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Integrate ChatGPT + an NPC system. We could chat with the NPCs (survivors), the limitations on the dialogues would be endless. The actions should match the dialogues. It should be possible to have different NPCs, each with their own experience, their own history, their own behavior NPCs would have positive or negative relationships with each other as well as with players. It's possible to create a group or meet/join an existing group. Some NPCs may be hostile towards your party. It must be possible to assassinate an NPC or be assassinated...so distrust and relationship is important

--Some games has NPCs as tools for puzzles, with complementary skills etc (Linear + Adventure). Some other games treat NPCs as ants, reactive filling (Open World + Action). Some other games, NPCs are gossipful beings with reactive opinions about you and other npcs (Farm Marriage and other Simulation). So I think NPCs are inseparable from these games, as plot and gameplay are intrinsically orbitating them (just imagine those mentioned above games without npcs, inhabitated Great Robbery of Vehicles, one man army farming at Crop Natural Satellite (if I am allowed to mention trademark franchises I edit) or a one-citizen society where before had a political power struggle with npcs that could permadie with their plot-related quests, like 'RadiactiveParticlesIntheAir BrandNew Vegas'. I watched some gameplay about some zomboid survivors mod. I think NPCs like that simulates another multiplayer entry, and does not makes npcs look alive (roleplay+gameplay alive just like 'RadioactiveAir BrandNew Vegas') neither makes them intrinsically related to gameplay or plot (the gameplay was not build around npcs as means, objectives. Bad part about Survivors Mod: -A.I immitates another multiplayer perception and input -- impact on performance for more npcs. -Buggy or not, the major issues in their gameplay is: they do not feel they are alive neither have any personal objectives/tasks. Asking/buying help is not the same as giving orders and ruling them. -They are just walking by with no personal major project- objectives like: find my family, revenge, get meds on city and return etc. -Buggy or not, when danger comes, mods have a poor fighting, because its mechanicaly manipulated (whenInRangeSwingTo HitOrPushEtc Algoythm), so mechanical operated NPCs prone to get swarmed and chewed. A strategical overlook (npcs see hordes comming and has a dynamic pathfinder etc) would be performance impacting. Good--- NPCs related stuff already in Vanilla: -Sound events. -Car crash events. -Notes on maps -Barricated Houses -I suggest: Each NPC have: His identity (social) related to his hidden entity id. A locked table of other npcs he knows (including you) and his opinions(related to"what who owes who", places he likes and locked-base evaluations A dynamic table of the people he meets, places he visits with dynamic evaluations A locked table of objectives and how to get them and how to do it in case of how 1 doesnt works and a what to do if fail and if it is something that deserves grief or something renewable like try next week etc with their priority related to risks. A dynamic social table of promisses, revenges, gossip, etc. A misterious table of ethics and limits of when and with who crossing them (so a limit or excuse is different for each sinful act, npc, strrssful states etc. A hidden but revealing table of social perks that is related to deadly or mindless personas a.k.a 'dont date this npc': (coward, dissimulated, violent, thief, cheater,). These traits could be revealed easily with relationships tests that could put the player on danger a.k.a treason. So this makes useful -6 trait "Intention Expert etc" where this table of treason, cowardice, m*rder, is revealed easily. About rendering, coding, etc: 1- When rendered - (they render when you are following them or bump on their table of possible locations (entitty id table of time and date locations related to their daily needs, long term tasks, leisure etc either locked or dynamic table). Forced/Increased Invincibility: --They have more health than the player. Like boss for daily work injuries. --They will not get bitten. Invincibility is disabled when Npcs become team members (a.k.a resolved major quest of this one), are less important than plot important npcs or are trapped in a calculated closed room with a spawned horde a.k.a minimum threeshold example (so there is a big threeshold of minimum hazards to break invincibility and another medium threeshold to harm them after invincibility is broken). NPC Needs: --NPCs needs are reduced and simulated, he eats if he sees the player eating or is invited to. Famine could be simulated by major climatic events. --If the npc depends on you, food is discounted from his bag or a team shared inventory. if food/water is scarce, the npc is stressful with a building up aggresiveness and social/behaviour penalties until he abandons team. Reactivity plus Routine: --A conic aura of sight reacting with containers, holstered objects (they see your weapon on your holster and get an alert state), items on the ground, ( with a basic alert system in case stuff appears where they were not naturally supposed to) etc- food and danger -. Every important object is given a priority (priorities are dymamic and each npc should have its dynamic priority table vulnerable to quests and needs) is queued as information, given a related prioriry sum and resolved as 'ignore if priority is less than current quest either is unrrlated to this quest'. --Dynamic table of Routine (places, resources, alternatives) that resolves into sleep, shelter, work, amass goods, eat, leisure, curfew (get home if late or bad weather), sleep, panic mode, moms number to call a.k.a radio gossip guy, etc.: this reactive plus dynamic routine (when rendered only) make them feel alive. 2- When not rendered - (Each NPC is basically its own table of route schedules.) About these tables: --Generated with a strucure of simulated familiesPerArea/ WhoKnowsWho/ Famous related to statistic/noise. These tables of tables could be created around key areas like schools and groceries (because people depend on groceries) so when the world is created, a rogue table of tables is creaed relating pseudo families/work relationships/schoolmates/etc (even adult npcs could be related to a school table of 1977 class) --Individual NPCs tables has schedules of date and times, I think they could act as a neural network just as zombie migration acts as a map full of dots. --When these date and times met, event happens as places get looted, safeplaces get reinforced, a campsite get preoared (for long term resolution), signs of presence like lit campfires, fresh food, trail of grass, snow, dirt etc for short term resolution a.k.a track this npc. --Do not farm npcs is a mechanic to make the game break-proof, is not karma. So new tables has a chance to spawn simulating a build to investigation/vengeance plan against massive npc removal. --Also new tables (a.k.a new npcs when rendered) could spawn with major events like a christmas vacation, new stuff and consequences related to car crash or sound events etc. Dynamic tables: --NPCs have a dynamic table of offscreen objectives that is related to a map tracer, if map traces are disturbed, his dynamic is properly recalculated) Offscreen fighting, snares or perils: --For performance reasons, fights against mobs should be simulated, based on the mentioned threeshold. No mechanic reactions happens, just a pre calculated outcome. How to make NPCs intrinsincally related to gameplay like games that has npcs: --Gossip system: remember table of table of history and society as "class off 1977 Riverside, worked 1980-1983 Muldraugh Fossoil and met peop.e there- reactant tag positive - worked 1983-1984 Riverside Bigmart and sued -- reactant frown tag"(player could also have a related table +6'Has enemies'trait): So some people will remember you or that npc with you and gossip on their PremiumTechnologies walkie. So expect vengence or acts of kindness. Acts of humanity and acts of disgrace on the same Big mart: --The first days, expect people desperatedly looting, some are harmless and some just want an excuse. Expect events like a seeing two npcs fighting for canned stuff, two npcs saying they got a fever etc ( a lot of infected NPCs on the first days) --On the first week, expect increasing violence. Remember Bigmart? There is a gang there. They will not let you in and might shoot who enters. So for the first week, expect a lot of territorialism.. -But, you could just drive a horde to these guys right? I expectthe game get patched at every easy trick, so screaming to a horde would attract attention of that sniper npc. At every easy trick, a patch with a cost or a deadly vulnerability. -But you could climb their fences right? More snares and pitfall-leaf traps with stakes, barbed wire, climbing with heavy stuff is nearly impossible (rope system to carry that fridge) etc -Reemember NPCs on farm simulator (gossip), Canadian Comedy Games about folks on the road (paranoid-revealing system), stuck in safehouse with bros making booze for war game (disgraceful-war civillian simulator where a kitchen knife is gold and is difference between life and death). NPCs will make a lot of difference if loot is scarce and meaningful, just imagine how difference a knife makes and how valuable it is in 'This ArmedConflict of My Posession' game. Scarcity is key. Knives last longer but are rare and demands knowhow to sharpen. ---SCARCITY is Key Also, a time system should be deadly too, nights should be more dangerous against zombies (sound) and daylight is deadly to the player. You shouldnt walk on day in cities because being seeing after first month could be a deaf sentence (because the shot of the sniper is so loud. snipers either from civillian and either from those guys receiving those AEBS orders) Also those guys receiving those orders and saying funny stuff on radio about activities, on zones could be playing hide and sickwith players? --CURFEW is Key Also, information is improtant, just imagine how dumb those guys are if they signal has no coding and is on an accessible bandwith, so one does need a npc or a way to get info to get that blessed signal containing precious information about rain for your crops or about that fog forecast to plan that Bigmart gang base looting or a escape from that sniper. -- ROGUEINFORMATION is Key. Just imagine great games with npcs and simply remove npcs from them. So some mechanics as Scarcity, Curfew, Gossip, Paranoid Reveal makes NPCs intrinsincally related to the game and no longer separable

