R Soul on 21/2/2015 at 19:58
As long as you keep the player interested with things to look at, have some pauses and perhaps a change of pace, I'm sure it'll be fine.
LarryG on 21/2/2015 at 20:56
And if the monolog is as great as Bohemian Rhapsody then go for it. But if it isn't, beware.
Yandros on 21/2/2015 at 22:03
A number of the conversations and mission briefings in DCE are in the 1:30 - 2:15 range, but I'm changing camera angles every 10-15 seconds in both, and of course in conversations the actors are taking turns speaking, gesturing, and sometimes handing objects back and forth, so hopefully it will hold the user's interest. If yours is just 2+ minutes of watching a ghost talk, though, you might want to think about ways to add a little variety.
Anyway, I still owe you a quick tut on setting up the subtitles, so here it is.
1. Write the subtitles in book form, where each sentence or two is on a separate page. If you want colored text, then with each page, besides page_x for the text, also use page_x_color and set it to an HTML-style #RRGGBB color, like so:
Code:
page_0: "Ghost: You see, when I was but a wee lad, my pappy put me on his knee, and told me never to hit the alcohol."
page_0_color: "#B9BAF8"
page_1: "Ghost: But did I listen? Hell no! I started on beer at the age of twelve, and was on to hard liquor by sixteen. Which reminds me of another story..."
page_1_color: "#B9BAF8"
2. In Dromed, make a book and set the Book > Text to your .str file, go in game and make sure the text shows up. This is just to verify your .str file is all set.
3. Load tnhScript if you don't already have it loaded.
4. Make a new archetype under TrapTrig called "SubtitleTrap". Give it the script OnscreenText, and Editor > Design note of "page=0;". Create one and set Book > Text to your .str file.
5. Make a button and name it something like "BtnSubtitles" (so you can target it with a frob action in a conversation), and CD-link it to the trap. Go in game and frob it, and you should see the first line on screen. Each successive frob should show the next line. Cycle all the way through and make sure all the lines show up properly. It will start back at page_0 when you go past the end.
6a. If you have one WAV file per line (split the same way as your lines in the .str file), then in the conversation just have the actor frob the button first and then play the line on each step in the conversation. This is the simplest way to handle it, but it requires a new conversation concept and a schema per line.
6b. If you keep it as one big WAV file (and thus one schema), you can have the pages automatically transition, which means a single frob of the button before the sound starts playing will progress through all the lines. This takes a bunch of trial and error and tinkering with the timings, but it can work as long as you don't need it to be perfectly precise. The way you do it is under each line in the .str file, add page_x_auto and set it to the time for that page in milliseconds, within quotes, like this:
Code:
page_0: "Ghost: You see, when I was but a wee lad, my pappy put me on his knee, and told me never to hit the alcohol."
page_0_color: "#B9BAF8"
page_0_auto: "8000"
page_1: "Ghost: But did I listen? Hell no! I started on beer at the age of twelve, and was on to hard liquor by sixteen. Which reminds me of another story..."
page_1_color: "#B9BAF8"
page_1_auto: "12000"
etc.
Don't set it on the last page, or it will show page_0 again and also form an infinite loop of text on the screen.
One of the nice things about this is if you name all your subtitle .str files in a common fashion, players can be instructed to delete them if they don't want to see them. Also, it makes it easier on translators since an entire conversation's lines are all in one file. And you don't have to do anything in Dromed to support translations, it will just work, same as translating books and whatnot.
Ricebug on 21/2/2015 at 23:55
I know what everyone means by boring. I got a good deal on Steam for Syberia and Syberia II. ARGH!! Most of the dialog is so pedantic. But at least you can right-click it away.
Maybe I'll let ZB into the editing room with his digital razor blade and have him chop off some fat.
Maybe. :p
@Yandros: Now that's a tute even I can understand. Thanks for the clarity, Russ.
R Soul on 22/2/2015 at 00:25
Yes, nice tuterial.
Ricebug on 22/2/2015 at 12:14
Xorak, who has partnered with me to make the ghost, has suggested the following:
1. Begin the conversation in the apartment.
2. Garrett leaves his place and the ghost appears in the alley to add to the next bit.
3. A fade-to-black, and then the player is teleported to the main locale. The ghost adds a bit more.
4. When the player finally reaches the area of interest, she wraps it up.
Rough draft, but you get the point.
