Deleted member 4141
Guest
Discussion Post: https://perpheads.com/threads/npc-animations.18174/#post-125648
Main Idea: NPC Animations
Full description of the idea:
Animations implemented to NPCs
This idea consists of actually bringing the NPCs to life with realism simulating animations of them moving around, interacting with objects/players/other NPCs, making gestures and in general actually acting like people rather than placeholders with some voices and small animations who just conveniently seem to affect a large proportion of the players experience on the server. To give a deeper understanding of what I mean, I will provide a small list of the things and follow up with a explanation and example.
- Generic movement
- Interaction with objects and/or players/NPCs
- Gestures
- Response to situations
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Generic Movement
By what I mean with this is the NPC/s moving around their station, walking back and fourth or making it seem like they are waiting on someone to approach or talk to them. As an example we have the taxi employer, they usually stand in front of the small garage by the gas station which just looks dull. So to add more realism and attract the attention of players (typically the newer ones) you could have the NPC walk up and down the pavement in front of the garage for the taxi and/or occasionally walk inside of the little establishment and wait inside. However if it's an NPC like the CH employees then the movement can be NPC sitting down on the chair and moving around in it a little, perhaps turning to the other NPC a little and standing up to move some paper work or go into the cabinets behind them. I think it really depends on the NPC and their job in the PH city but in reality some of the movements would be similar with the other NPCs because its not like all of them differ in their duties massively
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Interaction with objects/players/NPCs
This is closely tying in with generic movement however this is specifically for the NPC to interact with objects and other NPCs along with having animations for when a interaction is happening with a player. So with the NPC interaction on objects I mean simple things which actual workers would do in their position, for example the police employer walking around slightly, looking down at stacks of papers and sitting down on the chair typing away on the computer then when a player comes to interaction the NPC turns their head to them or turns their body to 'listen' to the player, crossing their arms or putting their hands on hips whilst waiting for the player to finish and if another player tried to interact the NPC will pull their hand at them with them saying "Im busy currently" until the other player is done. For NPC interaction with another NPC, it could just be simple movement of the character nodding their head and what not perhaps with the HL2 audio to make a conversation or adding in your own audio for a conversation.
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Gestures
Add more emotion to the NPCs for christ sake! Make them wave their hands in frustration or wave at the players as they approach! Give some life to the NPCs by giving the a wide range of emotions to express, wether it be happiness or anger or whatever else. It's a minor thing but I think it will give the NPCs a more polished look along with them having the ability to slightly express those facial expressions with flapping their arms in the air helplessly or even slapping themselves on the forehead from annoyance, simple little things which would add to the look of PH.
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Responses
There are rules set in place about how the players should go on about with their activities and especially when it comes to breaking the laws and a NPC being in a reasonable range to hear what's going on or to see it. Thus resulting in the players having to deal with the said NPCs out of the fear of punishment if caught not doing so, so why not making the NPCs more dangerous to the criminals by actually giving them the ability to respond to situations accordingly. A simple example of this is someone getting killed nearby, realistically unless the said person has been poisoned, a quick method was used (hitting them in a fatal area), there being enough noise for the workers to not hear (if out of sight) or whatever else, would actually raise some suspicion for the NPC to check out the noise if the noise wasnt an obvious breakage of laws (A gunshot or such) where the NPC leaves their station to actually check out the noise. This would make it more realistic and harder for the player to commit a crime and when the NPC witnesses a crime, they run back to their station to kneel down behind the desk and such where the player could be given a minute to deal with the NPC before they alert the police (A typical red message popping up with the message of help and the location given) and any similar situations like a fire where the NPC reacts accordingly to emulate real life in a far more advanced way than they have now.
Why should it be added?
I believe that all of this should be added as it would actually make the NPCs have more of a purpose than they do now along with actually serving as background characters which makes everything seem more lively and like an actual city than simply filled with lifeless 'humans' which employee, sell, buy and what not. Along with it giving more of a challenge to people who want to commit crimes in public areas and in reality just polishing the purpose of the NPC. Along with the fact that some players are not even into the crime/cop RP and genuinely want to passively role play and a update like this could really boost the those players which do want to do Passive RP or those who simply want PH to have a more polished feeling to it than continuously adding on new things before advancing on with the current things.
