Some NPCS PLZ

[vancopower]

I was just wondering with the story mode around the corner. When are we gonna get some NPCS. I know that making AI is one of the toughest things in game development but at least lets have some traders, offering different supplies.  Also I think this will make TLD 1000% more fun especially in the late game and here are my reasons why:

1)  Putting traders in different locations will make exploring more profitable thus forcing the player to make calculated risks instead of just hoarding everything in one base. 

2)  Having some dialogue will make the game more alive, and break the monotonous gameplay of doing chores all day especially in the long run when you stockpiled everything and there is nothing more to do.

3) Economy - Having stable economy in the game is something that elevates the whole experience. You can loose yourself in trying to come up with the best possible deal, for example do I get food or bullets ? Food will be nice but If I get bullets I will have 10 times more food later plus the furs are extra... and so on...

4) Some kind of quests ???  instead of offering you services the traders might offer you some quest today. For example:  TRADER: "I can't sell you anything today, I fell down on the thin ice and I need lots of firewood warm myself could you get me at least 10 fir wood I would give you 20 scrap metal or 10 cloth for your troubles."

5) Testing out NPCS before the story mode is always a good idea. Even with traders who are somewhat static NPCS a lot bugs fixed before more complex AI is developed.

 

And finally I think the game is ready for NPCS, It is the final piece of the puzzle which will make TLD a unique survival experience but familiar enough to keep you going even in the late game.

[Mikhail_Reign]

I reckon if I was in this situation, I found another human being and they offered to SELL me food, I would just flip out and bludgeon then with my crowbar.

 

Your in an apocalyptic survival situation. That's the time to band together - not set up capitalist enterprises.   

[AZHockeyNut]

2 hours ago, Mikhail_Reign said:

I reckon if I was in this situation, I found another human being and they offered to SELL me food, I would just flip out and bludgeon then with my crowbar.

 

Your in an apocalyptic survival situation. That's the time to band together - not set up capitalist enterprises.   

Amen...I would help ya! 

[Riverotter]

6 hours ago, vancopower said:

I was just wondering with the story mode around the corner. When are we gonna get some NPCS. I know that making AI is one of the toughest things in game development but at least lets have some traders, offering different supplies.  Also I think this will make TLD 1000% more fun especially in the late game and here are my reasons why:

1)  Putting traders in different locations will make exploring more profitable thus forcing the player to make calculated risks instead of just hoarding everything in one base. 

2)  Having some dialogue will make the game more alive, and break the monotonous gameplay of doing chores all day especially in the long run when you stockpiled everything and there is nothing more to do.

3) Economy - Having stable economy in the game is something that elevates the whole experience. You can loose yourself in trying to come up with the best possible deal, for example do I get food or bullets ? Food will be nice but If I get bullets I will have 10 times more food later plus the furs are extra... and so on...

4) Some kind of quests ???  instead of offering you services the traders might offer you some quest today. For example:  TRADER: "I can't sell you anything today, I fell down on the thin ice and I need lots of firewood warm myself could you get me at least 10 fir wood I would give you 20 scrap metal or 10 cloth for your troubles."

5) Testing out NPCS before the story mode is always a good idea. Even with traders who are somewhat static NPCS a lot bugs fixed before more complex AI is developed.

 

And finally I think the game is ready for NPCS, It is the final piece of the puzzle which will make TLD a unique survival experience but familiar enough to keep you going even in the late game.

Yes, yes, and yes I like it all

[vancopower]

On 29.12.2016 at 4:27 AM, AZHockeyNut said:

Amen...I would help ya! 

you see people team up without even realizing it

On 29.12.2016 at 2:07 AM, Mikhail_Reign said:

I reckon if I was in this situation, I found another human being and they offered to SELL me food, I would just flip out and bludgeon then with my crowbar.

 

Your in an apocalyptic survival situation. That's the time to band together - not set up capitalist enterprises.   

You have been influenced by ameritrash zombie apocalyptic games where they brand violence under the term "Survival", which in truth survival is something completely different. Are people violent? yes would you kill someone for a can of tuna if you are left with no choice? yes However surviving long term requires numbers. People lived in far worse conditions in the Dark ages and still managed to form societies, we survived plagues, world wars, numerous atrocities by  megalomaniac  mad men. Could we survive the long dark and form a society well I think that we can, although the developers will have the last word on that.

