Backlog

A log of the lines said so far, to read back: each with who said it and the choices picked, newest at the bottom, scrolled with the mouse wheel, the arrow keys, the D-pad or stick, Page Up and Down, or by dragging it (a finger on a touch screen). Put it on a Panel (Entity → Genres → Visual Novels → Reading Menus makes one) and open the panel with a key (its Open On, the “Log” action: H, Page Up or the gamepad’s left shoulder), a button, or by turning the mouse wheel up over the game; turning it down past the newest line closes it again. Every dialogue’s lines are added as they’re said. The log is saved with the scene, so a saved game or a rewind has the lines said before it.

Draws itself (its entity draws at Order 310 unless it has a Sprite, whose order counts).

In a network game, each machine keeps its own entity with this on it: it isn’t sent.

Properties

Each is listed as its key in the scene file and the MCP tools, then its kind of value, its default and what it does.

State

• lines: lines of text: an array of strings, or one string with line breaks = []. The lines said so far, oldest first: “Ava: Hello!” for one said by someone, “\It was a dark night.” for one said by nobody (a narrator), and “> Stay in the sun” for a choice picked. Dialogues add to it as they’re said. (Plain text: the lines said so far: dialogues write them as they’re said.) (Field: lines of text.)
• keep: a whole number = 200. How many lines it keeps: past it, the oldest go. (Field: a number.)

Controls

• openOnWheel: true or false = true. Open the panel it’s on when the mouse wheel turns up over the game (with no other panel open); turning it down past the newest line closes it. (Field: on or off.)

Look

• size: [x, y] = [13,6.4]. How big the log is, in world units, centered on the entity. (A rectangle’s size, around the entity, in its own units before its scale: with Resize handles the Scene view puts handles on its edges and corners to drag.) (Field: a vector.)
• textSize: a number = 0.36. How tall its text is. (Field: a number.)
• nameWidth: a number = 2.2. How wide the column of names on the left is; what’s said is wrapped in what’s left. (Field: a number.)
• nameColor: a color, “#RRGGBB” or “#RRGGBBAA” = “#E3B341FF”. The color of the names. (Field: a color.)
• textColor: a color, “#RRGGBB” or “#RRGGBBAA” = “#E6E8ECFF”. The color of what’s said. (Field: a color.)
• choiceColor: a color, “#RRGGBB” or “#RRGGBBAA” = “#7FB8FFFF”. The color of the choices picked. (Field: a color.)
• order: a whole number = 310. Higher draws on top, like Sprite.Order. (Field: a number.)

Actions

What anything can make it do with no code: a Trigger’s do when its message arrives, a Contraptions Wire’s input as its signal comes on, a script’s Game.Do(entity, “Name”).

• Clear. Forgets every line.

While the game runs

Not saved with the scene; scripts read them, and entity_get shows them as live while the game plays.

• scroll: a number. How far back it’s scrolled, in rows of text from the newest: 0 shows the newest at the bottom.
• rowCount: a whole number. The rows of text its lines make, once wrapped, for the scroll bar and the keys.
• rowsShown: a whole number. How many rows of text fit in it.
• mostScroll: a whole number. How far back it can scroll: the rows that don’t fit.

Scripts use it as Backlog: its methods, events and values that aren’t saved with the scene.