Design

Subtitles

Push timed lines of text to players with a command or the API.

A subtitle is a line of text that a server shows to a player for a few seconds, for example a narrator line, a round announcement or a quest hint. The HUD decides where and how it is drawn; the server decides what it says and when.

Add the Subtitle component

Open the HUD in the editor and switch the toolbox to the Components tab.
Add the Subtitle component. It places a text element at the bottom center that shows %hud_subtitle% with a fade animation.
Restyle or move it like any other element, then deploy the project.

%hud_subtitle% is empty while no subtitle is playing, so the element shows nothing between lines.

Commands

Command	Purpose
`/advancedhud subtitle <player\|*> <seconds> <text>`	Shows a line to one player, or to everyone with `*`, for the given number of seconds.
`/advancedhud subtitle clear <player\|*>`	Removes the current line and everything queued for that player, or for everyone.

/advancedhud subtitle * 4 The match starts in ten seconds.
/advancedhud subtitle Steve 3 Find the blacksmith.
/advancedhud subtitle clear *

Both commands require the permission advancedhud.subtitle.

Behavior

Lines queue per player and play one after another. A new line never interrupts the one on screen.
Text is limited to 256 characters.
A line can only use characters supported by the font selected on the subtitle element.

Developer API

AdvancedHudApi hud = Bukkit.getServicesManager().load(AdvancedHudApi.class);
if (hud != null) {
    hud.showSubtitle(player, "Find the blacksmith.", 3);
    hud.clearSubtitles(player);
}

Method	Purpose
`showSubtitle(player, text, duration)`	Queues a line for the player.
`clearSubtitles(player)`	Removes the player's current and queued lines.

See the Developer API page for the exact parameter types of these methods.