[cowboymrh]

NO  NO  NO  NO  NO NPCS in sandbox!!    Unless it's in "It's very own" difficulty level completely separate from Interloper, Stalker, Voyager, and Pilgram!

I'm perfectly fine waiting for Story mode where you will have NPC's. At least then you have a choice between NPC's (story mode) and No NPC's (sandbox)!

If you put them in the existing sandbox, then you remove the "choice" of whether you want them or not!

[vancopower]

On 29.12.2016 at 0:45 PM, cowboymrh said:

NO  NO  NO  NO  NO NPCS in sandbox!!    Unless it's in "It's very own" difficulty level completely separate from Interloper, Stalker, Voyager, and Pilgram!

I'm perfectly fine waiting for Story mode where you will have NPC's. At least then you have a choice between NPC's (story mode) and No NPC's (sandbox)!

If you put them in the existing sandbox, then you remove the "choice" of whether you want them or not!

Care to elaborate why you feel so strongly against NPC's ?  or your religion doesn't allow it  

[cowboymrh]

2 hours ago, vancopower said:

Care to elaborate why you feel so strongly against NPC's ?  or your religion doesn't allow it  

I already explained why in my post. You might want to read it again.

[vancopower]

2 hours ago, cowboymrh said:

I already explained why in my post. You might want to read it again.

No you did not you just stressed out strongly that you do not want NPC in the sandbox and that they should be put only in the story mode as to why, you didn't say much. As you feel so strongly about this I was wondering if you could tell us more than just a simple NO. This is a forum not a voting committee and we discuss things knowing fully that the final decision falls to the developers which reminds me they've put up a point in the roadmap here:

  http://hinterlandgames.com/the-long-dark/roadmap/

 

Which suggests that there will be NPC's in the sandbox after all, so you might wanna dial it down a notch and type in something more constructive. Just a thought.

[cowboymrh]

2 hours ago, vancopower said:

 

Which suggests that there will be NPC's in the sandbox after all, so you might wanna dial it down a notch and type in something more constructive. Just a thought.

 Obviously you must be totally unaware that the Devs are ALREADY WORKING ON WHAT YOU ARE WISHING FOR ..... It's called the STORY MODE.

Now, if you want Hinterlands to pull all the Devs off of the story mode development, and have them work on incorporating them into the sandbox ........then I imagine it will be a lot, lot, longer before we ever see NPC's in the game  ........... did you ever think about that??

I also said, that "IF" NPC's are ever introduced into sandbox, that it be totally separate from the "solo" game, which many people happen to like!

My response to your question was that "I already explained why in my post, You might want to read it again". And from that simple response, you come back at me with...................... "if your religion doesn't allow it" .....  "dial it down a notch" ...... "type in something more constructive"

 

[Mikhail_Reign]

4 hours ago, cowboymrh said:

 Obviously you must be totally unaware that the Devs are ALREADY WORKING ON WHAT YOU ARE WISHING FOR ..... It's called the STORY MODE.

Now, if you want Hinterlands to pull all the Devs off of the story mode development, and have them work on incorporating them into the sandbox ........then I imagine it will be a lot, lot, longer before we ever see NPC's in the game  ........... did you ever think about that??

I also said, that "IF" NPC's are ever introduced into sandbox, that it be totally separate from the "solo" game, which many people happen to like!

My response to your question was that "I already explained why in my post, You might want to read it again". And from that simple response, you come back at me with...................... "if your religion doesn't allow it" .....  "dial it down a notch" ...... "type in something more constructive"

 

I love the go to 'games in alpha and I dont like the suggestions' neg - 'oh they would have to drop everything and work only on this - nothing else would ever come out because they would have to devote 100% of there time to your suggestion'. No suggestion ever, about anything assumed that the devs would drop everything to work solely on only that suggestion, so can we just not use it as an argument? It just side tracks the conversations into the fact that time management is a thing.

