townspeople help

[finalchrono102]

ok, i just went braindead, im starting towork on adding peopl and i cant think of what they should say, any sugestions of what some random townsperson should say, drunk should say, famliy, ect

thanks

[Neo Samurai]

Well, this really is all up to you. You shouldn't expect us to give you ideas of what they should say. It really doesn't matter since these townspeople aren't going to have a big impact on the game.

My suggestion is to make them talk about the history of the town. Also, having a bunch of funny NPCs around the place is always nice. Just be creative. Be impulsive and write whatever. I'm making an article soon about writing intuitively. So, keep an eye out for it.

[nerussentia]

Theres a secret in my game. If you find the right townsperson he gives you a revolver pistol made just to kill the undead. Doesn't work on other enemies, just them.

[Doan the Nado]

It is kind of disheartening for the player to walk around and talk to all kinds of townspeople only to find that he is wasting his time. It is much better for their dialogue to be some sort of foreshadowing, a helpful tip, a way to develop the story, or anything else other than random meaningless dialogue.

[Neo Samurai]

I agree with Doan.

[nerussentia]

I just made a mini-mission. Theres a port town in the dead center of the Meteor Plains and it has an airship, boat, truck, animals, whatever you could want to transport. If you walk into the car garage when its empty you'll hear an evil laughter. Just walk out and you're guy will notice all your money, bag items, etc. are missing and in order to retrieve them (this point in the game its mandatory, you cannot leave town unless you find him because you're guy will refuse to leave) you need to find him. You find him a few times and finally after running he gets trapped and the entire party surrounds him and then you fight him (mad easy just a heads up so if you're low on health and freaking out, then just relax because even if you lose its not a game over) and then whether or not you win or lose you get the stuff back. If you win the guy tells you about this decayed graveyard and behind one of the graves he hid a special item needed to get into this house that was locked in one of the previous towns. That was a spoiler, but whatever at least now when you see that house you don't get discouraged and forget about it because its worth going to. Lets you in on a new part of the game that was hidden if not entered.

[Neo Samurai]

I thought you might have died there for a second.

It certainly sounds interesting, but I suggest you don't make it too hard. One thing really annoying is when you're stuck on some daunting task and there's nothing you can do about it.

Of course, it sounds like it won't be. I'm looking forward to it.

[nerussentia]

Thanks man. I completely warped it. I saw its death coming, but I came here and you all ressurected it. Whenever a task is given to you it is displayed on the menu so you can look back and see what you need to do.

[Doan the Nado]

Um... this has been a bit of a hijack. Let's get back on the original topic with the next post.

[nerussentia]

Sorry!
So yeah... NPCs should be worth a conversation with.

[kennyken]

Doan was absolutely right in his post. Townspeople can add so much to the story and atmosphere(building tension) of your game, it's good that you've placed enough importance on it to ask for advice.

[finalchrono102]

thanks guys, ill get to work on it tonight, anyway later ;D

[Lost In Thought]

looks like this convorsations already at an end, but i guess i
ll toss in my opinion anyway:




make the towns people have a purpose, or at least some of them, so its worth going out of you way to speak to them.

you can decide what to do with them but some ideas would be extra quests, history lesson, hidden tips for whatever challenges you'l face in the area etc.

[finalchrono102]

yah, i figured ill have a like one in each town that is looking for something that somebody in another town might know where you can find it so you have to go back and forth between the towns.

[KuroShinnen]

Fetch quests are not the greatest thing to do in a game. I honestly hate them and I think many others do to. One or two is ok, but don't make it so you have to travel everywhere for one quest and a small reward. Add some variety to the quests you make.

[Doan the Nado]

Well, fetch quests in themselves are not bad. I always felt a sense of accomplishment when I got to some town where someone was like "Wow, I wish I had a good translator", and lo and behold, I ran into a good translator a couple towns ago. This is especially true if the fetch quest is for some extra bonus or something, and also if travel between towns is not monotonous (tons of boring random battles, or you have to traverse so many maps that you lose track of where you were in the game by the time you finish the fetch quest).

