Pacing

Lives in: story/script.txt

Control the rhythm of reading: pauses, speed, auto-advance, and fades when leaving a moment.

Soft pause in the line

HANA:
Wait…{@w} there.

{@w} waits for a click (skipped when the reader holds fast-forward). Timed pause:

HANA:
One second…{@w=1.0} go.

Clear the page, then continue

HANA:
First page.{@p}Second page.

{@p} pauses and clears the dialogue box on resume. It is not skipped by fast-forward.

Change speed mid-line

HANA:
Slow.{@cps=8} Faster now.{@cps}

{@cps=N} sets letters per second; {@cps} resets to your project default (Text speed).

Auto-advance a moment

After the text finishes, move on without a click:

HANA:
No click needed.
[auto 2]

[auto 2] means “auto-advance after 2 seconds.” Ignored when the moment is a choice menu.

Exit directions (leave cleanly)

Run directions when leaving this moment — useful for fades out before the next place enters:

:: goodbye
HANA:
See you.
[exit: hana hide fade 0.4]
[exit_delay 0.5]
-> street

• [exit: …] — a stage direction that runs on leave (same language as enter brackets).
• [exit_delay 0.5] — wait after those exit directions before the next moment.

Enter directions still run at the start of the next moment as usual.

Directions in the middle of a line

A bracket after spoken text has already started fires when typing reaches that word — not when the moment begins:

HANA:
I was fine.
[sfx click]
Then I wasn't.

The script compiler inserts an invisible {@c1} (then {@c2}, …) at that spot and stores the direction in flow_commands. Typing does not pause; the command runs as the cursor passes the mark.

Prefer {@w} / {@cps} for timing-only. Use a mid-line bracket when something must fire at a word. In Mode B / JSON you can write {@c1} in text yourself and fill flow_commands — Command flow. Dense cases: Directing.

Usually you need

Try this

1. Put {@w} in the middle of a line; click to resume.
2. Put [sfx …] after a spoken line has started; hear it fire mid-type.
3. Add [auto 1.5] on a short narrator moment.
4. Hide a character with [exit: …] into the next scene.

Next

Writing techniques