Alternative Descriptions

ADRIFT 5 Help ›› Creating Games ›› Text Boxes ››
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Alternative Descriptions

Alternative Descriptions allow you to customise any text output based upon different restrictions.  You can "layer up" descriptions, or you can simply replace a whole set of text with another.


Most text boxes in ADRIFT support alternative descriptions.  To create an alternative description, right-click in the text box and select Add Alternative Description from the menu, like so:



This will bring up two additional bits of information on the text box.  The first is a restriction for when this alternative description should be displayed, along with a dropdown to say how the description should be displayed.


The second, is a row of tabs along the bottom.  Each tab displays a separate description.



The Default Description will by default always be displayed when the text box is output.  Each tab following the default description is evaluated to decide whether it should be displayed or not.  If there are no restrictions, or all restrictions are passed, the text will be output.  How it is output will depend on the second dropdown.  The options here are:



Alternative descriptions default to the last option.  If no restrictions were added, and the second dropdown is left on the default, the text on all tabs would be output, one after the other.


Any number of restrictions can be added, by clicking the icon.  The first time you click on this, it will bring up the restrictions editor.  Subsequent times, it will bring up the restrictions list editor, so you can add, remove or edit existing restrictions.


The order of tabs is significant, since some descriptions can completely ignore all previous tabs.  You can change the order of the tabs by dragging the tabs left or right.  All tabs except the default description can be moved, and dropped anywhere except before the default.  


You can rename all tabs (except the default) by right-clicking on the tab and selecting Rename Tab.


Renaming tabs can help you organise your descriptions, as you can tell what each description is without having to select it.

An Example

TBC