TypeWriterLabel

Add a new node providing a "typing" effect to your RichTextLabel. Configure speed, play sound and stop on specific characters to animate your typewriter. Compatible with BBCode.

Table of Contents

• Why use TypeWriterLabel
• Quick Start
• Features
  • Type a text
  • Manage the typing speed
  • Add sound effect when typing
  • Short stop after a specific character
  • Pause and resume typing
  • Notify when typing is done
  • Skip typing
  • Compatibility with BBCode
• Examples
• License

Why use TypeWriterLabel?

The TypeWriterLabel is a new node extended from RichTextLabel. The main feature is that the text will be typed instead of displayed all at once. You can configure the typing with parameters or control it with functions & signals.

In fact it's pretty straightforward to add a simple typing effect with the base RichTextLabel. There are some basic implementations using an AnimationPlayer & the RichTextLabel's visible_ratio which works fine.

But if you want to add more fancy effects just like games like Animal Crossing or Undertale (sound effect when displaying new text, short stop after ending a sentence), it becomes a bit more complexe.

The TypeWriterLabel aims to be a solution for developers who:

• Want a fancy typing effect on their text
• Want a light solution to do so (it's a single Node)
• Don't want to add heavy addons in their project (like Dialogic*) for a simple purpose

*If your goal is to add a full dialogue manager, you might want to check Dialogic.

Quick Start

1. Download the ZIP (Not available on Godot Asset Library for now)
2. Copy addons/type_writer_label folder to your projects's addons/
3. Enable the plugin in Project Settings > Plugins
4. Open any scene tree, go to "add/create a new node" and search for TypeWriterLabel, then create it.

The created node is a extension of RichTextLabel, so just like a new RichTextLabel it comes with no formatting at all.

5. Look in the inspector for the TypeWriterLabelsection and play with the parameters.

Please check the class documentation. Press F1 > Search TypeWriterLabel

Features

Type a text

Add a TypeWriterLabelnode then:

• If you fill the inherited text field in the inspector, when entering the scene tree, the TypeWriterLabelwill start typing this text.
• Call the typewrite(text_to_type: String) function to ask the TypeWriterLabelto type the given text.

/!\ If your text does not fit into the control borders, then enable scroll_following_visible_characters on your TypeWriterLabel. (You might also want to disable scroll_active to hide the scrollbar)

Manage the typing speed

Set the typing_speed parameter in the inspector or by code. You can lower or increase the speed while the TypeWriterLabelis actually typing a text.

Add sound effect when typing

Inject an AudioStreamPlayer in the typing_sound_player to make it play its stream whenever new text is typed by the TypeWriterLabel.

(Tip: If you want to randomly pitch up or down the typing sound, you might want to check AudioStreamRandomizer)

Short stop after a specific character

If you enable the stop_after_character attribute, you will be able to configure a stop after the TypeWriterLabel reaches a specific character (by default "."). The stop has a duration defined by stop_duration and the typing will automatically resume after that.

Pause and resume typing

By calling pause_typing() and resume_typing(), you can (guess what) pause and resume the typing. Do not mistake the "pause" for the "stop". When paused, the TypeWriterLabelwill only resume when you ask for, while the stop automatically resume after a duration.

Notify when the typing is done

The signal typewriting_done is emitted when the last character of the current typed text has been displayed. You can also ask the TypeWriterLabelstill has some text to type with the function is_typing().

Skip typing

By calling skip_typing while the TypeWriterLabelis typing, the text will be displayed all at once. In combination with the function is_typing(), you can setup a simple dialogue manager.

Compatibility with BBCode

You may use BBCode to write fancy texts. The TypeWriterLabel work fine with it. Inline images injected with BBCode will count as 1 character when typed.

Examples

Spawn Quest - The game makes use of TypeWriterLabel and BBCode for its texts.

License

TypeWriterLabel is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.