Version 2.8.0 - Controller support, auto mode and more

Dialogue Engine for GameMaker Version 2.8.0

After 2 years, a new update is finally here! This update adds controller support, auto mode, many improvements and some bug fixes.

Controller support

Controller support was added. Before, it was necessary to manually add controller checks to different parts of the Dialogue Engine code, but now you can just call one script. And that script is not new, it’s the same script that is used to set the keyboard keys, textbox_set_key.

Remember that you need to handle the connecting part yourself. But if you are planning to add controller support, you would do that anyway.

Auto mode

A new script was added: textbox_automode. In auto mode, the text advances automatically, without user input. This is a useful feature that you can use in visual novels, for example, or for a character that is talking in the background.

I’m pretty confident in the way the delay is calculated (how long it waits before going to the next text). But if you have any feedback about it, let me know in the comments or the forum.

Other improvements and new features

This update adds many more improvements. Here is a list of all the improvements:

[Portrait/Sprite]

• Now it’s possible to put the portrait sprite behind the text box, with a new optional argument in textbox_set
• Now it’s possible to disable automatic portrait scaling by changing the position of the portrait using textbox_set_position These two things make it easier to make different kind of games. They are very useful for making visual novels, for example.

[Text box]

• Changes on how text box height is calculated when using views - Now it’s relative to the view height, so it should look good by default on any view size.
• Changes on how option position is calculated - They are now more flexible and the code is also easier to manage

[Other]

• In some cases, instead of getting a game breaking error, there will now be a debug message instead
• Code improvements - This includes better formatting, consistency and readability
• In the examples: Added things, changed some text, removed unnecessary code
• Manual update (Also, the web version of the manual got a big visual update.)
• Other small improvements

Bug fixes

• Improved text skipping feature - Now it’s not possible to accidentally skip options, for example.
• Now mouse needs to be moved before choosing an option with the mouse (prevents accidentally choosing an option when using both keyboard and mouse)
• Possibly fixed smart line break in some cases (it was using the wrong font to calculate the width)
• Fixed rare bugs regarding audio not existing

I have left the previous version available to download, just in case (dialogue-engine-legacy-v270.yyz). That version didn’t get a single bug report in 2 years… Hopefully it’s the same for this latest version!

I hope this update increases your game coding power!

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