So I've heard that the NPCs are mainly being scripted in numerous timelines from various backgrounds, traits, and other conditions that are essentially being hand-made. Which I can absolutely respect as that would allow more "human" responses in comparison to AI. I understand the idea of event chains that act like a logic system in a way, but I can't fathom anything short of a small army of writers to make it possible. Atleast without years of development. So I propose the following; why not let us, the community and gamers help write scripts or events? I'm sure we've all been through a number of situations and reacted to them differently depending on our own character builds or goals. If they allow the player base to contribute to this end, it would allow the devs to focus on the mechanics end to aid in speeding up the final release of NPCs. Not only that but it would allow some great diversity in the PZ world as of course, not every writer is the same. This could be accomplished by giving the community some form of template and maybe bracket it into categories of responses, reactions, or goals. Or a similar tool to properly and effectively integrate it seamlessly into the game. Essentially give us the guidelines and a relatively basic tool to help create the NPCs you, the devs, envisioned. Because trust me, we the players would love deep, lore rich NPCs. One way I could think of implementing this is breaking it down by traits or prebuilt classes. This way we could formulate different NPC reactions and goals that could potentially mesh together with other traits depending on their capabilities or limitations. Maybe even adding in reliance on other NPCs (such as potential family members) for negative traits such as deaf, weak ect or vice versa for bonus traits. Maybe have npc cops, firefighters, soldiers ect try to do their jobs at first and maintain the crumbling civilization. The possibilities are endless. A way to allow us access to this could be a form of massive logic chains. Where inputs from the beginning of the game could be handmade by thousands of players. Such as family members, goals, occupation, and some background information such as preferences, relationships ect. Perhaps even slap on a labeling system such as traits, personality ect to easily organize and piece together multiple chains. Finally a team of moderators to accept or decline certain inputs/outputs or entire chains for rating purposes or feasibility. It could be something as simple as a blog similar to this one, or more complex as a plug-in or game extension. Or even a bit of basic coding. Anything that would allow us to effectively help the core game.

