Open Call for NPCs

[zippy57]

Putting this here in case some people here don't watch the General Fallout section. To summarize, I'm at a point in SexoutAgent where I need to add filler NPCs, and if I tried to come up with all of them by myself they'll all end up being pretty similar, so I'm asking people to give me ideas. I don't need anything overly complex.

 

More details are in the other thread. I don't need much, just something to make the filler NPCs seem less like filler NPCs and more like actual characters, even if they only are there for filler.

[BruceWayne]

I've found this site some time ago: http://www.relativitybook.com/CoolStuff/facebank.html

 

The faces can be imported with FaceRipper and FaceGenExchange. In case you are afraid of NPCs looking like celebrities, I can assure you, that in most cases they don't even come close without the texture.

[zippy57]

It's not the faces that worry me, that I can do with the Random button. It's other things. First, I can't be bothered to sit and name anyone. Second, they'll all end up pulling from the same outfit list so 50% of them will be dressed the same. Third, no way am I going to try to come up with 50 different AI schedules so they'll all end up doing everything at the same time.

 

That's if I do anything by myself. If other people come up with these things not only do I not have to do anything put plug them in but they'll have the benefit of diversity simply because they came from multiple creators.

[BruceWayne]

Well, for the outfits you could always use leveled lists. Maybe with one that has all (appropriate) outfits in them. Would the AI have to be very specific (go eat at 8.00, work from 9-5, go to bed, etc.) or would sandboxing with all options enabled suffice? 

 

In any case, maybe I can throw some your way. Not 50 though...

[zippy57]

I'm trying to add an "individual-ness" to these NPCs. I can't have them sandbox in a room all day, it's silly to have them never sleep. So I need to give them some semblance of a schedule. But if I make it be at A from B to C and then go to D from E to F, they'll all move at the same time and it'll look silly. And of course I don't want the area to be completely devoid of NPCs at night.

 

None of these NPCs "work". The Store operates as a guarded training post, but a lot of people use it as a form of rest stop and some are even staying there semi-permanently.

 

So as detailed a schedule as possible would be nice. You don't have to limit concepts to the areas you know are in Store, just give me an idea of the type of place or whatever and maybe I can fit it in or maybe I can't. I just want this to feel like a place with people in it instead of a group of people working in shifts (because that's what the RS guards are doing).

[BruceWayne]

Sandbox does include sleeping/eating/drinking when appropriate. So, say you have them sandboxing around in the store/facilities all day minding their business and send them sandboxing in a room with beds at night, they'll go to sleep. 

 

What groups of people do you have in mind? Just customers and permanent guests?

[zippy57]

I know what Sandbox can do and I'll have most of the NPCs doing it, the problem is that I don't want them all doing it at the same time for the same duration in the same spot. And limiting them to the Store area is a Bad Thing because it keeps everything as it is. Right now there are only three places for NPCs to theoretically Sandbox. The small diner area in the Store (which is too small for a large number of people), the Store itself (which can't be too highly populated as the Player needs to be able to get around it easily), and the larger "Common Area" in the Living Quarters which is actually in Store but behind an Inaccessibly door so only me and people messing around with tcl have seen it. Obviously this is kind of sparse for a place where people are supposedly living, and asking for schedules independent of what currently exists is a way for me to get an idea of what else needs to be there.

 

I need permanent guests right now, a large number of NPCs to wander halls and populate otherwise empty rooms, though they can wander up to the Store every now and then if "they" want to. Customers, as in people who randomly show up, browse, and leave, are not currently in the plans because of their short "screen time" and honestly may never be in except for a couple plot-specific groups/individuals. Though an NPC who shows up something like every Thursday for whatever reason could be usable, provided I have a Home location to tell them to go when they're not at the Store.

[BruceWayne]

Well, there are options like weekdays in the package editor. Never tried them though, seemed a little arbitrary for my purposes. But for those rare visitors, this might just be the right thing to do. If they're not needed anymore they could go into some sort of holding cell, where they'd stay until they're needed again. I don't think that it has to be connected to the world, so they'd just be gone, until they're package sends them out again.

 

I'll see to it that I throw in some "permanent-visitor-NPC" time in the next couple of days/week. I'd give them specific routines without store specific locations, so that you can decide where you want to have them executed (the AI packages, not the visitors...).