Show and hide letters dynamically

You can use Typewriters to show and hide letters dynamically, choosing different pauses for any kind of characters (punctuation, letters, […]), trigger events and more.

A typewriter uses its linked Text Animator Time Scale to progress time, you can read more here: Time Scale

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Showing Text

There are different types of typewriters, for example “By Character” which shows one letter after the other, or “By Word” which progresses text word after word.

Implementing Typerwriters

You just need to add the TypewriterByCharacter (or TypewriterByWord) as a child of the RichTextLabel controlled by a TextAnimator. Then link the target TextAnimator to the Typewriter.

👍 Now you're ready to start showing text dynamically.

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After adding your typewriter, you can start it as shown below:

Via Code (Recommended)

Replacing “tmproText.text = textValue;” with typewriter.ShowText(textValue); in your code.

Please don't miss this step if you're setting the text via code! If you're having issues, take a look at the Best Practices

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Controlling Letters

Start and Stop Typing

Inside the component’s Inspector you’ll find some options to control how the typewriter start should be triggered:

• Start Typewriter Mode: tells the typewriter when to start showing letters.

Value	Explanation
From Script Only	The typerwiter can only be started by invoking Typewriter.StartShowingText()​
OnEnable	The typewriter starts every time the RichTextLabel is set active
OnShowText	The typewriter starts as soon as a new text is set (as explained in the “Showing Text” section)
Automatically From All Events	All of the above

You can pause the typewriter at any time by invoking typewriter.StopShowingText(), and you can start/resume it by invoking typewriter.StartShowingText().

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You can create your own typewriter (read here how to create a custom typewriter via C#) or you can use the built-in one.

Callbacks (Godot Signals)

You can connect Godot Signals that will be triggered based on the typewriter activity (example: when it just ended showing text).

Signal	Explanation
OnTextShowed	Signal called after the entire text has been shown (if you’ve set “Use Typewriter” to true, it will wait until all letters are shown)

The following below only work if the “use typewriter” is set to true:

Signal	Explanation
OnTypewriterStart	Called right before the typewriter starts showing its first letter. It doesn’t work if the typewriter is off, since it would coincide with the “OnTextShowed” event (in this case you can use that one instead)
OnCharacterVisible(Char)	Called each time a character became visible

You can hover the mouse above the typewriter options (e.g. delays) to show some tooltips and extra information!