I would like to suggest giving the Radio towers in the game a purpose acting similar to the power and water but, it stays on a little longer due to at the start of the game having a small army force stationed at all of them. This could have a range of possibilities with the people (Npc’s) stationed there staying or deserting their post making it random on how long radio communication or at least how long far range communication continues. eventually another choice for the people still there after the exclusion zone and military break down could be to just dig in and stay near the radio towers or leaving to somewhere else. Adding military remnants scattered on the map. Also rare ham towers at houses for ham radios possibly. Also they could be used as a way to leverage power against npc groups that have a dependence on the need for radio communication.

Hi all! I had an idea, let me know if it has been mentioned before or if you have any thoughts. After NPCs are implemented, I was thinking it would be cool if we could switch between members of our clan/the character we started with. In my experience, when the game gets stale for the night it's often due to something character related (like an injury, or personality attribute, etc) and I think being able to switch from one character to another would add a ton. Additionally, perhaps when your character dies maybe you could choose to continue as someone in your clan. Cheers!

Just a thought of something that i think it's immersive and fun to play that would be the ability to customize outflit types for npc or even our faction (be it made just by players, just npcs or both) so we could see npcs preferring to use just an outflit style be it caused by their personal traits or life story or the faction leader itself (you, i suppose) So we could have the ability to: - Define faction uniform Examples: Everybody in this faction would be using black leather jackets, pants, pilot glasses, piercings, leather and fingerless gloves, socks and boots; Everybody use a custom and painted strip where the clothing options would be free to choose but everybody in this faction have to use the custom strip to show what faction they belong to; Everybody in this faction or maybe the majority of them is somewhat related to armed personnel jobs (military, police officers, security guards and so on) and then, they dress code would be to make use of those camo clothes, police, bulletproof and armors. - Define the npc's clothing preferences In this item we could change the liking of an npc for a determined clothing type, so the npc will seek to use this type of clothing more than others Example: Set the preference high enough for an npc to like a lot of using shorts, sandals, pants, skinny pants, jackets, hoodies or whatever you want. - NPC's liking may vary depending on the climate of the world, it's seasons and on what they're doing Example: Npcs will seek to use more warm clothing on winter, and more light clothes on summer; Npcs will seek to use rain coats in rains, or shorts and tank tops on hot days; Npcs will seek to use swim suit if they're about to swim on lakes and pools; Npcs will seek to remove their shoes inside houses to make less noises, or to not bring dirty to their homes. - And the basic option to direct order an npc to use or remove certain clothing piece Examples: Do I really need to make an example for that? That's it, i think...

Hi my name is Felix and i'm a brazilian's fan of PZ. I've a suggestion for safe house/npc mechanics. If u have played state of decay 1 or 2 you might to know what i talking, change control betwen group members! But first you need to do a AI... please >.< ...after you can implement a system to manage a safe house or camp or whatever and change betwen group members, make some interesting npc’s rng skills and traits, and if my char is not fited to the job i swap to other char npc, this can work whit death too. Make some bad guys driving in highways, a good AI is required, do a code to generate some groups whit survivors around the map. And a new line of traits/stats will good ( Diplomat / speach :v ). I whant to do some tasks to this groups or trade... yeah quests... but not need complex >.> Love u XOXO, Felix. Art by: himanol

This idea will probably already be relevant when the developers take on the NPC. I think it would be cool to add traders to the game: merchants sell rare items (cement, stucco, sledgehammer, etc.) currency - for example, captured animals or something like that. the merchant has a mini-base which cannot be entered the merchant cannot be killed, since he is inside the armored base it is also impossible to disassemble the room with a sledgehammer where he sits there are always a lot of zombies near the base, as the noise of the generator attracts them

Not quite Seal Team 6, but that's why we're in the WIP section... So I'm not attempting to offer any version of the SuperSurvivors! mod (by Nolan Ritchie) in any way. I’m just trying to play the game the way I want to play it, while trying not to break anything in the process. That said, I’d like to share and demonstrate a few things since Animations and NPC’s are on the horizon. I figure it was a good time to post this to perhaps add something to the NPC conversation. Talk is cheap, so I made a video to illustrate my ideas: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Mrpw7JEj7skGhO4BWtG1UmvLRefpIDO/view 0:05 – [Eat now] command 1:05 – New Fighter Group Role 3:25 – Guard Task in Fighter Role 5:03 – New Over-Watch Group Role 8:19 – Over-Watch and Vehicles 10:35 – Close Over-Watch support for Vehicle 15:33 – NPC Vehicular Combat (firing from inside Vehicle) Rated (M) for Language enjoy!

