Jacob Solomon Weinstein <jweinste@alcor.usc.edu> wrote:
> I think that NPCs are my weak point in general. Any suggestions on
> what else I could have done to spice them up in this game? One thing
> that I learned from Christminster is that NPCs are much more effective
> when they can move around and interact with a wide variety of
> environments. In a mini-game, it's hard to provide them with many
> different environments to intereact with. Any suggestions on getting
> around this?
You can make an NPC more interesting by giving him or her a strong
motivation and an ability to do things on his or her own initiative, not
just in response to the player's actions. They are more interesting if
they react to each other's actions as well as to the player's. And it
helps a lot just to give them many different things that they can do.
(For example, Edward in "Christminster" has around 150 things that he
can do or say; the other main characters have nearly as many, and even
the lowly police constable has more than 50).
A typical Bugs Bunny cartoon involves Bugs in a running battle with
Fudd. Fudd sets a trap for Bugs, but Bugs escapes and turns the tables;
then Fudd tries something else, and so it continues.
So in "Toonesia", Bud could have appeared much closer to the start and
the player could have made several attempts to deal with him.
Similarly, Dizzy could have had some kind of money-making scheme which
the player would subvert (or perhaps be tricked into taking part). Even
better would have been to involve Bud, Dizzy and Taz in interactions
among themselves.
-- Gareth Rees