January 2025 Writer Support Thread

[Lan]

@Havenstone

@Omeg

It has to be at least 27% faster to just write “${name}” each time, which should save you at least a minute over the course of the entire project.

My own suggestion for stuff like this that wants blanket capitalization is to put it on a list of Last Things ro Do, and then find-replace ${name} with $!{name} at the end. Save you that minute+ while still catching out the e e cummingses of the world.

Personally, I don’t see a point to enforcing capitalization for player-inputted names; if someone wants to be stylized as e e cummings or Johannes van der Meer who am I to crush their dreams? Live your best fictional life, Victor d’Hondt.

If user error is a concern, you could always have a “Your first name is ‘aaaaaaaaron’? Are you sure?” confirmation question. Or do what Fallen Hero does:

*input_text name
  *comment check capitalization
*if ("${name}" != "$!{name}")
    Your name is $!{name}, right?
    *choice
      #Yes.
        *set name "$!{name}"
        *goto lastname
      #No, my name is ${name}, just as I spelled it.
        *goto lastname

If I for some reason did want to force capitalization, I’d cap it then and there

*input_text name
*set name "$!{name}"

and call it a day.

IMO, $!{var} is best used when the variable in question should sometimes be capitalized and sometimes be lowercase. If it should literally always be capitalized, why not capitalize it from the start? Quicker and less error-prone than trying to ensure every single reference to the player’s name is typed as $!{name}.