New skin for the NPC dialogue box, with lines now typing out one character at a time

The dialogue box still had the old skin and showed each line all at once. In 177 I'd only saved the text speed setting and planned to connect it in this step. The mockup is #1 from 164 (wide bottom window + name tab, choices as buttons above the window) plus the "[F] Talk" prompt.

There was one catch. The dialogue box is placed separately in each scene (the village and three interiors), and the village scene had unsaved changes left over from before this work.

Screens I built

A wide window at the bottom of the screen, a name tab at the top left (blue underline) and an X at the top right. The body text is 30px and appears one character at a time. The speed comes straight from the text speed setting in the settings tab (Slow 20 / Normal 40 / Fast 80 characters/s).

At the bottom right are the line number (2 / 4) and "F Next ▼" ("Close" on the last line). Pressing Next while the text is still typing shows the rest of the line at once. Next used to be Space/Enter only, and I added F and clicking the window.

When you stand in front of an NPC, a small plate + F keycap + "Talk" shows up under their name. I gave the plate a little pointer underneath.

Choices are buttons stacked from the bottom up, at the top right above the window (number keycap + text). The selected button is blue + glowing. You pick with ↑↓ + F (or Space/Enter), and number keys and clicking still work. The window's hint changes to "↑↓ Select · F Confirm."

In the village I checked the prompt in front of Noel, the first line typing out character by character, and line 2 / 4. Talking to Luka, I could go ↓ through the three choices from "Sell items" to "Leave" and end it with F. I also confirmed that just pressing F repeatedly picks "Buy items" and opens the shop. Talking to Rumi in the guild interior, the shared new window showed "Rumi, Rookie Adventurer" and 1 / 3 correctly.

Things I thought about

• A shared prefab instead of the scenes. If I edited and saved the scenes, the unsaved changes sitting in the village scene could get saved along with them. So I didn't touch the scenes at all and made the new dialogue box a single shared prefab (same approach as the menu and shop, and it survives scene changes).
  • If the shared window exists, it gets used, and the scene's old dialogue box stays hidden and unused. So the village, guild, blacksmith and tavern all use the same new window.
• Combat and opening dialogue stay as they are. Ultimate dialogue in combat (the combat mockup isn't part of this pass) and the opening cutscene window with Karin's portrait keep the old window and the original display style.

Next up

• Ultimate dialogue in combat and the opening cutscene lines still use the old window
• Clean up the old dialogue boxes left in the scenes