Convenient method for spellchecking?

[Ozitiho]

Do any of you have a super convenient method to spellcheck?

Personally I don't bother with an automatic spellchecker, since you're gonna proofread again and again anyway. But now I'm starting to think I should. There's gonna be that one retarded spelling error that everyone will miss in testing and then when it's published it's there forever and everyone will suddenly notice. God knows a lot of games have this.

Do you spellcheck your ren'py script or do you assume you'll get it in testing?

[GuyFromYonder]

You could possibly use the spellcheck feature on Microsoft Word if you have a windows computer. I don't know if this would help, but you can give it a shot. Also, maybe you could find a spellcheck site or program on the internet.

[Mad Harlequin]

Personally I don't bother with an automatic spellchecker, since you're gonna proofread again and again anyway. But now I'm starting to think I should. There's gonna be that one retarded spelling error that everyone will miss in testing and then when it's published it's there forever and everyone will suddenly notice. God knows a lot of games have this.

Use a spellchecker, but bear in mind that it won't catch every little error. Many of the tiny issues that show up later, I've found, tend to escape its notice. You'll want to find a skilled human or two and have them look at the script, too.

[Ozitiho]

You could possibly use the spellcheck feature on Microsoft Word if you have a windows computer. I don't know if this would help, but you can give it a shot. Also, maybe you could find a spellcheck site or program on the internet.

On Word? But if you drag the whole script into Word, won't it fuck up all the indents? Though I'd like to use Word, because it's spellchecker is really powerful.

You'll want to find a skilled human or two and have them look at the script, too.

Yeah, I plan to pay someone who thinks they're really good at english to check it out when it's done. But even then I've no doubt there'll still be a few errors in it. Somehow they always escape...

[GuyFromYonder]

You could possibly use the spellcheck feature on Microsoft Word if you have a windows computer. I don't know if this would help, but you can give it a shot. Also, maybe you could find a spellcheck site or program on the internet.

On Word? But if you drag the whole script into Word, won't it fuck up all the indents? Though I'd like to use Word, because it's spellchecker is really powerful.

Actually, it wouldn't. Each of the indents consist of just four spaces, instead of an actual indent.

[PyTom]

In editra, do:

Edit, Preferences, General, Files, Check spelling while typing.

[Haze]

In editra, do:

Edit, Preferences, General, Files, Check spelling while typing.

If you don't use a word processor, like Microsoft word, then this would probably be the best method. Like Mad Harlequin said, however, you should have an editor look at your script. There are things a spell checker won't always catch, such as iffy sentence structure and grammatical errors. If you can catch these things yourself, then great, but if you don't think you can, get an editor to assist you.

[Ozitiho]

In editra, do:

Edit, Preferences, General, Files, Check spelling while typing.

Oh right, I forgot. I tried to get this to work a couple times but it never did work... I should look into it again, maybe I'll be more lucky this time.

EDIT: Yeah, just had to run it through ren'py. Did you know it doesn't work if you run it normally? I didn't.
But hey, cool. Got me a in-editor spellchecker. This will save me googling the word embarrassed 5 times a day. Thanks.

[RotGtIE]

Do you spellcheck your ren'py script or do you assume you'll get it in testing?

I don't understand why people feel the need to write their prose directly into their programming. You wouldn't expect an illustrator to draw directly into the engine, would you? Take the time to write and edit your script properly before splicing it into your code. Writing straight into the engine is just begging for trouble.

This will save me googling the word embarrassed 5 times a day.

That's not a good thing. You improve by doubting yourself, creating a need for information, then seeking and finding that information. Spell checkers may save you the trouble of having to memorize the spelling of commonly-used but difficult-to-spell words, but they won't save you the trouble of filtering out homophones and other mistakes that are the linguistic equivalent of Logic errors as compared to Syntax errors. Our tools are not yet sophisticated enough to replace the attentive eye of a skilled editor, and you will learn and improve by making mistakes and correcting them rather than letting technology do it for you.

[Kailoto]

Spell check is simply another tool. There's costs and benefits to using it while writing, but I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. Some people prefer getting the most obvious errors out of the way while writing, while others leave it for proofreading. Use whatever makes you the most comfortable or is most efficient.

