Finding a Conversation Text Box System

     I'm trying to find something that will make RPG-style speech text easy to do (for free or within $20). I can use it for my forensics project and in Unicorn Quest. I haven't finished looking into it yet, but so far Dialoguer does a good job of simplifying branching dialogue trees and NPC Shop, Chat, and Dialogue Framework looks like it will wrap my text according to box size just the way I want it to.

     You know how text boxes in RPGs pop up and letters appear quickly one at a time and can sometimes be colored differently and word-wrapped so they don't go off the edges of the box? I want that.

     It's amazing how so many games have that feature but so few tutorials and programs are available for it. Most things I find are expensive RPG kits or engines with the text thing included. I'm ready to program it myself if it comes to that but if there's a cheap tool out there that does it easily why bother reinventing the wheel? I'll keep searching and experimenting today until I find something that works.

Status Report #34

     Making games and all that jazz. School is always a pain towards the end of a semester. There's three games on my development plate right now and there's nothing to do but crackdown and bust 'em out. It's a short status report this this week.

Slow Progress Just Got Slower

     Development time has really reached a standstill this week and I can see that continuing for another couple of weeks. I have to end the school year strong and final exams and projects are rearing up. With summer approaching I can hang in there until I can finally go back to my 9-10 hour schedule vs. my current 1 hour or less one. I still have lots of spells to do, but combining my research for my forensics game with my needs for Adventures in Equica I can sleep well knowing I'm progressing.

Crazy Idea for a School Project (PWAA Forensics Report)

I love the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney games.

     The final project for my Forensics & Criminalistics class is a report about a crime scene and how evidence was collected and analyzed to reach a conclusion. It's a pretty straightforward project but also a time consuming one. Given how much I hate school I was calculating ways to meet the project's requirements and finish it as quickly as possible until something the teacher said on Tuesday clicked with me. The information in my report could be submitted in any form of my choosing.

     What if I made video game out of it? She said that's fine. I suddenly cared a lot about this project.

     Phoenix Wright has been popping into my head every class throughout the semester because I'm such a nerd that I can't think about law without a mental image of "OBJECTION!" forming. This project could start a trend that will make school much more interesting for me. an even warmer and fuzzier idea is the teacher showing this to future students in my major and getting them excited about game development and ways they can make projects more interesting to do.