Hey guys, first post here - might be a long one. I don't know the situation with NPC traits fully, of course, but I've heard a lot about how NPCs will interact with the player and other NPCs differently, depending on their traits and personalities. An example of this would be an NPC who is angry would be more aggressive, and more likely to be hostile to anything that moves. However, I think that there should be different levels of personality traits. Not everybody who can be described as an angry person, or a quiet person, will be as angry or quiet as every other person who can be described in these ways. Having a tiered system of personalities would probably be quite useful. Using 'Angry' as an example once more, I suggest having several different levels of anger. Angry I - Reasonably quick to anger. Prone to getting sightly angry and frustrated when things don't work out. Angry II - A fairly short temper. More likely to act rashly through anger. Angry III - A short fuse. Potential to make situations spiral out of control and descend into violence, when this person is involved. Angry IV - Constantly looking to put a brick in somebody's face. Very rarely in a calm. peaceful mood, and often very aggressive. A time bomb just waiting to explode, given the smallest opportunity. That is simply an example, and there will be many, many other personality traits. Some won't have as many tiers (Most I'd think would be four). An example here could be 'Optimistic', where an NPC, if they have the trait, could either be 'Always trying to find a silver lining if possible', or 'Always rejecting bad news. Nothing is wrong here.' Some traits would also work well together, whilst others conflict. Having something like "Shy III" would probably compliment a trait such as "Pacifist II" (Again, just random examples).With something like this, it'd be possible to build a consistent, logical character - but of course, one trait doesn't necessarily mean another trait is definitely present, or ruled out. Having a gradient system also allows another possibility, and over the course of an NPC's lifetime, it would be possible for traits to change within their tiers, or disappear completely. It'd be a very subtle change over a long time, rather than one day waking up with no anger whatsoever. If an NPC had the "Shy IV" trait, but had managed to join a group of survivors, it is very likely that they'd become more comfortable around people, and less shy. This would allow their "Shy" trait to fall down to a level III after a logical amount of 'human' interaction. Heck, it might also allow certain NPCs to have certain effects on the traits of others. For example, our friend with what is now the "Shy III" trait might be booted up to a "Shy IV" trait in the presence of NPCs who he/she had never met, or the trait may fall to a level II in the presence of well-known friends, or that special someone. This more dynamic trait system could be used to expand NPC interactions indefinitely. Your team leader is often a good man. He treats you and your group well. He's level-headed, and never makes an uninformed, sudden choice. But there is this one man... One man who really angers him. In the presence of certain individuals, trait levels move around, allowing NPCs to have many, many more possible thought processes. Traits in these cases will be temporary, to an extent. Your team leader might be angrier than usual after meeting this certain individual, but eventually he will return to normal. A similar idea to this is that events would also impact trait levels. A small team of survivors leaves the main group in search of food, only for all but one of the team to be trapped and killed by a horde. The last remaining NPC would have seen the deaths, or at the very least heard their desperate, hoarse screams. He returns to the main group, empty-handed and alone. For a while, he's lost the Optimism I trait, and gained the Pessimism I trait. He's lost Outgoing II, and had replaced it with Shy I. Some traits will return to normal over time. Others, such as Optimism, may never return, but Pessimism may still go. Of course, if a positive event occurs, such as finding a huge stash of food, then everybody in the group may change their traits, at least temporarily. Things like vanquishing a rival gang, killing every last one of them and burning their safehouse down to make sure may cheer a few people up, and dampen down others. Events will have different effects on the traits of NPCs, depending on what their 'original' traits are, or rather, the traits they had when the event occurs. This, in turn would allow a series of unfortunate events to send an NPC down a spiral of depression and sadness, as each event adds another reason for these tiers to increase. At the moment, in the current build there are different levels of anger, or nervousness, or boredom, etc, but these are more temporary 'feelings', rather than traits that define the entire NPC over a lifetime. I feel as though a personality gradient system would really, really help make things more dynamic, and allow NPCs to adapt and evolve, personality-wise, to the twists and turns in their lives in a logical and subtle way. Thanks for reading, sorry if it's too long. XD