As for the actual software to use, I find that Editra's spellcheck function is good enough for most purposes. Since you still need an editor for grammar, word usage, and content, anything that will catch spelling errors to any level of accuracy will serve its purpose, so you can also use MS Word or other software if it's more convenient.

Personally, I don't bother with spellcheck while I'm writing - if I'm writing in Word or something similar and it shows up, I'll fix it just to get it out of my way, but otherwise I don't worry about it. My reasoning is that I always go through my manuscript to optimize syntax and register anyways, so there's no real reason to just worry about spelling in a different step. This relies on a few assumptions, though; for one, I'm a fluent English speaker with a decent enough vocabulary not to make too many errors, and for two, I can also do my own proofreading (and sometimes I'll still rely on someone else.) If that doesn't apply, then spellcheck might be useful for you, and you should still have someone else proofread the script.

[trooper6]

I didn't know about Editra's spellcheck. That is good to know!
What I did was use the export dialogue function from the launcher (which...exports your dialogue and puts in into a text file), and then run the dialogue through Word's spell check. Good thing, too! I had proofread that text a number of times and still found some typos.

ETA: I just checked out Editra's preferences and came up with a wrinkle.
When I follow: Editra > Preferences > General > Files, I see the Check Spelling while typing box, but it is greyed out and I can't click on it. What is available for me to do in that section is to click on a browse button that would fill in a text field labeled "Enchant Path." What is Enchant Path?

[Ozitiho]

ETA: I just checked out Editra's preferences and came up with a wrinkle.
When I follow: Editra > Preferences > General > Files, I see the Check Spelling while typing box, but it is greyed out and I can't click on it. What is available for me to do in that section is to click on a browse button that would fill in a text field labeled "Enchant Path." What is Enchant Path?

Yeah man, I had the same. Personally, I keep my scripts in Dropbox so I don't have to back them up manually. It's awesome, but because of that I got used to opening the script files directly and not through Ren'Py.

Here's the point: When you open Editra through Ren'Py, you open a different kind of Editra. I'm guessing it's a version that Py'Tom did some work on. Anyway, in that version, the box is not greyed out.
So all you have to do is open Editra through Ren'Py. Then you can use Check Spelling. I opened the tutorial project's script for this and opened my own script in that window.

I don't understand why people feel the need to write their prose directly into their programming. You wouldn't expect an illustrator to draw directly into the engine, would you? Take the time to write and edit your script properly before splicing it into your code. Writing straight into the engine is just begging for trouble.

I don't so much feel the need to, it's just that as a programmer I'm very comfortable with writing into a script editor like Editra. Seems to me like writing the script separately will just mean you have to convert it later. I ask, why bother?

That's not a good thing. You improve by doubting yourself, creating a need for information, then seeking and finding that information. Spell checkers may save you the trouble of having to memorize the spelling of commonly-used but difficult-to-spell words, but they won't save you the trouble of filtering out homophones and other mistakes that are the linguistic equivalent of Logic errors as compared to Syntax errors. Our tools are not yet sophisticated enough to replace the attentive eye of a skilled editor, and you will learn and improve by making mistakes and correcting them rather than letting technology do it for you.

It goes without saying that a spell checker doesn't replace a skilled editor, but a spell checker is damn good at its job: checking spelling. I mean, yeah. I totally get where you're coming from. But before I got this spell checker just now I was damn convinced tomorrow was spelled with double M (tommorow). I'll just have to make sure I keep learning from my mistakes.

[trooper6]

I do open Editra through Ren'Py, what might I be doing wrong?

[Ozitiho]

I do open Editra through Ren'Py, what might I be doing wrong?

Huh. That was it for me. Don't know what to tell you. I tried looking into the difference in the version I might be having, but it's a mystery to me.
I can tell you not to bother looking into pyenchant (Enchant Path). It's not the same. And for me personally it was the worst to install.

[Laiska]

I do open Editra through Ren'Py, what might I be doing wrong?

Do you use a Mac? I don't think the Spellcheck is built into Mac Editra, because I've never been able to find it. And it seems like installing the extension is a massive hassle.