Update: Text engine's been started on, but we're still brainstorming the best way to do it. We want the whole text idea to be simple code, but we also want the user to be able to easily add text ini files that the engine can read from. Might expand on this later, but the basic idea is to allow for easy text swapping and easy localization of a game using this engine.
- Each textbox event in the game will have a numerical "flag" associated with it
- Based on a 'language' option, the game will choose from a series of ini files with acronyms for the language i.e. eng.ini, spa.ini, ger.ini, etc
- A 'flag' will point to a group in the ini file, and a secondary flag would be determined by performing checks in the game (for example if you have a certain item yet). The secondary flag would then point to a name, and the text associated with it would be the value. Obviously, semicolons and equal signs would be ineligible as text here.
We're also looking into a good way to use colored text. BBCode is a simple thing for the end user to use, but the complexities arise when we try to program this into the engine. (Writing the actual colored text)
By the way, one of my goals here is to have a fully functional recode of 'The Legend of Zelda' NES game up to the end of the first dungeon, just to show what Multimedia Fusion is capable of in terms of Zelda. (If Quest for Power wasn't enough)