u/apriqots

I'm at the part where the basic create, step, and draw GUI events are all set up, along with the "create_dialogue" script. It's time to write a test dialogue box in game and nothing shows up!

My Create event in obj_dialog:

messages = [];
current_message = -1;
current_char = 0;
draw_message = " ";

char_speed = 0.5;
input_key = mb_left;

gui_w = display_get_gui_width();
gui_h = display_get_gui_height();

My Step event in obj_dialog:

if (array_length(messages) == 0) exit;
if (current_message &lt; 0) current_message = 0;

//get message from array
var _str = messages[current_message].msg;

//checking if the message has not been fully drawn yet
if (current_char &lt;string_length(_str))
{
//you can press input key to make the current text go twice as fast
current_char += char_speed * (1 + keyboard_check(input_key))
draw_message = string_copy(_str, 0, current_char)
}
//else if the string has finished being drawn completely
else if (keyboard_check_pressed((input_key)))
{
current_message++;
if (current_message &gt;= array_length(messages))
{
instance_destroy()
}

else
{
current_char = 0;
}
}

My Draw GUI event in obj_dialog:

gui_w = display_get_gui_width();
gui_h = display_get_gui_height(); 

//draw width, draw height, textbox width, textbox height
var _dx = 0
var _dy = gui_h * 0.7;
var _boxw = gui_w
var _boxh = gui_h - _dy;

draw_sprite_stretched(spr_box, 0, _dx, _dy, _boxw, _boxh);

_dx += 16
_dy += 16

draw_set_font(Font1);

var _name = messages[current_message].name;
draw_text(_dx, _dy, _name);

//draw message 40 px below name
_dy += 40

//wraps text around if it goes past line, 
//so that it stays inside box.
draw_text_ext( _dx, _dy, draw_message, -1, _boxw - _dx * 2)

Here is my code in the Dialogue Script:

///all of the diaglogue script
function create_dialog(_messages){
if (instance_exists(obj_dialog)) return;

var _inst = instance_create_depth(0, 0, 0, obj_dialog);
_inst.messages = _messages;
_inst.current_message = 0;
}

And here is the test I've set up to check if it actually works in obj_player, Step event:

//Player Step Event for test
if (keyboard_check_pressed(mb_left)) {
    create_dialog([
        { 
  name: "test", 
  msg: "yay, it works" 
}
    ]);
}

I've been driving myself bonkers + bananas trying to find the issue. To my knowledge, I've followed the tutorial word for word :( No error message has shown up at all, which is super unusual for me and I'm hoping that means there is a very simple fix that I am totally oblivious to !

evilest weed on planet earth?