EDIT: **Released** --> http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1331826879 Direct Download: http://undeniable.info/pz/SuperSurvivors.zip As some of you know, over the past few weeks I've been working a new version that intends to work on vehicles build and handle many of the reported problems and issues reported over the past while. As well as add some new features and Improved AI! So whats different? Let's take a look. Let's get the Bad News out of the way first Problems that still have not been fully resolved, and really cannot be without java side edits which we don't want: Pathfinding Freezes/Delay. If there is a lot of stuff going on in the cell like zombies hording towards a big sound, Survivors can have a lot of delay before they calculate a path to where they are wanting to go and therefore, may appear frozen in place even though they are trying to move or run away but are waiting for the response of the Path-finding algorithm. New issue since vehicle build path-find change is that certain building windows in certain places on the map, seem to have an incorrect property set which causes a survivor to think they are able to walk through it, when obviously they cant. Calling said survivor to you if they are stuck can get them un stuck MP is still a No Problems that have been fixed!: Random Survivor Despawn. No more random disappearances of your loved survivors! Survivors are now saved in a map table which is saved many times per minute, which gets loaded at the start of the game. There is no way your survivor is going to disappear until he dies and his save file is deleted by the OnDeath event. PVP System improved, No more friendly fire on group members when PVP is on. Survivors can now Sprint! Very noticeable performance / efficiency boost. The whole mod was totally re-written. Much more organized and clean, potential for growth is great now. Compared to Normal Survivors mod, FPS is great, no lag or stuttering (caused by this mod) Bleach Suicides. Survivors no longer consider Bleach and other poisonous "foods" as food. Bad Food Choices. Survivors no longer just grab random food but will make a more intelligent choice, choosing cooked and spoil able foods first. Endless Door Open Attempts. Survivors will no longer stand there in an infinite loop trying to open a locked door that's not gonna open. They will try entry through a window or give up trying to get in. Barricade Building Order Fixed. Didn't work at all before, now it does. Woodbury, Military Blockade, Prison, Hilltop Spawn points fixed. The option to spawn in these places on a new game was gone, now it is back! Enter Vehicles. Survivors will now enter the real Vehicles from the vehicles build assuming there is a free seat, they will get in if following you when you are in said vehicle. Note Survivors will not get into vehicles from car mod anymore. Feed me I'm a Baby. Before survivors in an order state like guard or patrol would not feed themselves. Now they will eat or go find the food or water they need no mater what state they were in, as long as they are not ignoring danger to get a snack obviously. The name in the medical check menu now matches the survivors name New Features: Survivors Name appears over their head like it does on Multiplayer Barricade Order added/fixed Doctor Order added. A Doctor will go to and treat anyone near by that is in need of any kind of treatment, bandage changes, splints, stitches, anything! You can only Order a group member to take the doctor role if they have at least level 3 Doctor Farming Order added. Yes you can have Survivors tend your farm for you. But not just any survivor can do this. You must find someone with at least level 3 farming. Partial Food Eating. Survivor will only eat w/e % of the food is necessary to return to 0 Hunger rather than just eating the whole thing. A More interactive style of of well... interacting with survivors. You cannot just shout orders or order all orders and have your orders heeded immediately like before. These are people not your puppets after all. To ask a survivor in your group to do something, or any survivor to do anything basically, you need to first engage them in a conversation. By right clicking on them and "Call"ing them over to you. Then they will come and have your attention for a short time. During that time you have many options to interact with them like before such as giving orders, giving them items, swapping weapons etc. Now right clicking can be tedious i know so, there is a hot key "t" which will Call a near by member to you automatically. and hotkey "/" to call a Non party member from near by if any. Improved Random Survivor AI. Before the randomly spawned survivors would just endlessly fight near by zombies, flee from zombies or try to hide. Now they will follow the following logic. If they don't have weapon they will search for building to loot, going to new building by buildings looting for said weapon. Once weapon is found, they continue going from building to building but this time looking for food. Once they find food. they will then barricade the windows and lock the doors. And remain in that building as their kind of base. Eating and drinking what they have inside until they get killed or you come to recruit them. If they run out of food in said base and begin to starve they will set out again for a new base containing food. Recruiting Logic improved. Before a survivor just have a x chance to be willing to join you or not. Now all survivors have a kind of relationship stat, and asking them to join you will be based on that stat, a quite low chance for successful invite by the starting level, and each time you ask them the relationship stat goes down!. So asking and asking does not help but lowers chances. Giving a random survivor a weapon or foods will increase relationship stat and chance of them excepting party invite! Proper Greetings. If a random Survivor sees you for the first time and it is not too dangerous to do so, they will approach you and greet you. And will continue on their way after you do not interact with them for a short time. Though you can of course call them back. First Aide! before survivors did not address their injuries at all. Now they will flee and give them self first aide if required. They don't do anything more complicated then bandaging. Unless they are in Doctor mode. If you want to give them first aide treatment without them messing with bandages first order them to "Hold still" Finding their own Water. Survivors, like when hungry, when thirsty will go find water near by themselves, either from an item containing water like water bottle, or from a water source like sink, tub, well or toilet. Declaring your Base Area and other Base related areas. You can now select areas with your mouse and designate them as areas in your base, like storage areas for certain items, areas to do certain kind of base work in. Options / Settings in Main menu. Before you had to fish through the mod files and find the settings file open it with notepad editor and change the values yourself. But now you can simple return to the main menu and Super Survivors has a page on the options menu and you can set all settings with drop down boxes. Group / Base Role based AI Survivors in or around the base, will try to keep themselves busy even if you don't tell them what to do. W/e they choose to do, they will stop and return to base after doing that thing for a reasonable amount of time. Survivors in Base do Work Survivors in base, who are not currently doing something you the leader ordered them to do, will take up work tasks themselves based on their group role. Gun fire Cover when behind Objects if you are behind a window shooting from out a window. You will have great cover against incoming fire. Approx 75%. Many other objects just having them between you and the shooter when you are behind them will also give you cover. The average object gives you 50% cover. Good shooting skills can slightly negate the effectiveness of cover. Translation Support Translation Support has been added. The file to translate is located in the mod files \media\lua\shared\Translate\EN\ Japanese Translation by TEATIME05 Brazilian Portuguese Translation by williamfoxrpg Stuff that is Gone now or not yet added: Controlling Survivors. No longer an option and will no longer be. As the idea of this mod is for them to be self sufficient enough for you to not need to control them Order All option. (will not re-add for already mentioned above reason. But something similar will be added ) Rules of Engagement. (Something similar will be added) Stuff I plan on adding soon: Survivors going on Loot missions themselves (Out of cell) with amount of items they bring back dependant on various things such as time since start of world, kind of weapon / skills. You Joining groups. You can join groups and not be the leader. Survivor Group Leader AI will give the orders. a simple story mode with quests involving unique survivors Here is a link to the Workshop! : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1331826879 Here is a demo video showing the Doctor AI: Random Survivor AI Demo Video: New order Gather Wood works great together with Chop Wood Order:

I would like to request that the NPC feature of the game, once it is ready to be added to the game, be an option in Sandbox, if that is possible. I've been playing PZ for just a couple of months and I dearly love the game. Interaction with the zombies gets my heart racing and I find that I have to remind myself to breathe. I'm not saying this is a bad thing....this signifies how much I get into the game. However, I'm not interested in having to deal with NPCs threatening my base and distracting me from the focus of surviving and staying alive. The zombies are plenty enough to keep my attention. So please consider making that feature an option some how, for those of us that just want to fight the zombies, build safe houses, farm, fish, etc. Thank you for your consideration. I tried doing a search for NPC prior to starting this thread but came up with nothing.

Okay so this isn't me asking about survivors, just giving additional material for whenever they do release. And I know the devs will adore this idea. So similar to the Rimworld idea where you can put in custom characters you want to see in game, except you can't really. You can just increase the chances of seeing certain NPCs. Well in this case you will build NPC's imagine kind of a backlog of characters you can play as so you can boot them up and play with them without remodeling them and all that, redoing the traits. Now here's where it gets interesting. What if we pushed that one step further and say you're playing as Jim Jones, but you have Sally Davidson created as well and you want to see her in the game? Well you would have an option pop up and bam Sally Davidson is now nin your game. But lets take it even one step further again, what if you want her to be related to you or another NPC you put in the game? I feel like once NPC's are ready and fleshed out and all that good stuff to implement this. It would add a whole new dynamic to the game. Another layer if you will. Side note: I know some of y'all will say this will make the game to easy and to that I say, not necessarily. I mean you can abuse any feature. But if you want to balance your game, just create a balanced framework. That will be all. Now time to sit back and be praised for what an amazing idea this is and how I make the all time best suggestions! Or ... You know get told it's a horrible idea and then go eat cake due to sadness. lol

Hi I understand that at this current time the vehicle thing is under going some major changes at the moment so I don't expect anything too soon but after you guys are done on that could you maybe consider adding in some NPC's. Survivor NPC's The last mention I ever saw of it was somewhere around 2015 I believe (off the top of my head) but I think it would make the game that little bit more fun to play. Imagine if you could go into town find some more survivors who are scavenging for loot and band together to block off an entire area of a city to yourselves creating a safezone for all the people you gather. Now of course banding together should have it's downfalls too like feeding the survivors caring for their medical needs and such but it's upsides could be maybe putting them to work and getting a base down quicker assigning them jobs such as farming, building, looting missions and anything else you could think of. Bandit NPC's So I find that personally once you have a base setup with large wooden walls, the zombies seem to be pretty ineffective of destroying it so I figure why not add some NPC groups of bandit survivors who will actively seek out players and their bases to attack. Maybe destroy of few of those walls a lot quicker than any of the zombies could by using sledgehammers or something. And have a few roaming bandit groups too who make a lot of noise with their guns or weapons so that you know who to stay clear of. End Anyways I'm gonna wrap this up, as I said I understand that the vehicle thing is undergoing some major work so take your time guys. I've got nearly 200 hours in this game and it's still addicting as hell and I love it. I know all of the above that I've mentioned is a f**k ton of work in regards to coding it all and I don't expect Rome to be built in a day but please consider adding the NPC's soon once you're done with the vehicle changes as I'd love to be able to do something other than survive as it's becoming quite stale personally. But yeah... keep on doing what you guys are doing I love the game and fully support any of the work you guys do. I'm not really a forum guy so I don't know if I'll be too active but I hope the right people see this post. Peace guys!

So we all know that NPCs are coming...eventually. And what zombie apocalypse would be complete without a few ragtag groups of survivors that, more often than not, end up being a bigger threat than the zombies? The Walking Dead has groups like the Saviors and the Whisperers. Fallout has raiders, super mutants, and all sorts of colorful groups. What groups will rise from the ashes of society in Project Zomboid? Here a few ideas I had for possible NPC factions for late-game: The West Point Militia A group of ragtag civilians with guns and ammo pilfered from the trusty West Point gun store, led by the former mayor of the town. They are initially camped out by the north bridge connected West Point to Valley Station, but their goal is to "take back" West Point from the undead and establish a safe zone by walling off the downtown area. Inspired by Walking Dead's Woodbury. The Inmates Following a bloody riot, the surviving prisoners of Knox Penitentiary stormed the prison's armory and wiped out the guards, establishing control over the entire facility. Once under lock and key by the state of Kentucky, they are now a formidable gang of thugs, murderers, rapists, and all forms of criminals with heavy weaponry and an impressive base of operations. The few guards and corrections staff left alive are little more than slaves to the Inmates, forced to help maintain the facility and often the target of abuse by the prisoners. Surprisingly (and thankfully), despite no longer languishing behind bars, the Inmates rarely venture outside the fences of the penitentiary. However, the food stockpile in the prison's kitchen won't last forever... The Faithkeepers Controversial pastor Dan Firebaugh leads a small group of heavily-armed right-wing religious cultists from his fortified church in March Ridge. The group, known as the Faithkeepers, believes the End Times are upon them, and that God is raising the dead to punish the world for its sins. During the day, they keep to themselves, holed up in their church chanting prayers and listening to hate-filled, ranting sermons from Pastor Firebaugh. But at night, they roam the streets of March Ridge and beyond, preying on helpless survivors (or as they like to call them, "sinners and heathens") and murdering anyone they deem a threat to their twisted, bloody ideology. Inspired by...well, I'm pretty sure you can guess. National Guard Remnants Unbeknownst to the news media, the establishment of the Exclusion Zone was not the first attempt by the military to contain the Knox outbreak. On July 7, 1993, the 238th Regiment of the Kentucky National Guard was deployed to Knox County on a clandestine mission authorized by the President himself. The troops thought they were being deployed for disaster relief and riot control due to the unconfirmed reports of a viral outbreak throughout the county. Instead, they walked into a slaughterhouse. The operation was a disaster, and the thousand-man-strong 238th was reduced to a few dozen Guardsmen within three days of deployment, prompting the military and the federal government to withdraw and set up the Knox Exclusion Zone. Now cut off from their commanding officers and stranded in the middle of a war zone, the few remaining soldiers of the 238th must regroup and form a plan to make it to the Exclusion Zone border, or die trying. These are just a few of the ideas that crossed my mind. What kind of NPC factions would you like to see?

