Radiator Blog
MAY 19, 2023
But the game doesn't tutorialize this or dispatch an NPC to spell it out. The game never says "each NPC has a favorite type of gift item type, and you should equip it and talk to them", you have to guess that this mechanic exists from playing previous farming games or just out of sheer luck. You're just an NPC in their story.
Radiator Blog
MAY 5, 2021
Whenever an NPC is about to dump backstory and exposition on you, they'll ask you to take a seat. This is a convenient diegetic way of locking the player in-place for a cutscene, while also priming the player for an extended cutscene. Diegetically, the NPC has to prepare a machine or potion, or get supplies, or whatever.
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Game Global
JULY 12, 2021
When you imagine doing this job, is it mostly about crafting amazing cutscenes? How can I get this NPC to convey a specific emotion if I don’t have that specific animation in my toolbox? What is Narrative Design? Beautiful shots of heartfelt dialogue, with characters saying a great deal by speaking a few carefully chosen words?
Radiator Blog
NOVEMBER 10, 2021
NOT telekinesis, only works on NPCs / PvP) Havoc (temporary shield / damage buff), very useful for people who keep dying (i.e. me) or PvP buff but conceptually rather boring Aether (cloak + invisible to laser sensors, attacks cancel it, can be upgraded to only consume mana while moving). It would feel terrible.
Radiator Blog
OCTOBER 13, 2022
This isn't a big apocalyptic video game betrayal cutscene where a villain reveals himself and destroys a castle, instead it's a smaller deeper betrayal that instantly brought me back to being a teenager. Gradually all these advancements and upgrades add up to a NPC-driven town that can maintain and feed itself automatically.
Radiator Blog
JANUARY 16, 2022
Some games do all their cutscene scripting and even enemy AI in Yarn Spinner, because really, it's just a simple scripting language that does whatever you tell it to do. Nothing stops you from adding more commands, functions, markup tags, or new ways to process the script. // custom NPC AI script example?
Raph Koster
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
It was like resetting a little stage-play; the NPC actors hit their marks and reappeared at their start location. Breadcrumbs, dialogue trees, cutscenes, progression paths. Earlier in MUD design, these zones even “repopped” all at once. It was actually seen as a notable innovation when individual mobs repopped on their own timers.
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