Writing dialogues
Play some of the real Ace Attorney games. Look how the text is written. Sometimes, the text doesn't go anywhere near the right edge of the text box. This is for presentational reasons, and you should do it too.
* * *
Let's look at an example...
That sentence would be better presented as...Order! Order! What is that, Mr. Wright!?
* * *Order! Order!
What is that, Mr. Wright!?
What about a really long sentence like this...
This would be a better way to write it...I believe that the victim was killed in the lounge with the lead piping.
* * *I believe that the victim
was killed in the lounge
with the lead piping.
Sometimes, sentences are too large to fit into one dialogue box. For example...
If it's not possible to shorten the sentence, then it will have to be split into two dialogue boxes.Your Honor, there is no denying
the evidence that the victim
was stabbed in the kitchen
with the knife.
* * *Your Honor, there is no denying
the evidence that the victim...
...was stabbed in the kitchen
with the knife.
During the dialogue animation in the real AA games, the dialogue text pauses when a full stop or a comma appears to make it seem more like natural speech. Here's an example:
We use this tag to add pauses [#pn], with n being a number in centiseconds. Here's how we use it in the above example:Mr. Edgeworth, sir!
I... I... I dropped it.
Different pauses are used after different types of punctuation. This is the general rule:-Mr. Edgeworth,[#p10] sir![#p20]
I...[#p50] I...[#p50] I dropped it.
- [#p10] - Used for punctuation that represent very small pauses, such as commas (,) and colons (:).
- [#p20] - Used for punctuation that represent standard pauses, such as full stops (.).
- [#p50] - Used for punctuation that represent large pauses, such as ellipsis (...).
It will improve the presentation and experience of your trial greatly if you do this. Have a go!
If you're not sure about exactly how many words you should have on one line, try having it about four (but don't be too strict about that; vary it).