Q/A-Speech System

[SeriousToni]

Hey there!

 

I just wanted to make a suggestion about a Question-Answer-Speech System like in Half-Life.

How it works:

If 2 NPCs are in the same room or encountering each other, one of them is asking a random yes/no question to the other, and he is answering a yes-like, a no-like or a i-dont-know-like answer. This happens at random time events as long as they're together in a room.

Would add much more atmosphere and personality to the game I believe.

 

Could that be possible?

[Bikerdude]

Could that be possible?

I think it does already, as I have heard the Ai talk to each other, and in DR there are options for speech..

[Springheel]

If 2 NPCs are in the same room or encountering each other, one of them is asking a random yes/no question to the other, and he is answering a yes-like, a no-like or a i-dont-know-like answer. This happens at random time events as long as they're together in a room.

 

Already does.

[SeriousToni]

Oh really? Never recognized that ingame - very nice, you guys are faster than one can suggest Thanks for that feature, I'll have a closer look on this now

[aidakeeley]

I gotta say with all the other stuff that needs to be worked out I'd put this way down on the list. For one thing if it's random it's likely going to be contradictory and therefore more of an immersion-breaker.

[ungoliant]

if this system is already in place, i have not noticed it. most npc conversations i walk into sound like this:

 

npc1: "i'd rather drink horsepiss than drink that again"

npc2: "son of a bitch better have my money"

 

im guessing that like most features that players ask for that are already implemented, its at the mappers discretion to add these conversation events, and has nothing to do with npc proximity

[Springheel]

im guessing that like most features that players ask for that are already implemented, its at the mappers discretion to add these conversation events, and has nothing to do with npc proximity

 

No, mappers don't have to implement it. It plays randomly, automatically, whenever AI spot each other. One AI will play a greeting/question, and the other will respond.

 

"Quiet shift, huh?"

"Yep."

 

or,

 

"No time to talk now, I'm working."

"Whatever you say."

 

The examples you gave are regular, individual barks.

[LEGION]

That´s odd. I always play now in ghost-style but never heard this before and I´m spending a lot of time around AI´s. On the weekend I will play NHAT again and other missions and I´ll tell ya if I heard those 'conversations', I hope I will.

[Springheel]

They don't play quite as often as I'd like, because the first time the two AI meet is likely to be long before the player sees them. And after they greet each other once they don't do it quite as frequently (IIRC).

[demagogue]

I was thinking about this issue with the active props. There are certain things like off-the-cuff conversations and taking a bite from the apple where the big action happens the first time and not as much afterwards, and would be better if more likely when the player is in proximity. You still want it random, and you don't want it proximity triggered per se, but there's an issue if the AI does it very early and that decreases its likelihood later on, since the *typical* case is the player won't get there until much later. Maybe a way to manipulate likelihood to bump it up when there's proximity and less when there isn't, or a re-setting of the "first time" setting on the bark when the player first breaks proximity. Something like that, or maybe even more sophisticated.