Pros
- Polished look which makes the NPC look more than placeholders
- Encouraging players to treat NPCs as actual players and humans
- Make committing crimes harder and more dangerous in public
Cons
- May cause unnecessary lag
- May be glitchy or time consuming to make
- Will make Criminal RP less enjoyable if last idea is made
Other Additions
N/A
Images
N/A
Main Idea: NPC Animations
Full description of the idea:
Animations implemented to NPCs
This idea consists of actually bringing the NPCs to life with realism simulating animations of them moving around, interacting with objects/players/other NPCs, making gestures and in general actually acting like people rather than placeholders with some voices and small animations who just conveniently seem to affect a large proportion of the players experience on the server. To give a deeper understanding of what I mean, I will provide a small list of the things and follow up with a explanation and example.
- Generic movement
- Interaction with objects and/or players/NPCs
- Gestures
- Response to situations
---
Generic Movement
By what I mean with this is the NPC/s moving around their station, walking back and fourth or making it seem like they are waiting on someone to approach or talk to them. As an example we have the taxi employer, they usually stand in front of the small garage by the gas station which just looks dull. So to add more realism and attract the attention of players (typically the newer ones) you could have the NPC walk up and down the pavement in front of the garage for the taxi and/or occasionally walk inside of the little establishment and wait inside. However if it's an NPC like the CH employees then the movement can be NPC sitting down on the chair and moving around in it a little, perhaps turning to the other NPC a little and standing up to move some paper work or go into the cabinets behind them. I think it really depends on the NPC and their job in the PH city but in reality some of the movements would be similar with the other NPCs because its not like all of them differ in their duties massively
--
Interaction with objects/players/NPCs
This is closely tying in with generic movement however this is specifically for the NPC to interact with objects and other NPCs along with having animations for when a interaction is happening with a player. So with the NPC interaction on objects I mean simple things which actual workers would do in their position, for example the police employer walking around slightly, looking down at stacks of papers and sitting down on the chair typing away on the computer then when a player comes to interaction the NPC turns their head to them or turns their body to 'listen' to the player, crossing their arms or putting their hands on hips whilst waiting for the player to finish and if another player tried to interact the NPC will pull their hand at them with them saying "Im busy currently" until the other player is done. For NPC interaction with another NPC, it could just be simple movement of the character nodding their head and what not perhaps with the HL2 audio to make a conversation or adding in your own audio for a conversation.
--
Gestures
Add more emotion to the NPCs for christ sake! Make them wave their hands in frustration or wave at the players as they approach! Give some life to the NPCs by giving the a wide range of emotions to express, wether it be happiness or anger or whatever else. It's a minor thing but I think it will give the NPCs a more polished look along with them having the ability to slightly express those facial expressions with flapping their arms in the air helplessly or even slapping themselves on the forehead from annoyance, simple little things which would add to the look of PH.
--
Responses
There are rules set in place about how the players should go on about with their activities and especially when it comes to breaking the laws and a NPC being in a reasonable range to hear what's going on or to see it. Thus resulting in the players having to deal with the said NPCs out of the fear of punishment if caught not doing so, so why not making the NPCs more dangerous to the criminals by actually giving them the ability to respond to situations accordingly. A simple example of this is someone getting killed nearby, realistically unless the said person has been poisoned, a quick method was used (hitting them in a fatal area), there being enough noise for the workers to not hear (if out of sight) or whatever else, would actually raise some suspicion for the NPC to check out the noise if the noise wasnt an obvious breakage of laws (A gunshot or such) where the NPC leaves their station to actually check out the noise. This would make it more realistic and harder for the player to commit a crime and when the NPC witnesses a crime, they run back to their station to kneel down behind the desk and such where the player could be given a minute to deal with the NPC before they alert the police (A typical red message popping up with the message of help and the location given) and any similar situations like a fire where the NPC reacts accordingly to emulate real life in a far more advanced way than they have now.
Why should it be added?
I believe that all of this should be added as it would actually make the NPCs have more of a purpose than they do now along with actually serving as background characters which makes everything seem more lively and like an actual city than simply filled with lifeless 'humans' which employee, sell, buy and what not. Along with it giving more of a challenge to people who want to commit crimes in public areas and in reality just polishing the purpose of the NPC. Along with the fact that some players are not even into the crime/cop RP and genuinely want to passively role play and a update like this could really boost the those players which do want to do Passive RP or those who simply want PH to have a more polished feeling to it than continuously adding on new things before advancing on with the current things.
Pros
- Polished look which makes the NPC look more than placeholders
- Encouraging players to treat NPCs as actual players and humans
- Make committing crimes harder and more dangerous in public
Cons
- May cause unnecessary lag
- May be glitchy or time consuming to make
- Will make Criminal RP less enjoyable if last idea is made
Other Additions
N/A
Images
N/A
.
