Wandering NPC's

[shigs]

Does DS has functionality for wandering NPC's built in?

[Raudhrskal]

Yes, if you use LIB_SENTIENT in place of LIB_NPC.

Read /lib/sentient.c and look for the functions with Wander in name.

SetWander(speed_as_intger);

Optionally SetPermitLoad(1); if you want the npc to be able to load rooms (if not it won't move at all until some player will load adjacent room).

[Atomic]

In this light: is it possible for NPC's to walk specific given routes? 2nd, if it is possible to just make them wander, but restrict them to specific area types/attributes (_desert, _arctic, or _town, _forest) ?

[Raudhrskal]

Look into sentient.c . If I understand the code correctly, you can set wanderpath (as a second arg to SetWander or by SetWanderPath). It's an array which can contain strings ("go west", "open door", "go east", "press button") or (: function_pointers which are called. The function can examine the environment or sth, and return a command string.

Elements of the array are called in sequence, looping from last to first.

If you want to restrict to one terrain type, make a one-element array linking to a function, which checks terrain type of adjacent rooms, and randomly chooses one of the correct type.