GGMAX Enhancement - Text Area Widget update

[Necrym59]

A proposed change is required to the Text Area widget so text within a game can be allowed to be be passed to the Text area widget created by a user in a hud.

The 'Text Area Widget' needs to be able to be create a 'set width' for the widget and wrap any text supplied to fit within that width.
This would allow for in game 'Dialog' boxes and other 'Informational" text to be formated with the font/size used in the user huds.
Text could be passed to the widget via a selected user global allowing for behaviors within a game to pass any relevent informational text.

[LeeBamberTGC]

NOTE: Expanding the existing widget with additional parameters would be the smart way, keeping the UI cleaner and focusing similar functionalities under one widget 'roof'. Could also consider left/center/right alignment, plus full justify wrap (i.e. spaces out words to create a block of text aka newspaper column wrap).

[MonkeyFrogStudio]

For dialog text, especially for long dialogs, it would be good to be able to designate a button to 'skip' to the next dialog bit (if it takes multiple panels ... i.e. a long dialog). This would also 'skip' to the end (end the dialog) if it's short dialog or you're at the end and ready to move on. Some people read really fast and don't want to have to wait for the dialog to end or change to the next bit of text.

[LeeBamberTGC]

@MonkeyFrogStudio Sounds like you are already thinking ahead to 'conversation engine' land :) Do you have any quick sketches what it might look like, this way we can get a handle on what other widgets we might need (i.e. I would not squeeze a button into a text area widget, but I could see a 'combo-widget' thingie that can simply be called a 'conversation widget' that includes a text area and a button as part of its micro-logic. Something of this kind..

[MonkeyFrogStudio]

@LeeBamberTGC Some games use a visible button and others don't. Sometimes it's the spacebar by default and, as a result, no button is usually shown. In games where you're using a controller, they may show an 'A' (sometimes a circle with an 'A' in it to indicate the 'A' button). Sometimes it's just a key prompt. They can appear under the text to indicate moving to the next text bit. IMO, it just needs to be flexible so the game developer can emulate commonly used systems ... or even experiment with their own.

EDIT - I suppose that whether a button is visible or not, the game developer should be able to designate which button is used to continue on a multi-page dialogue or to dismiss a conversation (when at the end of the dialog). I mentioned that some readers are faster and don't want to wait, but the opposite is also true - some are very slow readers and so the dialogue on screen should wait (especially if multi-panel) for the player's input to continue with the next panel or to be dismissed.

[MonkeyFrogStudio]

This one uses a simple arrow at the bottom corner to prompt the player to click to move to the next piece of text:

[LeeBamberTGC]

@Necrym59 Do you feel a mini script coming on :) I have a hunch that the exact control of moving the text onwards could be fun if LUA could get involved, without it being exposed and giving most users a scripting-headache. Maybe a simple LUA with a few options, then expose it for remote projects so the coders can take it further...