[CalNieDaGtarGuy]

Everyone chill. It's ok. Let's all take a deep breath and think about this. Who here hasn't felt hopeless when playing sandbox? I have. Now if you put NPCs into sandbox, don't you think that maybe, just maybe, that sense of hopelessness would dissipate. I mean you're walking through the forest, it's almost nighttime, you're starving, and you see someone standing at a sort-of carved out trading post in a tree. Then you can walk over there and trade one of your many deer hides for like six MREs. Hopelessness is nil and you lose the effect of being challenged against time to reach the next shelter and find something to eat. Also, what would happen if you finally reach the Trappers cabin and walk in and find someone already in there and they don't seem too keen to share with you. 

I'm just not convinced that NPCs are the key to a perfect sandbox mode. This is the reason for story mode. Not everyone's gonna agree with me, obviously, but perhaps I might have given some people some insight here. I'd be happy to respond to gentlemanly comments or questions about my reply. 

PS. Vancopower, even though NPCs have been mentioned on the roadmap, did you not read the disclaimer at the top. There is NO guarantee that these sort of things will all bad incorporated into the game. I see that you have been on this forum a lot longer than I have, but there is no such thing as king-of-the-forum. Same goes to cowboymrh. This is a forum, not a roasting page or a courtroom. It's ok.

[cowboymrh]

I have no problem with the idea of NPC's in sandbox ....... as long as the solo games are kept as well.

Actually, it would be cool if a year or two down the road when you "clicked" on sandbox you had the choice of:

Pilgram Solo, or Pilgram NPC,

Voyager Solo,  or  Voyager NPC.

Stalker Solo,  or Stalker NPC,

and finally:

Interloper Solo,  or Interloper NPC

This way, everybody's happy!!

 

[CalNieDaGtarGuy]

6 hours ago, cowboymrh said:

I have no problem with the idea of NPC's in sandbox ....... as long as the solo games are kept as well.

Actually, it would be cool if a year or two down the road when you "clicked" on sandbox you had the choice of:

Pilgram Solo, or Pilgram NPC,

Voyager Solo,  or  Voyager NPC.

Stalker Solo,  or Stalker NPC,

and finally:

Interloper Solo,  or Interloper NPC

This way, everybody's happy!!

 

Cool beans bro.

[vancopower]

On 31.12.2016 at 0:17 AM, cowboymrh said:

 Obviously you must be totally unaware that the Devs are ALREADY WORKING ON WHAT YOU ARE WISHING FOR ..... It's called the STORY MODE.

Now, if you want Hinterlands to pull all the Devs off of the story mode development, and have them work on incorporating them into the sandbox ........then I imagine it will be a lot, lot, longer before we ever see NPC's in the game  ........... did you ever think about that??

I also said, that "IF" NPC's are ever introduced into sandbox, that it be totally separate from the "solo" game, which many people happen to like!

My response to your question was that "I already explained why in my post, You might want to read it again". And from that simple response, you come back at me with...................... "if your religion doesn't allow it" .....  "dial it down a notch" ...... "type in something more constructive"

 

They said the same thing about the new clothing system it will be available only in the story mode and eventually in the sandbox, and bam resolute outfitter came out. So I would not be  too surprised if NPC's are introduced in to sandbox before the story mode comes out. Also you ware typing in capital letters which on is understood like shouting so that's why I told you to dial down it's nothing personal, everyone's opinion is valued here. cheers mate  

[ponyhidden]

On ‎12‎/‎28‎/‎2016 at 8:07 PM, Mikhail_Reign said:

I reckon if I was in this situation, I found another human being and they offered to SELL me food, I would just flip out and bludgeon then with my crowbar.

 

Your in an apocalyptic survival situation. That's the time to band together - not set up capitalist enterprises.   

If they're willing to trade food for something as useless as money I'd happily do it.

[HazardousHowitzer]

I can't say I like the idea of traders in sandbox. I could see other survivors, but I would hate to see someone in a house never needing to worry about food water etc... They would just sit there and never leave and when you trade with them it would never feel right, you know? No one else but one lonely trader that somehow keeps getting new things to trade while he never leaves or needs to eat etc..