So I do think that fetch quests can be interesting, but you have to be careful in how you handle them. It can be a good way to encourage the player to talk to all the townspeople and to reward those who do, if it is all done properly.

[finalchrono102]

ok, thanks guys

[The Final Rune]

[white]I have dealt with this dilemma myself and still haven't found a very good solution to it.

In most games the NPC's either:

• Give you a mission
• Say something pointless
• Or point you in some direction for some quest or mission

Now, I'm sure this is all well and good, but its also very flawed. People in real life avoid talking to people. Especially any that have large weapons strapped to their backs. Most people that actually speak to me in the streets are looking for directions or asking the time. Unless they're bums, then they're asking for money.

Damn no good lazy bastards!!!!

That aside, I believe that NPC's should adhere to the following guidelines in an RPG:

• They should only answer basic, common knowledge questions
• Their responses and type of speech should coincide with their station in life. (i.e. farmers shouldn't have Ph.D's and scientist's shouldn't use slang)
• They should be able to offer some information about the town and neighboring areas
• They should not tell you about that far away mythical city or special dungeon (that's what old scrolls and books are for)
• Unless the NPC has a direct tie in with the royal family/arch villain/main hero/etc. they should not convey any real point of plot
  • I'm sure that may seem weird, but I believe that only the major players in the story should move it forward. The game is about you and the arch enemy, not Joe and Bob down the street. You can have a NPC tell how the world's current state effects them, but if you're not pushing for an emotional connection to the populace this is probably not worth the effort.
• And lastly, these are just my opinions. Make your game YOUR way.

Peace and stuff.[/white]

[vespuleth]

i think levi offers some real wisdom here.

[The Final Rune]

[white]A few more thoughts

• Regarding speech
  • A lot of games have foreign tongues in them. People seem to think that this adds diversity and uniqueness to a game. While I feel that this can be true, it often is not. Take the Al Bhed from FFX. Their language was a simple replacement of letters. Consonants for consonants and vowels for vowels. It worked beautifully, but once translated and seen for what it was, it became almost pointless toward the plot.
  • If you must have a foreign language or dialect, let it serve a purpose. Don't include it strictly for the sake of uniqueness.
  • Dialog is vital to a game where you can't really express emotion through character action. Make sure everything spoke fulfills a purpose. Don't waste time scripting out useless conversations.
  
  
  
• Choosing NPC's
  • We all want to fill a town full of vibrant living characters, but sometimes this is not the best course of action. NPC's are one of the driving forces of a game, so they need to be selected carefully.
  • I cannot stress the importance of being picky here. Imagine running around a RPG, desperately trying to find out what you're supposed to be doing next and all the NPC's in town will tell you is that they think they'll get a crop this year or that it looks like its going to rain.
  • Purpose, purpose, purpose. Make everything said worth being heard. Some filler is unavoidable, but do keep it to a minimum.
  • Make important info giving NPC's stand out from the rest. This may be a cliche thing to do in RPG's, but its been done for so long for a reason; it works and it keeps the player on path!
  
  
  
• Life in town
  • People do not walk back and forth for no apparent reason, unless they are pacing out of worry or frustration. Don't give characters pointless actions. Have the farmer tending his field. Let the grocer call out to people as you pass by. Have the NPC's actually leave the screen and then come back to it.
  • Remember that the player has a limited sight distance. Use this to your advantage. If the town is on a world map, have NPC's exit beyond the player's view (pass the warp out zones) and walk around the city in a loop to reappear from another entrance. Create object bypass items that NPC's can disappear into.
  • In my games I make the houses without doors and instead use building editor blocks to act as a shadow that's by-pass enabled. This allows me to run NPC's into their homes and have them actually go in the house. The shadow block works as my teleport warp, so the player would enter the house if they walk into the shadow.
  • Be creative. Give the townsfolk something to do other than just wander aimlessly hoping some hero would stop and talk to them.

As always, these are just my opinions. Make your game YOUR way.[/white]

[Neo Samurai]

Great job, Levi.

You even gave me some ideas.

[realitybites]

Wow, yeah same here. Good Job Levi.

[Deleted]

Me too, Levi! That was very intelligent and insightful. ;D