i think that in the case of interactive poetry timers and timers makes sense, declaiming a poetry IS also based in pauses and pace of declamations…
so, I guess that in this case, timer, timing and slow/fast pacing has ha marked narrative sense and logic.
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
It is true that VNs often have text speed alteration options.
Since I read text by the paragraph on a good day, Budacanta has timed text disabled by default. Even that VN has the option to turn the timed text on again (which is built into Ren’Py), simply because some people in the VN community prefer timed text.
That really sounds like the one of the best options, to just have adjustable settings that work for everyone. It sounds like ren’py has those kinds of tools easily accessible. I wonder if twine has a convenient way of adjusting text speed?
Just curious, but is the pause after the text is displayed adjustable? I’m thinking about autoplay mode where you just sit back, relax, and enjoy the story.
What would be a common delay? I assume a slow text scroll will need less delay, while a full instantaneous display will need longer delay.
I actually did have adjustable text speed in Compassionate simulation! It’s not super easy…but not too hard? I can look on my computer to see exactly how I did it but it involved a number on the <<timed>> macro being universally set/adjustable in the ::StorySettings.
I can confirm it’s possible in Harlowe too, but I don’t recommend anyone follow my example since I learned too late that I probably employed the worst and most inconvenient method for implementing timed text, haha. I used the (live:) macro – I believe macros like (after:) didn’t exist yet when I started writing a few years ago and I totally failed to discover them after coming back to Twine!
My method involved using a variable within (live:) that, when modified elsewhere, multiplies the number of seconds by more or less than 1. It was a brilliant suggestion by my partner!
I ended up not using it as a speed adjustment, per se, but instead as a way to easily toggle the text animations on/off (an option that becomes permanently accessible after playing through the game once) by multiplying every amount of seconds in (live:) by 0.
The pause after the text is displayed is adjustable in some VNs. Ren’Py has an auto-text speed adjuster by default (on standard setting, turning it on will wait out any voice acting or self-voicing the player is hearing, and otherwise give a certain amount of time after all text has appeared, though I’ve not explored that aspect much). Note that it’s always possible to override any given auto-text by clicking, and there is no baked-in method to skip choices; a pure reading experience would require at least some programming effort on the author’s part.
Some commercial VNs do not have such an adjuster, making any timed text within them fixed and compulsory. Some VNs allow it most of the time but override the setting (by amending the setting or simply ignoring it) for specific dramatic moments.
Oh, that’s cool. It didn’t on launch, as far as I could see: I found a couple videos walking through the settings before I decided not to buy it. Glad they added that.
on timed text, I remind people why parser IF have VERBOSE, BRIEF and even SUPERBRIEF: in the days of Adventure and mainframe Zork, the glass TTY was rather rare, and the most common hardware interface was the 110 baud, clanking ASR-33; 110 baud means 10 character/sec. no wonder that limiting the rather noisy output was needed, lest having to try to explain to the (justly) annoyed computing centre’s operators how and why the thick roll of paper placed in the afternoon became very thin, if not even near-exhausted overnight, aside that room & item descriptions was invariably accompanied by clanking noises from the hammer(s) of the TYPEwriter…
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
I have to agree with Mathbrush’s tweet (and am guilty of writing feedback mentioning that it’d be great to have an option to skip the wait times on a few games). If it’s used sparingly to effect I don’t mind and it can work well, but entire games full of slow or timed text just kinda feel like they don’t respect my time and it drives me crazy waiting for each line to slowly appear particularly when I know I only have a lunch break of time to read something in. I know it might sometimes be simulating waiting for someone to reply back to a text message or whatnot in real time, but I generally really don’t like it and I’m far less likely to replay it as you’re being made to wait on sections you may have already read.
Even click throughs to reveal the next line of text (or worse by the letter! I’ve seen a VN do this by the letter argh!) repeatedly on just about every every page throughout the game rather than the option to turn it off or one click to reveal a whole page are better but still borderline for me. I’ve had delays where I’ve been trying to click through, click again thinking it hasn’t worked (or because I’m impatient and trying to bring up the whole page of text to read at once and have mashed the keyboard key one too many times quickly in a row) and all of a sudden it’s skipped a page without the ability to necessarily go backwards again to read it.
I played your game and totally get the timed text usage. While it is frustrating, I think that was the point. Having to deal with stuttering must also be very frustrating. After the first few minutes, I was immersed.
Thank you so much for giving the game a try and sharing your thoughts!
I’m really happy that the timed text contributed to your immersion – that was definitely my hope when I made the choice to include it.
I’ve been worrying lately about whether it might affect players negatively and what I could do to mitigate that risk, as I never want to leave people feeling worse off for having played my game! I’ll try to refine the implementation when I’m able to, in order to avoid inflicting overwhelming amounts of frustration on players who are sensitive to this kind of mechanic.
It really means a lot to know that you ‘got’ it and were able to gain something from the experience!
WARNING: Same thing applies this year, I’m afraid.
Wait @mathbrush this is what you look like? Somehow this is not what I expected. I don’t know what I expected but this wasn’t it. Not an insult nor a compliment. Just a fact.
Yeah, but that is an older photo. This is what I look like as of one minute ago:
In regards to the timed text I’ve softened a little (some people use it in a neat way on a single passage) but the absolute worst is a 2 hour long game where every page has 6 second timers.
Was seriously considering making a text-based version of Terrence from the Really Bad IF Jam (made a transcript and everything) but partway through decided it wasn’t worth the effort. It was going to be at (my) reading speed, but with all the pauses and filler words from the original. I think I split the 45-minute audio into about 30 pages of timed text.
Timed text has a major effect, particulary in the context of cold war-era police/espionage mystery, especially in the opening. add adequate sound effect (clanking TTY) and right pace (110 baud) and where timed text shine became obvious…
(I was old enough and lucky enough to witness, around 10 y.o., in a newsroom I happen to visit, late 70s-early 80s, the tense atmosphere of journalists huddled together around a group of clanking RO-33s (the receive-only version of the well-known ASR-33) slowly giving out news of something important happening far in those days of yore, predating the modern internet-based communications…)
Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.