Now with that, there is the idea that he does leave and at certain times you can't trade with him because he's out doing things. Could that work though..? The end goal is NPC';s roaming and collecting and stuff, right? But if the trader is gone, you would expect to see him someplace, getting new trade items or just getting items for himself. I don't think the game supports this though. Wolves and dear disapear when you leave the area and come back again later (I know this because wolves spawn out of thin air, bears get reset etc. They aren't constantly moving around on the map. example; if you are on the left side of the map, animals will spawn in your area and animals will disapear from the area you came from. As you keep moving, the animals from before will be gone and new animals will take their place around you. If  you are on the left side, there are animals on the left side and none on the right side vice versa). So that brings us back to a lonely trader, never moving never eating, somehow getting new things to trade... That's not good is it? I'm going on too long, that's just what I think. I saw some battling earlier here. Remember this is my opinion, don't get salty or rage over it ok? We;re all just playing a game having fun?

[oh god a wolf]

Even though I would be fine with npc's in sandbox i wonder how they would affect where you could setup bases. I have multiple bases in all the regions so maybe the traders in groups of 4-6 people could probably follow a specific route, run around the entire map or something, or setup a base where no one would really try to survive in like the dam. 

[Pillock]

On 1/1/2017 at 9:25 PM, HazardousHowitzer said:

I can't say I like the idea of traders in sandbox. I could see other survivors, but I would hate to see someone in a house never needing to worry about food water etc... They would just sit there and never leave and when you trade with them it would never feel right, you know? No one else but one lonely trader that somehow keeps getting new things to trade while he never leaves or needs to eat etc..

Now with that, there is the idea that he does leave and at certain times you can't trade with him because he's out doing things. Could that work though..? The end goal is NPC';s roaming and collecting and stuff, right? But if the trader is gone, you would expect to see him someplace, getting new trade items or just getting items for himself. I don't think the game supports this though. Wolves and dear disapear when you leave the area and come back again later (I know this because wolves spawn out of thin air, bears get reset etc. They aren't constantly moving around on the map. example; if you are on the left side of the map, animals will spawn in your area and animals will disapear from the area you came from. As you keep moving, the animals from before will be gone and new animals will take their place around you. If  you are on the left side, there are animals on the left side and none on the right side vice versa). So that brings us back to a lonely trader, never moving never eating, somehow getting new things to trade... That's not good is it? I'm going on too long, that's just what I think. I saw some battling earlier here. Remember this is my opinion, don't get salty or rage over it ok? We;re all just playing a game having fun?

This is more or less exactly what I was going to write when I first started reading this thread. Quite glad I don't have to now!

If... IF... NPC humans make it into the Sandbox, then they'd have to fit properly into the world and not just be static traders. I would really, really hate that. They would need to be able to do - required to do, even - the exact same stuff that your own character does in order to survive, otherwise it would just wreck the scenario.

[cekivi]

Hey folks. The possible roles of NPCs remains controversial but no need to get overly salty about it. As it is, the only NPC interactions we know of are of one old guy tending a fire in one of the update videos. Aside from that, there is presently no NPC information. So, for the time being feedback on what NPCs could be may still be useful but until there is some more concrete information there's not much to discuss as to how they'll impact the game.

For those who like the archives you can see a bit of the NPC discussion of the last six months. As you can see, opinions vary on what NPCs could or should be

 

[slvrsrfr]

On 1/3/2017 at 1:50 PM, cekivi said:

Hey folks. The possible roles of NPCs remains controversial but no need to get overly salty about it. As it is, the only NPC interactions we know of are of one old guy tending a fire in one of the update videos. Aside from that, there is presently no NPC information. So, for the time being feedback on what NPCs could be may still be useful but until there is some more concrete information there's not much to discuss as to how they'll impact the game.

For those who like the archives you can see a bit of the NPC discussion of the last six months. As you can see, opinions vary on what NPCs could or should be

 

Thanks for all the back links!

It seems to me the apparent prepper, survivalist rift is obvious and difficult to navigate, even with a compass in a geomagnetic event. But hopefully the two desires(1camp/1backpack) will find a happy medium. I would propose they separate it accordingly. Four levels accordingly Pilgrim-Interloper on a Survivalist/Prepper Setting. Possibly. Just a suggestion. Unless the maps get vastly larger the metaphorical binoculars need not be used. But, hey I'd still use em'.