Vuntra City

YouTube video by Vuntra City Adding Leisure And Idle Behavior To The Procedural NPCs

It's time for a new devlog folks! In this one I talk in detail about all the work I've done to add leisure and idle behaviors for the procedural NPCs. Check it out!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ba0...

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Eh, awkward moments are never as bad as you imagine. The last time I witnessed someone's awkward moment was at the airport. A guy walked into a ladies bathroom, saw me, turned around and muttered "oh fuck". And all I could think was "wow, relatable. Been there buddy."

The weather may be gloomy outside but it's always sunny in Vuntra City! (Except when it's not)

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Haha nice one!

Distracted NPC boyfriend.

NPCs in Vuntra City be like

I made the NPCs turn their heads to look at each other and the player. Small touch but it makes them look so much more lifelike.

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I've also added an option to make the text appear word by word, as suggested by @runevision.bsky.social. With two modes, constant word rate and variable one where each word takes time proportional to its length to appear. It's funny how this setting completely changes the tone of the dialogue.

I used the method suggested by @byobattleship.bsky.social with a rich text component that renders the text in two parts: the visible part that is typed in and the invisible one with opacity 0. Turned out to be the simplest way.

Following yesterday's discussion with @nifflas.bsky.social I decided to fix my dialogue widget to prevent words from jumping to next line as they get typed in. Right now I'm only using this widget for info terminals around the city, but it will be used for NPC dialogue as well in the future.

Thanks for the tip! I might try that, although I think I already have another idea. Either way I'll fix it now that @nifflas.bsky.social has brought it up.

That fits really well! Also, adorable 😍

I agree that it depends heavily on the game, its style, and the style/sound of the text. But I do like the argument that word by word text has a rhythm that looks like a more natural pattern of speech.

Hah that's an interesting argument. Thank you for linking it. Actually now that I think about it, it would make sense for text to appear letter by letter in terminals and computer screens, and word by word for NPC dialogue (I use the same base widget for both).

Yeah I changing the characters' colors is not easy with UE widgets. But making the text appear one word at a time is actually a pretty good idea! Maybe I'll do that if I can't come up with another solution.

Oh shit, my NPC dialog widget does that. And it's actually not that easy to fix in Unreal Engine 😅

Male NPC sitting in an egg chair.

Male NPC sitting at a Citizens Union desk ready to process your application.

Two female NPCs sitting at a table.

A male NPC standing on a terrace overlooking the city at night.

There's still a lot of work to do on the NPC behaviors but the city already looks so much more alive!

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My friend Lucian just started a devlog where he shares his experience and the struggles of starting out as a part time gamedev. Check it out!

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Wait, that was the "fun" one? Seemed pretty technical to me. But if you get around to doing another even more technical one I'd be happy to attend.

I see. Does the length of the word play a role? As in, do you get a longer pause after a short word or do you play the next word immediately after the previous one is finished?

I have no idea what's happening in this clip but it sounds cool! Can you explain how you turn the words into music in this case?

Oh I almost forgot. The NPC hit impacts are still working with the new modular models. And they are even more hilarious now! (Sound on! 🔊🔊🔊)

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NPCs lounging on sunbeds

The NPCs can now lounge on the sunbeds both outdoors and indoors. Although they won't fully lean back, as different sunbed models may have their backs at different inclines. So I figured it's safer if they just sit casually.

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Actually, yeah, kinda. There are screens on the walls playing some basic procedural animations.

The good news is I managed to get the NPCs to find beds and sleep in them. The bad news is, well...

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Well I dunno how easy it would be without. As someone who's terrible at memorizing things and also who stubbornly refuses to write things down, I'd be running back and forth between those billboards and cats forever if I couldn't snapshot them 😆

Looking good! Now that you've shown it in action, seems like essential functionality for this type of game.

Managed to teach my NPCs some civic sense by using dynamically placed Nav Mesh Modifiers (shown in yellow). Now they will avoid walking on grass and roads, unless they really have to.

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Retirement? There's no retirement in Vuntra City 😆 Also no weekends!

An NPC sitting on a sunbed at a rooftop of a procedural city.

Added a leisure phase to the NPC routines. Every day after work each NPC will stop at some point of their commute home and visit a rooftop terrace, a park, or a leisure related interior. Unlike the work schedules, leisure time and location will be different every day.

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Currently working on adding variety and flare to the NPC routines. In the meantime, here are some glamour shots of the living city.

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