Second (and more) Questions

Discussion in 'Ink NPC Dialogue Composition' started by Magnus Zarwaddim, Feb 19, 2020.

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  1. Magnus Zarwaddim

    Magnus Zarwaddim Avatar

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    Hopefully the main pinned thread by @Ravalox can be updated with the questions people have to allow for a good resource as we explore NPC conversations with Inky.

    Here are my second (and more) questions:

    1. Will the character limit be increased beyond 922 or 1,000? The question was asked in the First Question thread, but it was down in the comments and not part of the main OP. As was mentioned in a reply to character limit by a non-developer (but maybe someone in the "know"), it appears there is testing going on first. But I'd like confirmation. As was also pointed out, if this is the limit it may not be very useful for storytelling.
    2. How does the Conversation NPC work with lot limits? For example, does it count toward the pet limit? Personally, I can see using more than 3 or 5 on my lot (I cannot recall the limit for pets). Additionally, I am not sure of the answer to this, but is the pet limit for a lot separate from a basement and/or dungeon? If they are separate, then I can live with the lot limit as I would place more in my basement and/or dungeon. The question may also be moot if the character limit is increased significantly, as I wouldn't need so many of the Conversation NPC's.
    3. Will it ever be possible to use the Conversation NPC's as quest givers that dole out a reward? This one is a bit convoluted. First, I can understand the potential difficulty in setting something like this up. Aside from programming the mechanics, there would have to be some way for the owner to "deposit" the rewards for other players. Then there is the potential for abuse/exploits. Second, an alternative (which has been wish-listed before) is to provide a special chest for people to take things from - not the normal chests we have, because those do not limit what can be taken. I understand there could be several difficulties in achieving either of these mechanics.
    4. Can we provide our own armor/clothes to the Conversation NPC? My hope is that, in the future, we can. We can currently provide clothing to our mannequins. It would be a great feature to be able to do this, as it would fit within our stories better. I would certainly purchase additional wearables in the Crown Shop for this purpose.
    5. Will we have race choices for Conversation NPC's in the future? Not much to say here. I know a few Kobolds who are asking. :)
    6. Can we link Conversation NPC's based on choices made? Again, I can imagine this is programmatically difficult. What I mean, for example, is NPC A having a branching dialog and the choice being "saved" so that you can pick up the conversation with NPC B. If not, an easy workaround might be to just have NPC B have a branching choice with "Did you speak to NPC A?" and responding accordingly - the only downside is a player could pick "Yes" and skip something in the story inadvertently.
    Thanks for reading. :D
     
  2. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    1) aren't the ones for sale right now at 5000? FYI, this is a new system, things could adjust.
    2) they take an NPC slot. POT placement coming, Rav working on that.
    3) player created quests part of 2020 vision, which could likely include doling out of rewards, not in design yet.
    4) dressing of npc's has been a common request, but current design is NPC patterns or outright acquisition. Perhaps one day. That'd be a wishlist item for sure.
    5) more NPC variety will be coming as the game moves forward, I can't see why different races wouldn't be included in those options.
    6) this is a good suggestion, the system is very early in design. Could be as simple as learning something unique from one, typing that into another as a hidden dialogue option to trigger it. Good feedback item, I'd post that in feedback for sure.
     
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  3. Nick

    Nick Avatar

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    POTs NPCs are extremely expensive. Will there be an increase in NPC count for POTs? (and lots too?)
     
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  4. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Not determined yet. But always a consideration. Good feedback item for sure, put in feedback forum ;)
     
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  5. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

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    Could these work like mannequins, where you put gear in them as a container and then they wear them once placed?
     
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  6. Elgarion

    Elgarion Dev Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    If its not a wishlist item, certainly could be. Doesn't hurt to add it to the wishlist forums for sure. Even if duplicate, at least we'll be sure it gets in the list for consideration.
     
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  7. Bowen Bloodgood

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    A more ideal workaround would be to have hidden dialogue options. IE NPC A says. "ask NPC B about.. " so you go to NPC and have to actually type whatever it is. If you just went to NPC B you wouldn't be able to simply guess unless you'd already talked to A. I can't imagine a hard coded tag being very difficult though. It's just a simple Boolean variable that would get assigned and toggled by one NPC with a conditional check on the dialogue of the other. So long as it's supported in the script. I suppose the potentially tricky part would be assigning that value to the player, or maybe the client?
     
  8. Magnus Zarwaddim

    Magnus Zarwaddim Avatar

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    Ahh, that makes sense and would seem to be an easy solution for now. Thanks for the tip.
     
  9. Bowen Bloodgood

    Bowen Bloodgood Avatar

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    Except, now that I've just started to play with it myself I notice you don't have the option right now to type anything. I thought the interface would be the same as the other NPCs. :p So much for my elaborate plans to do chat-bot like depth on my NPCs..
     
  10. Magnus Zarwaddim

    Magnus Zarwaddim Avatar

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    Awwh, that stinks. I thought Inky allowed you to input word choices so that you could theoretically give it a keyword that a user had to "find" on your other NPC. Not that this is much of a "system".
     
  11. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Maybe, but it has to work with SotA. I haven't looked through all the docs yet but I'm sure there's a few things Inky should be able to do that SotA might not support. The interface is sure different between the Inky editor and SotA NPCs.
     
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  12. Alleine Dragonfyre

    Alleine Dragonfyre Avatar

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    I would be very appreciative of more NPC slots for POTs for this feature, please. Perhaps specific extra slots for these NPCs even.
     
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