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Where's the built in time delay?
When I use the simulator provided in the editor, the messages keep rolling no matter how many words are in it, which is quite annoying as I read that there is a built in time delay that stifles the flow based on how long the message is.
Customer support service by UserEcho
The text length delay shows up on the Messaging Platforms, not the Simulator. :-( Here are a few suggestions as you fine tune your bot timing:
1. Each Messaging platform will end up showing your story with a slightly different timing. So annoying, right? But it depends on platform bandwidth, speed of connection, individual phones, cosmic rays, etc. It's not terribly different timing-wise, but it's unpredictable enough to suggest the following...
2. You don't need to put your own "reading" time break in-between every one of your lines. Trust that it will flow OK without them. (Really short delays of 1-2 seconds will tend to not even be noticed.) Know that if you add your own 13-second delay in the story, that means your reader will experience the built-in platform reading time delay AND your own 13-second delay. The delay might be a bit too long when added together.
3. In my stories, I use the time delays only when I want a "scene break" or a notable pause. It's up to you, of course, how long you want your reader to wait. Just remember that too long of a time delay will feel, well, really long to your reader.
4. Really long blocks of text will not show up well on the Messaging platforms. They will tend to scroll up "in a big chunk" and might make it tough for your reader to follow the story. They might have to stop and scroll back up to read the entire block. I've been breaking up my long "paragraphs" into much shorter individual messages.
Now by doing this, you risk sending a ton of consecutive messages (buzz, buzz, buzz...) so that can be very annoying also, therefore...
5. Try to allow your reader to have a bit of "control" over the story flow. By inserting a Player Choice, or having the Player Choice simply say "[More]", you will allow your reader to "click to keep going." In my stories, I tend to not go beyond 3-4 story messages before I give the reader a Player Choice input (of some kind.)
These are just suggestions, of course! :-) Publish your bot up and then do an editing pass once you see it actually running on your chosen platform. Hope this helps!
Thank you for your reply! I'll be sure to take note!