Ok, so I was discussing this game with a friend and telling him how I was hoping to fill my insanely large Perma Base with a few survivors (or a lot... would need more housing to avoid discontentment see note 3). Got me thinking on what basic trait NPC "followers" should have or be tagged with. Feel free to comment and add, I'll update this to include suggestions both in the "I deem worthy" and "I'm against it or I don't care category". While we wait for NPC it could be a good way to distract us from such post as "when NPC will be here" and focus on what we actually want out of them (assuming it's not to late). I know this may not be knew, but play along and we could get a list of do and don't do to help our friendly devs. First and foremost You should be able to edict a few rules (see note 1). You should be able to assign role to NPC, idealy based on skills or potential (see note 2). Anything else falls here? Note 1 : Edict rules Maybe those won't be as complex as a pre-apocalypse legal system. But some obvious ones should make their way in : Rationing (both food or other items) Curfew or restriction to go out. This could be targeted against specific roles to allow some but not all out of your base, for the good of all. Basic 10 commendment stuff (not kill, not steal, etc). Anything else? Side effect of note 1 Obviously their may be time where you need to enforce such rules... what will you do then? Will you banish people? Will you simply kill them (or just whip them a few times)? But more importantly, both the rules and the punishment for breaking it should have an impact on NPC (based on his/her psyche in the first place... is it a conformist? an anarchist? etc). Note 2 : Define roles One of the most interesting possibility of having NPC (beside side quest), is having them fill a specific role. Are they guards? Are they farmers tending your community crops? Are they cook? Here the list would be too long for me alone to fill it (beside what I've given here). So I call on the community : What role can NPC have beside being sideshow/side quest? Leader Guard Looter Farmer Cook Builder Note 3 : Behavior modification factor I assume that things like unjust rules/punishement, starvation, cramped living, etc will have an adverse effect on NPC. The opposite should also be true (fair rules, enough to eat, decent living space, etc) will have a positive effect on NPC. I deem worthy and credit is due to... (will insert credit on post number and ref to where it got) Leader - Keshash in this thread Builder - Migoxiss in this thread I'm against or I don't care (may be split into two eventualy) ... (will insert both original post number and reply along with a few word summary) No hype train I don't want post about : when will NPC be there, OMG I wish NPC where there. We all do, and the answer is when it's ready. The point of this post is to tell what we want out of them, not how soon we want them.

This is basically a sum-up of what I understand about NPCs and their development. This was written in a small amount of time and I didnt type it in FULL detail. The ETA is not official it is just by how I see it. Some things here may not really make sense, that is because im just overwhelmed with how much hype my body is being fed every single millisecond that I am alive. NPC Development 2016 NPCs and my Speculation (And my life story :P) With the animation update, the making of NPCs should be whats next and should be easier. I would give an estimation of about maybe 1 or 2 more months until news about NPCs! Well their development has most likely been a MASSIVE change from like 2 or 5 years ago. Lemmy (Chris) said that they will make the 5 years of development worth the wait, that to me seems like a hint, as if there wont be a 6 years of development (UNLIKELY). Ive been spending quite some time doing this research and I had the same hype 2 years ago but then it never happened, and I will be very depressed if it happens again. Im just waiting on what is next on this next mondoid, my guess is that it "might" be about NPCs, because there is still stuff to add but I feel like NPCs are Priority OR the more LIKELY update will be the release of animations, THEN they will talk about NPCs. FUCK IM SOO HYPED DUDE IM SO LIGHT HEADED... God damn this game was like 5 years of my life, come home from school on Monday, skip homework to read the mondoid, then do a butt load of research into trying to find some hints on NPCs and development. Now it may not have been a full 5 years because I only got the game 2014 but I was a big fan since release, I would get jealous watching a you tuber play this game especially with NPCs. From 2014 all the way up to the beginning of summer (this year) It was basically a dead game, however I would haveten check on some updates but I never really read into them, UNTIL I realized that I had the game and I remembered how much hype there was! Sadly I was let down after reading basically everything about development since then. Well enough of this typing crap, I just wanted to put this out there so you can relate or so that you know that you aren't the only ones suffering from the "NPC blackout". I know the devs have said that they want NPCs out more than any one else, and all I have to say about that is... I Understand. <3 I am really looking forward to playing NPCs and I wish they could just release now so I can play them all summer, and if I do, my friends would most likely assume that I died. Sincerely, -A member/player/supporter of TIS and Project Zomboid P.S I even said to myself, if these NPCs dont release after ANOTHER 5 years! I WILL study coding, animations, and basically anything PZ needs so I can join Indie Stone. IF A DEV READS THIS, Feel free to delete this post or reply, but please understand that, I understand No need to send me links to any discussion because the chances are I have already read them. I guess I can say I feel the pain that Chris types whenever he types up one his long ass replies. I know you guys dont send out ETA's but can you say mine was a good guess? I feel like the most likely reply from a dev is the usual, "We dont do ETA's" or the classic "They are finished when they are finished"

