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[eiyukabe]

I'm not certain what the correct terminology is, so let me clarify:

"Slowly appearing text" -- when a character is speaking, the text appears letter-by-letter at a rate that generally fast readers can outpace. Often there is the option to get the "slowly appearing" text to appear instantaneously by pressing the dialog progression button.

"Instantaneous text" -- when a character's full dialog is visible in the same frame, such that reading it is up to the comfortable reading speed of the player. There may still be a delay before the dialog progression button is detected so you can't accidentally skip dialog with a double tap from trying to progress from the last dialog piece (but that is a separate issue).

My instincts say that "instantaneous" is a better approach, since it lets the player more easily choose how quickly they read the text (and is easier to code). However, so many games use the "appearing" approach that I can't help but feel there is something (practical or aesthetic) about it that draws people to implement it. I am trying to make this decision for a game I am working on with a lot of dialog, so I was wondering if someone could help illustrate to me the pros of the "slowly appearing" approach that I might be missing. Extra love for links to articles or studies on the topic. Also, if someone could tell me the correct terminology, I would appreciate it (maybe then I could even better Google the topic).

[herror]

The term you're looking for is typewritter effect.
If you go with it, please make it fast and/or skippable. Personal preference.

[Jubjub]

There was a good thread a while back about the virtues of the first approach.

I personally prefer it, but only if it's done properly, like it's done in Ace Attorney, if you're just going to display the text letter by letter at the same speed every time you might as well display it at once.

Some people are bothered by it, so you might want to consider making any keypress while the text is scrolling automatically display the rest of the text at once, and it's useful in any case if you need to repeat a dialog.

[justinfic]

Always preferred typewriter, myself. It feels more like you're engaging in dialog with a character. You can also do clever little effects to convey a LOT of personality (Paper Mario)

But yeah, there really needs to be a way to speed it along, or else you end up with dialog boxes from Link's Awakening which were absolutely infuriating. And it needs to JUST speed it along, not skip it entirely or fill the whole thing in instantly. I've played a few games that did that and while the speed was appreciated, an accidental double press/tap/whatever instead of a single caused me to miss a line of dialog. That sucks too.

That's another pro of the typewriter approach— done right, there's no way to "miss" dialog. Accidental inputs can only speed the text along slightly, and you'll never skip something you never meant to skip.

From experience, I found that good rates were 50 characters/sec for normal reading, and 200 chars/sec for fast forward. This was for a dialog box that fit around 200 characters max.

[eiyukabe]

Awesome replies, I'm going to have to think about this some more.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

my game has an option to choose the speed of this; there are like 10 levels of speed, and at the highest it's instant. a lot of older jrpgs also had this option. it's not that hard to code it

[R.D.]

my game has an option to choose the speed of this; there are like 10 levels of speed, and at the highest it's instant. a lot of older jrpgs also had this option. it's not that hard to code it

This. Supporting something like this might be the reason for people to make a second run or even speed run it!

[The Netocrat]

I like the typewriter effect when it's showing that a character is actually typing the text.

I also like when it's used with character animations to emote with the text (i.e. Ace Attorney)

I think it works quite well for my game Luna's Wandering Stars, because it has kind of a Turing Test feel. You're not quite sure how real the other participant is.

[DocProctopus]

I'm a pretty fast reader so the typewriter effect gets on my nerves more often than not. I can appreciate the visual effect of having the text animate onto the screen, but it should appear much faster than anyone could possibly read - an entire dialog box in a third of a second, for instance. The only advantage I see in the typewriter effect as it's commonly used is that it looks nifty, and you don't sacrifice this if you make it play faster than anyone could possibly read.

[Necdilzor]

The typewriter effect can help to add drama and set the pace of the dialogs, generating a more absorbing experience in my opinion. I believe that if you want to add this effect you should make it so that pressing a button increases the speed so you don't accidentally skip a line.

Also give the option for instantaneous text. In some occasions or for some people, this effect can be annoying.

[MAVW]

I think sometimes the typewriter effect is more of a polished version of the instant text. You get more out of the dialogues and the expression of the characters themselves. And as I said, if it's well done, you would probably have an option to put in a faster speed.

[dirak]

For the typewriter effect: Would non-intrusive text be alright to be slowly appeared on screen? These allows for more narrative freedom (dramatic pauses, sentences stopped halfway through.)

I'm thinking something like internal monologue slowly appearing as the character wanders around at the bottom of the screen.

[guybrush]

Personally, I'm for "show-it-all" approach.

With a few, due exceptions, I usually don't really listen to voice-over for a few reasons: it's usually of sub-par quality, it's usually slower than it takes me to read the text, and I usually "retain" more information through a reading process than through a listening one. Furthermore, I usually like imagining a character's voice (based on personal "stereotypes" that sort of reside in my subconscious), and I find myself often not liking the choice of voice actor. Similarly to when one watches a movie based on a book they have read before, and the actors in the movie don't look anything like the characters the reader had been imagining for years (Elijah Wood / Frodo, anyone?).

"Slowly-appearing" dialogue text always really got on my nerves. I suppose it was meant to "emulate" speech in games without any VO (stereotypically, console JRPGs of old), and even then I would find myself mashing the "display all" button furiously.

About your game, as people already suggested, maybe you could include the option to go either way, so to keep both "camps" happy.