Response box

The response box represents the response selection window for your game. It defines the placement of the responses, some controls (such as the scrolling buttons) and the design of the background of the response selection.

Reponse box is defined in a simple text file which as a structure similar to this:

RESPONSE_BOX
{
  FONT = "fonts\outline_white.font"
  FONT_HOVER = "fonts\outline_red.font"
  CURSOR = "path\response_cursor.png"
  HORIZONTAL = FALSE
  TEXT_ALIGN = "left"
  VERTICAL_ALIGN = "bottom"
  SPACING = 5

  AREA {40, 0, 800, 170}

  WINDOW
  {    
    X = 0
    Y = 420
    WIDTH = 800
    HEIGHT = 180

    BUTTON
    {
      TEMPLATE = "ui_elements\template\but.button"
      IMAGE = "ui_elements\arrow_up.bmp"
      TEXT = ""
      NAME = "prev"

      X = 0
      Y = 0
      WIDTH = 30
      HEIGHT = 30
    }

    BUTTON{
      TEMPLATE = "ui_elements\template\but.button"
      IMAGE = "ui_elements\arrow_down.bmp"
      TEXT = ""
      NAME = "next"

      X = 0
      Y = 150
      WIDTH = 30
      HEIGHT = 30
    }
  }
}

As you see, the first part (purple) defines some response-box specific attributes, while the second part (gray) defines the design. The second part is a casual window, as described in the Windows and controls chapter. The response-box window can contain any GUI elements you want, please see the mentioned chapter for more details about GUI definitions.

Let's take a closer look at the first section. It contains the following attributes:

• FONT / FONT_HOVER - the fonts setting for the textual responses
• CURSOR - the image to be used as a cursor for iconic responses
• SPACING - the space between two responses
• HORIZONTAL - specifies if the responses are ordered horizontally
• TEXT_ALIGN - specifies the alignment of textual response lines; it can be either "left", "right" or "center"; the default value is "left"
• VERTICAL_ALIGN - specifies the vertical alignment of responses within the response area (it has no effect on horizontally ordered items); it can be one of the following values: "top", "center" or "bottom"; the default value is "bottom"
• AREA - defines a rectangle within the background window, where the responses will be displayed. The four numbers represent the X, Y coordinates of the upper left and bottom right points of the rectangle. Note that the area is defined relative to the responses window, NOT relative to screen.

Based on this setting, WME will automatically populate the defined rectangle with responses.

As for the second part, i.e. the window definitions, it's a normal window definition with a few exceptions. If you name some of the buttons "next" or "prev", WME will use them automatically for the response scrolling.