itch.io

My workaround is to add a preprocessing step. I have, essentially, this:

public message_c: string;
public message: DialogueBox; // text, scroll speed, colors, etc.; doesn't show in scene editor

awake() {
  if (!this.message && !!this.message_c) {
    this.message = new DialogueBox(this.message_c.replace('\\n', '\n'));
  }
}

This way you can also define your own control codes. For instance, I have one for "make the dialogue box appear all at once rather than scrolling", and another for "split message into multiple dialogue boxes". You should find it pretty straightforward.