"Robust" NPCs - To Be Or Not To be

Aye, the NPC factor was very important to me at the time as well. Especially when I was thinking of using my son's name to create the NPC. Good fucking thing I sold out before that announcement.

The thing I found the most troublesome about this was how it was communicated.

If I remember correctly, Lum just kinda unceremoniously asked for people to send him names for some new generic NPCs and that these would count for the reward, which was being changed into this watered down version of what was originally promised.

I had plans to make a cool NPC that would serve as sort of a model for later things to come. Like, in my initial optimism, I hoped in later episodes they'd eventually be able to allow players to design a scene and even quests that went in that scene. I had imagined designing and naming some kind of cool looking old man for a Shaman quest line where you would enter a scene where a stonehenge-like structure rests at the middle of the scene. Normally, that scene is just a typical zone with the circle of stones and a few mobs/nodes, but sometimes (based on time/weather/other events), a quest would temporarily unlock and players could unlock a whole quest line if they could solve the first quest's problem....

In this first quest, there would be a series of kobolds loosening and moving the sarsen stones and slowly dragging them toward several rafts by the river bank. I guess the Kobolds want the stones for their magical properties or something.... If the player decided to, the player could try to kill the kobolds and stop all of the stones from being stolen (which will yield a small reward of some kind). However, there is second part of the quest that isn't apparent at first that players could miss: After defeating the kobolds and saving the stones, if the player moves the stones back to their original places, a mysterious figure would appear to thank the player, giving a slightly rare reward like some kind of special stone related gatherable, and would then mention a promise of later encounters and vanish. In later parts of this quest, the player would learn this mysterious guardian of the stones was a "Star Shaman" and would meet other similar spirits (like a trickster spirit named Esu, who is a mischievous friend/foil to the wise old Star Shaman). There would then be a whole side lore and quest line for the player to explore called the "Star Shaman Saga" (with encounters popping up only every now and then in that one particular scene). The story of that quest line could (or might not) have some non-invasive tie-ins to the game's lore. Whatever....

This was some shitty sketch I did of the idea... It looks bad and super amateurish, but was just an initial sketch of how the scene would be laid out, showing a couple of paths the player could take, and how the kobolds pathing might work: s1365.photobucket.com/user/RedCombLP/media/Starhenge1_zps3f01d190.png.html?sort=3&o=34

I know that such a scenario is reading way more into the "design an NPC" promise, but I just bring it up to point out how easily my imagination flowed when I first thought of a reward like that, and how sorely I was disappointed when they pulled the rug out from under it with very little fanfare or explanation. It also made me realize that if they'll back away from custom NPC's or companions, then they'll probably back out from CoA's too (or other things) if it proves too technically demanding/time intensive. I felt a great deal of disappointment piled on top of dismay that day....

Gots to love the new player questions, every time I read them and remember where we came from and were going to and think of where we are at now I just want to sell sell sell.

www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/companions-solo-mode-only.34891/

No bro, I still have Citizen RF skin in the game.