What sup guys, last night with my GF, we were thinking of ideas for PZ, and we came across the idea of NPCs, well we all know that the dev are working on NPCs. but the idea is for a more develop NPC mechanism. First Idea was that NPCs should able to roam around the map not just stay in a single spot (Dev may have already thought about it). Secondly, NPCs should be able to barricade their houses and/or either we tell them what to do. Thirdly, Later in the development NPCs should be able to create a small community or like a small base. (like TWD tv show) Fourthly, that would be cool to see NPCs that has interaction with the world, such as you see them walking in the street of Muldraugh, in group or single, you see them roaming, or you see a group of bandit looting a store. Fifthly, each NPCs has their own little story and job, it can be generated by the game it doesnt have to be like scripted. Last but not least, Would be cool with you would be able to trade with NPCs and that they have factions of NPCs. ex the Military faction, the bandit faction, the Savior faction(they are the nicer one), The cannibal faction (Thats self-explanatory)... Maybe most of those Ideas were already taken I dont know but let me know

Hello there, I know npcs will eventually come into game, but I am very interested in attempting an npc mod. Can anyone point me in the right direction to do this? I am not new to modding nor LUA. I simply have no real reference materials. tyvm -Winter

First of all I don't want to start a keyboard warrior fourm post about this I simply want to know about the NPCs you guys keep promising them soon, but later in the post not so soon. I haven't heard a single update about NPCs in a while. I think this will be the best feature to come out. In my opinion. If so I just want to know how it is going and a offical release date or a estimated release date.

So i remember project zomboid talking about adding npc's soonish a long long time ago, actualy i am waiting 5 years and the havent added the npc's in the game. How long will the wait before adding the npc's??? Does anyone care about npc's or everyone forgot about them??

