Dialogue and Bible study

Dialogue presentations

The game has three dialogue channels:

• adversary dialogue (14), used for a Cyber’s lie;
• character dialogue (48), used for victims, bosses, and other characters;
• Captain Bible dialogue (4E), also used for some narration or captions.

Each displays translated CP437 text in a modal panel using a three-byte presentation tuple containing logical text X, text Y, and wrap width. Opcode 5C configures the Captain Bible channel. Opcode 5D configures the character channel, which the adversary presentation also uses. The panel frame extends slightly beyond this text rectangle. A compatible engine MUST apply the tuple, wrap within its width, and preserve the channel’s command timing.

The BOSS introduction configures [4, 30, 150] for Captain Bible and [162, 89, 150] for the other character. These place the two speakers at the upper left and lower right respectively. FACE instead uses [80, 12, 180] for adversary messages and [80, 170, 180] for Captain Bible. These shipped values and the corresponding DOS captures establish all three byte roles.

Dialogue text uses the proportional seven-row atlas in STUFF.ART frame 0. The renderer expands each logical atlas pixel to 2 by 2, advances by the executable’s per-character width plus one, and wraps by measured logical width. Captain Bible and character messages use text style 2, whose atlas values 0,1,2 map to palette indexes 1,37,4. Adversary messages use style 7, mapping them to 15,86,90. The CONTINUE caption is not generated text: it is transparent-zero STUFF.ART frame 29, positioned by its signed origin over the horizontal center of the panel.

If a dialogue command is reached while another modal message is active, it suspends before consuming its p operand. After the modal state clears, the same command is retried, consumes the text, and presents it. Enter dismisses ordinary dialogue. A primary click dismisses it only when the DOS proximity test selects the CONTINUE object’s logical anchor. Escape instead opens Game Options and leaves the dialogue active for redrawing after the options interface returns.

Choices

A choice consists of an absolute BIN target and a text string. Opcode 45 clears the list, 44 appends choices in display order, 13 can remove the first target match, and 46 presents the menu. Selecting a choice clears the modal state and resumes the suspended thread at that choice’s target.

Keyboard Up and Down clamp at the first and last rows, visually identify the current selection, and activate it with Enter. Pointer motion selects the nearest row anchor within the common text selector’s proximity radius; a primary click activates that row. Each row anchor is at logical (text_x + 72, row_y + 2). Distance is max(abs(dx),abs(dy)) + floor(min(abs(dx),abs(dy))/2), the limit is 100, and equal distances choose the earlier row. Moving outside every eligible region removes the pointer highlight. A click there MUST NOT activate the previously selected row. Empty choice lists MUST be treated as malformed content rather than leaving the player in an inescapable modal screen.

Unselected rows use text style 1 (1,7,3), while the selected row uses style 2 (1,37,4). The SELECT caption is transparent-zero STUFF.ART frame 28, not a host-font label. Its logical anchor is (text_x - 11,row_y + 2) when text_x >= 23, or (text_x + text_width + 12,row_y + 2) otherwise. The frame’s signed origin then positions its pixels beside the selected row.

Study browser

The Study Bible is both a player reference (F1) and a gameplay answer screen. It displays translated text-bank records and supports navigation among the available record descriptors. A descriptor has a one-byte selector, component references, a persistent state byte, and a span. The active bank contains no more than 66 descriptors.

The standalone F1 view lets the player browse acquired or otherwise available material and return without changing an encounter continuation. Encounter study mode is configured by bytecode:

1. 15 directly selects an expected record, or 7D selects a component and reads the expected selector from a script variable.
2. 4F or 51 defines the success continuation, either a navigation node or a command target and thread.
3. 49 opens the browser and suspends the scene thread.
4. Choosing the expected descriptor takes the configured success path and sets flag 14 where the surrounding conversation uses result flags.
5. Leaving without the expected match sets flag 15 for those conversations and resumes their failure or retry path.

The browser clears both result flags before accepting encounter input. It MUST compare stable record selectors, not translated display strings. This keeps gameplay identical in every supported translation.

DOS presentation

The Computer Bible is a full-screen 320-by-200 indexed modal. Opening it clears the viewport to palette index zero and suppresses the scene and status row. It is not a generic white panel drawn over the current scene. The modal loads BOOK.ART (resource ID 0x239) and draws its transparent-zero frames with the current scene palette.

BOOK.ART contains the following zero-based frames:

Frame 0 and the page and Apply overlays use caller anchor (0,24). Frame 2 uses caller anchor (9,24). The resulting logical bounds are (28,51) for the chassis, (45,50) for Off, (34,109) and (34,130) for the arrows, and (85,186) for Apply. The bottom of the chassis and controls is clipped by the 200-line viewport exactly as in the DOS renderer.

The acquired-reference list begins at (52,70), contains 14 rows, and uses an eight-pixel line pitch. Each reference is clipped to 100 logical pixels. The selected row uses text style 5, whose font-atlas values 0,1,2 map to palette indexes 0,64,70; unselected rows use style 6, mapping them to 0,32,37. The selected citation is drawn at (172,61) with a 110-pixel limit. Its verse begins at (168,74), wraps to 114 logical pixels, and uses style 5 with the same eight-pixel pitch. With no acquired records the right page displays the executable’s exact message NO VERSES LOADED; both page arrows and Apply use their disabled artwork.

When opcode 7D configured a prompt, the browser resolves its expected descriptor directly from the active text bank, including when that record is not acquired. Prompt values zero and nine suppress the prompt. Value 2A selects its * component and text style 10 (15,1,8); value 64 selects P and style 9 (15,32,36); every other value selects L and style 7 (15,86,90).

The resolved prompt starts at logical (6,22), wraps to 309 logical pixels, and occupies at most three rows with an eight-pixel pitch. A | byte forces a row break. These rows appear in the black area above the book, whose visible chassis begins at logical Y 51. A host MUST retain this prompt while opening the modal; displaying only the acquired-reference list loses required encounter information.

Up and Down move one acquired record and clamp at the ends. Page Up, Page Down, and the two artwork arrows move by 14 acquired records. Enter or A activates Apply only while an encounter has enabled Bible application; the F1 reference browser always displays disabled Apply artwork and cannot produce a study answer. Ctrl+V selects the configured expected verse when that verse is in the acquired list, moving to its 14-row page without applying it; it does nothing in the standalone F1 browser or when the verse has not been acquired. Escape, O, or a primary press on Off closes the modal. A primary press on a reference row selects that row but does not apply it; a separate press on enabled Apply is required. Page and Apply controls ignore presses while disabled, and presses outside all authored bounds do nothing.

Text expansion

Before display, the engine resolves the selected record/component, expands the data-defined placeholders described in Text resources, applies the current translation, and wraps for the destination panel. Resource bytes remain immutable; descriptor state and scene-local expanded strings are kept separately except when a scene explicitly invokes the bytecode self-modifying copy command.

Study choices and verse acquisitions update descriptor state through opcodes 36–39. The same state mechanism can represent an obtained verse, a completed conversation step, or another text-related condition; the scene program determines the meaning. Loading a new text bank or executing opcode 88 clears all 66 state bytes as specified.

Player-facing mechanics

Cybers confront Captain Bible with false statements. The player studies the available Bible passages and selects the passage that answers the lie. Correct study results advance dialogue, unlock doors, rescue victims, destroy pylons, or enable combat actions depending on context. An incorrect record or leaving the browser follows the scene-defined failure, retry, or faith-loss branch.

The engine MUST never infer correctness by wording, verse number, or locale. Only selectors and continuations embedded in the resources define it.