Creating a fake "social media"/text message UI ideas?

hazel · 2018-11-21T05:43:05+0900

Hi! I'm working on a game in a modern setting and think it would be cool to have a menu option that shows the character's text message history and/or social media feed, but I'm not really sure how to go about doing that. Something like the text app in The Missing would be awesome. https://gematsu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/The-Missing-Gameplay_09-04-18.jpg I did some brainstorming with using a message balloon plugin and creating "icon" sprites, but nothing seemed particularly effective, or efficient for that matter. Really all it could be is something that lets you scroll up and down a series of text windows with sprites next to them, potentially? Alternatively, having the text conversation as its own tileset and turning the player character invisible is an option, though that would undoubtedly increase file size, potentially unnecessarily. My question is, what ideas/suggestions of solutions that don't require any super complex unique coding do you have, if any? Has anybody done this in an RPGMaker game that you're aware of? If so, I'd love to see examples for inspiration on how to do something like this. Thanks so much all!

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Started by hazel Nov 20, 2018, 08:43 PM 4 posts View original ↗

hazel

#1 Nov 20, 2018, 08:43 PM Source

Hi! I'm working on a game in a modern setting and think it would be cool to have a menu option that shows the character's text message history and/or social media feed, but I'm not really sure how to go about doing that. Something like the text app in The Missing would be awesome. https://gematsu.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/The-Missing-Gameplay_09-04-18.jpg

I did some brainstorming with using a message balloon plugin and creating "icon" sprites, but nothing seemed particularly effective, or efficient for that matter. Really all it could be is something that lets you scroll up and down a series of text windows with sprites next to them, potentially? Alternatively, having the text conversation as its own tileset and turning the player character invisible is an option, though that would undoubtedly increase file size, potentially unnecessarily.

My question is, what ideas/suggestions of solutions that don't require any super complex unique coding do you have, if any? Has anybody done this in an RPGMaker game that you're aware of? If so, I'd love to see examples for inspiration on how to do something like this. Thanks so much all!
mlogan

#2 Nov 20, 2018, 08:46 PM Source

I'm going to leave this in support in case anyone has non-plugin ideas.

The only thing I can think is to show pictures. Maybe something that looks like a phone with the message on it.

To show a series, you can do show picture, followed by a blank message with no window showing. This will put a little cursor at the bottom cuing the player to click. You can then erase that picture and show the next, thus, sort of enabling them to click through the text messages.
RetroExcellent

#3 Nov 20, 2018, 09:19 PM Source

I am actually planning something similar for my game, but have not quite gotten it cemented yet, if I do figure it out, I will be sure to let you know!
hazel

#4 Nov 24, 2018, 01:44 AM Source

Thanks so much for the responses! I'm working on a kind of solution right now, I'll do a super quick video or something demonstrating one potential option when I've got it all secured, that being said I'm all ears for other options in the meantime!