*Warning this mod would be huge xD* \\ So, first off I'm new to the forums, Hello everyone! Modders and fellow PZ Family! I'm familiar with how the forums work, and in advanced I'd like to apologize if I upset anyone lol >.< - P.s I'm not a modder but would love to learn how! // That all being said, let's get down to the idea! I've played PZ for the better part of a year or so, definitely not as long as most everyone here, but that isn't necessarily needed to know that it can become quite lonely in the PZ world. I mean, we all know when we start off in the world there's that sense of quick, find a location, gather food/water, weapons, quick get carpentry going, and then leading into electrical and farming, etc; etc! But it gets lonely doing your own little thing and to be frank, quite aggravating, not that I'm complaining (yes I die A LOT xD). I came up with the idea after seeing the title screen, and looking at the man (I know when the lightning flashes, but let's assume that it's the player [male or female] holding someone they hold dear, or even just a friend). *For the sake of this discussion I'd like to just call the npc in question Aurora (f).* The Idea is: Starting off in the world, with someone to look after, or even finding someone weeks or months into the game. So far I'd like to say the NPC is stationary, as I'm not too sure how a mechanic would go about moving the npc, this is where idea's from people who want to discuss this come in. Maybe the player can choose a location pre-world gen? So the player doesn't have to just stay on one house in case of a large horde? Maybe the player can set off sound traps in area's around the outer perimeter of their current base to draw hordes away to protect the NPC? Be they: Injured Sick Depressed (given up on living after the apocalypse) Afraid / feeble (not suggesting a child in the game, but think of the possibility of taking care of a child? The Last of Us anybody?) Bed ridden (just throwing out ideas) Any of the case above, (all subject to change in discussion of course this is a family discussion! ) Possible questions as to why? Q: What does the NPC do? A: To be honest I had some ideas about this for example: Give small quests (possible obtaining of XP for certain skills?) [For Ex: Aurora:" [Player Name], *cough* *cough*.... I feel.. very faint, my head is.. burning.. please water? Do we have any medicine?" [Player Name]: Hold on Aurora.. I'll go check our supplies, you just lie here in bed. I'll be back. -The player goes to check their supplies (designated location? Medicine cabinet? Not too sure yet sorry..) only to find out there isn't any. [Player character inner thoughts]: "I remember seeing a clinic in town, next to the store.. maybe I should check there for medicine..." And if the player finishes this quest they could get XP for Agility, or something. Possibly give the player small gifts as thanks (ammo, meds tender love xD), or helpful hints, maybe keep a log of supplies held in the base, Tend to the farm, cook food? I'd even go as far to say chat with the player (for those dialogue lovers) to keep the Player company, and to provide companionship. (but the npc shouldn't attack? It kinda ruins the point of the Player taking care of them, sort of getting them through the apocalypse if that makes sense?) Feel emotion, Gratitude, sadness, fear of impending death, warn the player if they hear the slightest sound, maybe?Q: Can the NPC die? A: Yes. It's the point of this mod idea for the player to have to take care of the NPC, and provide companionship. Q: How can the NPC die? A: A number of ways: Neglect (possible suicide? unsure currently) If they do not receive care when sick or injured (moderate care, like a nurse to a patient.) Lack of Food Zombie Attack (obviously, maybe they turn into a zombie?) More to be discussed?Q: Can the player interact with the NPC? A: Yes! It'd be amazing for the player to be able to "chat" with the NPC and discuss how their current situation is, maybe tell stories, or random chats, some revealing supplies in surrounding houses or locations (example of this at end of this answer), and each conversation has multiple options that the player can choose, that will either affect positively,negatively, or not even at all, the NPC. EX: Aurora: "I've looked outside the window today, and have noticed the house across the way.. Seems like they were well off.." [not sure how the mechanic would work, but discuss it!] Q: How can the player interact with the NPC? A: Idk! I'm just pitching an idea xD I have no idea how to do this, maybe pushing an unused key near the npc will trigger a dialogue box to appear? Q: Can the NPC get sick, and heal from it? If so, what does the NPC do after feeling better? A: I'd like to say yes to the first part, because that can give the player quests, and as for the length of sickness (or even injury) that'd have to be discussed, maybe a possible function that will allow the player to select the time span of such things pre-world gen? As for the second half, I'd say just wander the house or set area the NPC is in, EX: if inside a house, unable to exit, (if the house is a two story, can wander upstairs), NPC can automatically close curtains for self safety, If a zombie enters the house, the NPC will attempt to sneak into a room and close the door, if seen the NPC will run into a room and hide, panicking for help from the player [unless the NPC is sick and bed ridden, in which case I'd assume the NPC would hide under the covers or something and avoid zombie detection. I'd also like to say there to be a function added where the player can request the NPC to only stay upstairs or in a single room? That'd be cool lol! Q: How often would NPC'S give quests and have new dialogue available? A: This is an answer only the modder would be able to answer, although I'd like to see there be an option for quest availability pre-world gen? Q: Can the NPC use Combat mechanics? A: I'd love to say no, but if the modder wants it, who am I to stop them? After-all, this would add a level of realism to the game. Q: Can the NPC change location? A: Again, I'd LOVE to say yes, but idk how that would work, THIS particular question is HUGE. As the NPC could draw unwanted attention to the player, and cause the whole mod to be a waste of gameplay, as the player could just die, die, die. Maybe if the NPC were to just be invisible from zombies? (which would ruin the option of them being killed by the Zombies). This would have to be discussed for sure! >.< sorry again! Q: This is a pretty hard mod idea, are you nuts? A: I like to look at life as a challenge, I know it's a daunting task, as there are NO Npc's currently in game, and maybe for good reason, I'm just so in love with this game, I can't help but pitch Idea's, I'd love to see so much more be done with this game, I want to help! Even if my idea's are impossible (which most are I guarantee, but don't know any better because I'm not a modder >.<). If they are please let me know, if they are just hard but possible if the modder has any free time, please let me know, because I know everyone has a life, but this is just an idea after all! All of this being said Hello every one again, I am NEW, but I just wanted to make this idea know, what do you all think? That's all I have for now I'm tired >.< Have a job interview tomorrow, wish me luck! Your new friend & Sister, ~ DemonXelo

Okay, here's the scoop. I was thinking, as a new immersive feature to be added, you could activate certain animations. No, not combat animations, but leisure-focused animations. You could sit down on couches and chairs, or on table chairs, toilets, etc.... These actions could slow, or stop, the process of boredom. If you sit on a couch with a broken leg, it could prevent further damage, and heal it quicker. Etc other effects... But the reason I didn't mention sleeping animations or multiple actions on couches, is to prevent the game becoming the Sims all over again. But if it get's added, no problem. I just don't want this a major focus. Just a little something extra. (Now if this has been suggested, I am very sorry. I looked for it under "Animations", "Immersion", and didn't find anything close.)

If this is even possible is there a way for certain societies within the game (if you survive long enough) to adopt different types of economies? So for example with trade if a certain group of NPC's only trades in pre-apocalyptic money then you'll have to obtain some before you're able to trade? I think it would be a neat feature and kind of give a bit more depth to NPC's while also giving usage for the cash itself. What does everyone else think about this feature? Please leave comments below and if you think it is or isn't possible to implement.

Knowing that the government is still functioning outside Knox County, it would be helpful (Specially during late game, when the electricity and water goes down and supplies run out.) if government helicopters will "occasionally" drop relief packages/supplies on Knox country (Either randomly or in a specific drop zone) to aid its survivors. Supplies like, non-perishable goods, batteries, flashlights and maybe some weapons which may help you go by for at least a week or two. The bad side of this is that the zombies will be swarming the drop zone, being drawn by the noise caused by the helicopter and competition among survivors in which conflict may arise. Plus, an interesting game option for sandbox or maybe survival where you can start a new character and leave your old character to become a NPC in the same map and let fate decide on what will happen to him/her. This idea popped in my mind while I was playing last night, when my character who was a carpenter succumbed to his wounds inside his fort last night, playing with a new character in the same map, I tried to go back to my old fort to recover my supplies and imagined how awesome it would be "If my new character, Basti Artadi could meet Dong Abay, my old one."

As the title suggests, I would like to know if anyone has made an npc mod. If not, then maybe someone would be interested in creating one? Even a simple mod, one that adds npcs that just run around and get killed would make the game much more chaotic and fun. I understand that actual npcs are under development, but it would be nice to play the game with some kind of makeshift npc survivers in the meantime. (Even if they ARE lackluster compared to the eventual release of the official npcs.) Any replies would be great, thanks.