What do NPC's do at night?

ArchivedUser

Just wondering if NPC's behavior will change during different seasons and at night. Will they just be standing out in the snow, rain and scorching heat? Will they go home to sleep at the end of the day?

Personally, I'd love some realistic NPC behavior. BDO NPC's go home at the end of the day but they still just stand there in the rain for hours.  What are your thoughts, would it be too much work? 

Edit: Where do you think NPC's come from, they'd have to travel from the portals so would we see them on their way from the portal to various towns or would they just appear in said town?

ArchivedUser

It would be great if NPC's had such good AI and reacted to the environment. In the same way the environment should effect the players.  Such deep immersion and realism would add a new dimension to any game.

That being said,  I would rather they(IS) continued on with the general development of Ashes and not fret about such things.  

ArchivedUser

@CylverRayne Agreed, but also It's important for developers to keep in mind any future content they would want to add. It could create more work for them down the line if they are forced to completely rework a system rather then just add new procedures to the preexisting system. 

If they were planning to add NPC AI down the road they would have to design the NPC system in a way to accommodate for future change. 

ArchivedUser

@Elder hopefully they will take the future into consideration in all they do.  This game has so much potential.  

ArchivedUser

Great idea @Elder! The extended point to make about your suggestion is that I hope the world feels alive. One of the few things I actually admired about Tamriel was how alive it felt with plenty of NPCs talking, reacting to player deeds, moving around, doing chores. The world felt alive and your suggestion would add another layer to Verra’s immersion.

ArchivedUser

Here is what they do when you are not around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G97xdpy6Am4

ArchivedUser

Sleep, eat, walk around, maybe do a bit of procreation....

ArchivedUser

Haha, too bad we won't ever see it in game. But that would make for great "OMG, sorry, sorry!" moments when you burst into someones house at night looking to sell that miscellaneous junk you got from the hole down the road. Maybe we can get that level of realism for the animal breeder artisans. Wandering around your freehold, stop by the breeding paddock and the two giant turtles you threw in there decide it is love-love time. Can lead to teaching moments for those that have been saying they have no problems letting their young children play mmos.

ArchivedUser

Most of the devs are coming from SOE.
Jeff B wants to be pragmatic about AI sonce the EQN team had such a difficult time with StoryBricks.
I would not expect the NPCs to be overly complex.
Different behaviors based on time and weather would be nice, but... avant garde NPC AI isn't one of the 5 pillars of the game design.

Hopefully, it's not too difficult or time consuming to implement.

ArchivedUser

They probably go to sleep

ArchivedUser

That sounds really nice. But unlike in BDO, where just certain NPCs go to sleep at night, have all of them who are out during the day go to sleep at night and maybe have special night vendors.for emergencies.

ArchivedUser

Something as simple as putting on extra clothes or maybe starting a campfire depending on weather shouldn't be a problem. When the weather is triggered, the different NPC behavior could be triggered as well.

ArchivedUser

I wonder how complex the Reaction/Emote engines were for npcs in skyrim. Seems like community mods were coming out pretty quick for things like "Run for Cover" etc. I'd also be a huge fan of realistic reactions

ArchivedUser

I'd suggest that NPCs who stand outside on the street, when it starts raining, just walk to some close by covered position (at least pull up near the building under roof ledge).

The way it could be done is program auto pathing (for NPCs that need this), and when NPC detects it's raining, he initiates his auto path that takes him to nearby covered position.

While auto pathing NPC would walk through any player made obstacles, mounts, caravans, whatever, so players could not "troll the NPC" while he is walking.


Another suggestion would be that NPC outfits come in 4 sets, 1 set for each season, and when season changes, NPCs outfit changes as well. It would be strange for NPC to wear same thing in summer and winter.

But I guess IS have already been considering this.

ArchivedUser

Gothix said:

Another suggestion would be that NPC outfits come in 4 sets, 1 set for each season, and when season changes, NPCs outfit changes as well. It would be strange for NPC to wear same thing in summer and winter.

I really like this idea, and it ties in so well with the dynamic world and seasonality we know we are getting. Definitely have at least a winter set, for those zones that will experience a winter.

It would be very cool to see NPCs wearing fur cloaks and huddling around braziers during those winter months, even having their speech change to complain about the cold.

It is these little touches that we may take for granted over time, but will provide us with so many amazing memories of the first time we saw the change in NPC behaviour or fashion. Those small flourishes that make you stop what you were doing and just admire the world in which you are playing.

ArchivedUser

These ideas sound great to me, but in case that you want to take any quest or give it back... Buy some stuff or whatever and NPC went to sleep... You must wait till next day comes or what?  I guess many players would complain about this matter.  
However, I agree that these ideas would give a much more realistic feeling to the game.