fonts in low-res

[Andail]

I'm trying to solve the font issue (avoid using super-pixelated letters which make some people's eyes hurt) in my low-res game, and have experimented with importing some TFFs with the AA turned on in the settings.
Everything would be perfect if it wasn't for the fact that AGS lumps together some letter combinations and make them hard to read. The font type itself is standard Verdana which normally has a really smooth nice legibility. Why are the letters rendered so awkwardly in AGS, and can I tweak it somehow? Or how do people typically circumvent the low-res texts issue (if they do - if they find it an issue)?

[JSH]

I've been meaning to look into this myself, I've tried using .ttf fonts in KR and I just couldn't get them quite  the way I wanted them, there was always a few problem letters no matter which font or size I tried importing. The problem is how the engine approximates vector fonts, I imagine it's hard to create a reliable algorithm to get every font to look good in any size in these small resolutions.

A possible solution for the problem is to use bitmap fonts, that way it's possible to tweak each individual character and use transparency in the sprites to get smooth edges. SSH's SpriteFont module does this, but it doesn't fully integrate with the standard AGS text/speech functions so it would take some scripting and workarounds to get it to work properly: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=23881

A better way to do it would be to use the SpriteFont renderer plugin that Calin made some time back which does have full integration of the AGS text/speech functions: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=44359