to adhere to. What I did in my project is this: Tap a confirm/whatever button (or click the dialog field anywhere) once to instantly finish writing the current block of dialog text. Tapping/clicking when the text is no longer scrolling advances to the next. Finally, adding a skip button to bypass the entire dialog sequence is vital. You can be the best writer in the world, but nobody wants to read the same long dialog sequence from start to finish over and over because they keep dying at the final boss, or what have you.

Originally posted by Ace_Blue:

It’s called typewriter text but the important thing is: DON’T DO IT!

It’s stupid, it’s infuriating, it’s demeaning to anyone who has a reading proficiency above first grade. If you’re dead set on doing it anyway, at least allow players to skip the typewriter part, say by clicking anywhere, or better yet to skip the entire dialog sequences, say by clicking anywhere.

I completely disagree. It can look very great + you can add skipping (which you suggested), or speeds of slow/medium/fast.

Yeah, and it is easy to do once you get the hang of it. Plus as said before if you hate it, skip it.

Typewriter text is annoying but it looks good. Make sure people can skip the typewriter text effect, by clicking, pressing a key, etc.

Dont forget to add an input delay to the ‘tapping’ or ‘click’ input command. That is, it can take only one input say, every 1/2 a second. In other words, a delay timer that once it counts up to say, 15 (++ per frame) allows the player to click, or tap the dialogue box, resets the timer, what have you. Otherwise when they just want the current box to finish typing, they end up skipping the next 3 boxes because there was no delay on the input.

Bonus points for allowing players to go back to the last dialogue box. (Dont know how many times ive accidentally skipped a dialogue box and hoped that it wasnt really important). Its not that hard ;)

^ Or better yet, track when the key goes up as well as when it goes down. This way, pressing the key down will finish the typing or advance to the next segment without doing anything further until the key is released and then depressed again. The delay method can still end up skipping something if the player is slow to release, or for people who really want to advance quickly, it will frustrate them.