From 46227e2003de28202cc4e82bca4f7f4745476c4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Alexander Kassouni Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2026 17:51:13 -0700 Subject: init --- docs/encoding.html | 136 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 136 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/encoding.html (limited to 'docs/encoding.html') diff --git a/docs/encoding.html b/docs/encoding.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b57261 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/encoding.html @@ -0,0 +1,136 @@ + + + + + +2. Text → voice code — Animalese + + + + + + +

2. Text → voice code

A flat 256-entry table turns the game's own character encoding into a +34-value "voice code" alphabet. This is the only place text is looked at.

+ +

The game's character set

+ +

Messages are stored one byte per character in a custom encoding +(include/m_font.h). It is ASCII-compatible over exactly three ranges — +0-9 at 48–57, A-Z at 65–90, a-z at 97–122 — and +diverges everywhere else. Notable non-ASCII placements:

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

Code	Character	Note
0–31	uppercase accented Latin, `¡ ¿ Ç Ð Ñ ß Þ`	where ASCII control codes would be
43	`♥`	where ASCII has `+`
47	`♪`	where ASCII has `/`
59	droplet symbol	where ASCII has `;`
92	annoyed symbol	where ASCII has `\`
127	`CHAR_CONTROL_CODE`	escape byte; a control code follows
128	`CHAR_MESSAGE_TAG`	escape byte
210, 211	short space, wide space	layout-only spaces

+ +

The voice table

+ +

mMsg_sound_voice_get(code) (src/game/m_msg_sound.c_inc:1) is a +256-byte lookup with two hard-coded exceptions:

+ +

if (code == CHAR_CONTROL_CODE || code == CHAR_MESSAGE_TAG)
+    return -1;                      // no sound, and no state change
+return voice_array[code];

+ +

Those are the only two entries in the array holding 0xFF, so +0xFF is never actually returned from this function — it arrives at +Na_VoiceSe only as a padding value for the unused b/c +slots.

+ +

Voice code space

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Voice code	Meaning
`0x53`–`0x5C`	digits `0`–`9`
`0x5D`–`0x76`	letters `a`–`z`
`0x80`	`♪` — plays the speaker's melody, bypasses everything
`0x81`	space
`0x82`	`?` — raises pitch
`0x83`	`!` — raises volume
`0x84`	newline (injected, never in the table)
`0x85`	mute — the catch-all for punctuation and symbols
`0x86`	click — plays `NA_SE_BEBE`
`0xFF`	empty slot in a window

+ +

The split at 0x77 matters: Sou_BoinShiinCheck and several rules in +Na_VoiceSe test > 0x77 to mean "this is punctuation, not a letter".

+ +

Case and accent folding

+ +

Upper and lower case map to the same code, and every accented Latin letter folds onto +its base letter. Some of the folds are worth knowing about:

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

Character(s)	Folds to
`À Á Â Ã Å à á â ã ä å`, `ª` (feminine ordinal)	`a`
`ß` (eszett)	`b` — a glyph-shape fold, not a phonetic one
`Ç ç`	`c`
`Ð ð`	`d`
`È É Ê Ë è é ê ë`	`e`
`Ì Í Î Ï ì í î ï`	`i`
`Ñ ñ`	`n`
`Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö ò ó ô õ ö`, `º` (masculine ordinal)	`o`
`Þ þ` (thorn)	`p`
`Ù Ú Û Ü ù ú û ü`	`u`
`Ý ý ÿ`	`y`
`Œ œ`	mute — the only accented Latin pair that is not folded

+ +

Everything else

+ +

Space (32), short space (210), wide space (211), and code 255 → 0x81.
Interpunct (133) → 0x86, the click. It is the only character in the whole + table that maps to the click code.
All other punctuation, symbols, and the entire block from 155 upward → + 0x85, mute.

+ +

Two wrappers

+ +

mMsg_sound_voice_get2

+ +

if (code == CHAR_NEW_LINE) return 0x84;
+return mMsg_sound_voice_get(code);

+ +

Newline has no entry in the table; the wrapper injects 0x84. This is the +function the scheduler actually calls, so 0x84 reaches the engine while the +raw table never produces it. m_msg_sound.c_inc:44

+ +

mMsg_sound_voice_get_for_editor

+ +

sound = mMsg_sound_voice_get(code);
+switch (sound) {
+    case 0x80: case 0x82: case 0x83: case 0x85: return 0x86;
+    default: return sound;
+}

+ +

In the text editor, ♪, ?, ! and every mute character all become +the click. See the editor path. +m_msg_sound.c_inc:26

+ +

+Only these 34 values leave the text layer. Word boundaries, capitalisation, +sentence structure and the actual letters beyond a-z0-9 are all gone by +the time audio sees anything. Whatever "understanding of English" the animalese has, +it lives entirely in the digraph table on the next page. +

+ + + + + -- cgit v1.3.1