RANDOM CONVERSATIONS WITH NPCS

Learn how to make more realistic NPCs

Introduction
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Don't you just hate it when your playing a game and you talk to an NPC and all he has to say is the same thing over and over again. Do you want to learn how with just a few easy steps you can make realistic NPCs that actually say diffrent things when you talk to them.

The Steps
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First create an event for your NPC give it a graphic and all that basic stuff. Now create a variable and call it something like NPCtalk1 or whatever you want. Now pick random number between 1-4 you can change this later. Now set up a conditonal branch the condition the variable NPCtalk1 has to be the value of 1. After that add what you want the NPC to say and create another Conditnal BRanch but make the requirements NPCtalk1 has to be the value of 2. Add diffrent text. Repeat for value 3 and 4. Run the game and you should see whenever you talk to an NPC it randomly pick 1-4 as the value making the NPC say diffrent things if you repeatly talk to him.

Extra Tips
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-Have your character respond back and generate conversation.
-Make it that if a certain event happens (switches) they'll talk about it
-Give them Face Graphics to your NPC it brings them to life
-Make your NPCs realistic

Conclusion
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It's your game so I can't tell you how to run it. Just use this system and please credit me if you do. I only give RM Network authorization to use thiss.

"Keep your wits about you and your sword strong and you'll become a man"~NoblemanNick

Posts

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DrZoidberg
54
07/31/2009 10:41 PM
I never thought of doing that. Thanks!
Sheeta
50
06/17/2011 04:13 PM
The same thing is already mentioned in the Forgotten eBook, but OK.
I tried this sort of thing in my first project and found out that it is unnecessary. Come to think of it; would you ever talk two times with the same NPC if he is not important for the plot? And even if you do it, would you recognize that he says something different than the first time you talked to him?
The answer for me is NO.

The only thing where I personally use variables connected with NPCs is before the Hero enters a town. There I used to give five possibilities where the NPCs are located, what they are doing, what they are saying and so on.
So if you enter a town, you branch whether the variable is 1, 2, 3, ... and with every number the NPCs are doing something different. That could be recognized by the player. It isn't really necessary either, but in my opinion better than just changing conversations. But I can promise you, it is a lot of work, especially if you use a larger random for your variable. ;)

Where I can agree with you are the extra tips, but for me that's clear. However, I hope that this will be read by a lot of people, because a lot of us haven't made out the importance of good NPCs for the atmosphere of a game ...
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