NPC interaction

[corley]

What is the best way to get an NPC to interact with human players? and how woudl you go about making them communicate

 

[Eleandor]

In multiplayer, cinematics is a no-no IMO. There's nothing as annoying as a player forcing everyone to go in cinematic mode just because he wants to talk.

Floating texts + Dialog boxes would be a good solution...

 

[DroZzhat]

No disrespect, but I disagree. Unless I'm misinterpreting. It depends largely on the style of map you're making. You may want to take a look at Final Fantasy Epic RPG, it's not too annoying there, and quests tend to be important enough to demand a change to cinematic mode.
Chat on the left side of the screen works fine for conversations that should be heard by the entire party.
Floating text can be tricky, if you don't time it right so they have enough time to read, yet not too much... And if you accidentally make it permanent.
Dialogue boxes are a good choice, though... But I would recommend staying away from making the character say... simply... "Yes" or "No" too often.

 

[Lucianus]

No disrespect, but I disagree. Unless I'm misinterpreting. It depends largely on the style of map you're making. You may want to take a look at Final Fantasy Epic RPG, it's not too annoying there, and quests tend to be important enough to demand a change to cinematic mode.
Chat on the left side of the screen works fine for conversations that should be heard by the entire party.
Floating text can be tricky, if you don't time it right so they have enough time to read, yet not too much... And if you accidentally make it permanent.
Dialogue boxes are a good choice, though... But I would recommend staying away from making the character say... simply... "Yes" or "No" too often.

Ilyas' FFERPG is great, yet the cinematics isn't perfect.
There's also exists one more option, but it takes time to do it.

Make the dialogue system using shop-system. You choose options through 'buying' the options shown within the NPC (shop). You understand what I meant? I've already seen this system few times in some RPG maps.

 

[corley]

ok so what triggers are required to do Floating texts + Dialog boxes? and are NPC's the best/only way to introduce new quests

 

[Eleandor]

ok so what triggers are required to do Floating texts + Dialog boxes?

Well... Floating texts are easily generated with the action
Floating text - create floating text (you must know that each floating text leaks so it must be removed sometimes...)

And this is a tutorial on dialog boxes:
http://world-editor-tutorials.thehelper.net/dialogs.php

and are NPC's the best/only way to introduce new quests

Eh... The only way to introduce new quests is the way you WANT a quest to be introduced... I mean... if you want to gain a new quest when you acquire an item, well then just do so...

 

[DroZzhat]

ok so what triggers are required to do Floating texts + Dialog boxes? and are NPC's the best/only way to introduce new quests

Consider looking for unprotected RPG's that you've seen with those types of systems... It might help learn through example. Just um, don't CnP. Take the time to understand what's what.

 

[overload119]

Good luck finding an unprotected RPG.

Just make sure you

Floating Text - Disable Permanence
Floating Text - Set Lifespan

This will clean up any leaks caused by floating text, and disable permanence will also allow you to make it scroll and fade.