c348b81a93
- Mark: a debug non-collidable named destination (pixel-art target icon), editor tool + name modal, globally-unique names, programmatic Room:addMark - NPCs walk to Marks: each RGB copy is a per-room resident (like the player), running its own A* on its own colour layer, transferring rooms as it crosses seams; rendered and collided by the room it currently stands in - Player copies are obstacles in NPC pathfinding - A* is footprint-aware for multi-cell NPCs - Editor: click an NPC to open a filterable destination picker - Ink: Dialogue.open binds walk_to; Jorge can be sent to "end"/"begin" - Fix: a blocked NPC now replans each tick and resumes instead of freezing - [npc] move diagnostics under DEBUG (start/goal/route or block reason) - Docs (adding-npcs) + CLAUDE.md LÖVE 11.x/float-colour corrections - Fix test harness loadSprite stub; movement tests green (28) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
129 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
129 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
# Adding a talkable NPC
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An NPC/sign is just an immovable `Entity` that mixes in `Dialogable`. Bumping it
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(a rejected move) opens the dialogue box. Talking is the same everywhere — you
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only supply **art** + **a story**.
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## 1. Write the story
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Create `stories/<name>.ink` — a line, a few choices, an ending:
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```ink
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yo wassup
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* kick the sign
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it doesnt budge.
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* [say nothing] you have nothing to say to a sign.
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- -> END
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```
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## 2. Compile it
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The game can't parse `.ink` (LÖVE has no lpeg), so compile to a `.lua` book:
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```sh
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lua tools/compile_ink.lua <name>
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```
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Re-run this **every time you edit the `.ink`** — the game loads the `.lua`, not
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the `.ink`. (Needs `lua` + `lua-lpeg` installed.)
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## 3. Load the book
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In `main.lua`, next to `startSignBook`:
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```lua
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<name>Book = require "stories.<name>"
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```
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## 4. Make the entity
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In `npc.lua`, copy `Sign` — pick your art and name your book. Include `Walker`
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too (it's what lets the NPC path to a Mark; see "Making an NPC walk" below), and
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call `self:initWalker()` after `Entity.initialize`:
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```lua
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Oracle = class("Oracle", Entity)
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Oracle:include(Dialogable)
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Oracle:include(Walker)
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function Oracle:initialize(x, y)
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self.book = oracleBook -- from step 3
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Entity.initialize(self, {
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x = x, y = y, color = "red",
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collision = "unmoveable",
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sprites = {
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red = loadSprite("art/npc/oracle_r.png"),
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green = loadSprite("art/npc/oracle_g.png"),
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blue = loadSprite("art/npc/oracle_b.png"),
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},
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})
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self:initWalker()
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end
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```
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Per-channel art lives in `art/npc/` as `<name>_r/_g/_b.png` (16px cells).
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## 5. Place it in a room
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Map a save class to your entity in `Room:createEntity` (`room.lua`), alongside
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the `npc` → `Sign` branch:
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```lua
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if class == "oracle" then
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local entity = Oracle:new(x, y)
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self:registerNpc(entity)
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return entity
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end
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```
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Then add it to a room's `rooms/<room>.sav` `objects` list:
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```lua
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{ class = "oracle", x = 4, y = 8 }
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```
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That's it — walk into it and it talks. NPCs are stamped into every colour's
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collision matrix, so they block movement and obey the world's colour rules (a
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red-only player reads them in red).
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# Marks — named destinations
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A **Mark** is a debug non-collidable: an editor-only annotation the game reads
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back. It carries a globally-unique name, and it's the only thing an NPC can be
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sent to. It is *not* a Note — it just shares the debug overlay toggle. In the
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editor, click the **target** tool at the bottom of the panel, then click a cell
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to drop one and type its name (colliding names auto-suffix `_2`, `_3`, …).
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Left-click an existing mark to rename it; right-click to delete. Marks show only
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under `DEBUG` while the overlay is on (`Tab`).
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You can also create marks from code so they exist without living in a `.sav`:
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```lua
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room:addMark("gate", 5, 9) -- registers + renders in debug; skipped by serialize
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```
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# Making an NPC walk
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Any NPC that includes `Walker` (see step 4) can be sent to a Mark. From Ink, call
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the bound external function — e.g. to leave once the conversation ends:
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```ink
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Oracle: The way is open now. Go.
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~ walk_to("gate")
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-> END
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```
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`walk_to(name)` is wired for every Dialogable (`dialogable.lua`); it resolves the
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Mark by name and calls `npc:sendTo`. Under the hood the NPC becomes the player's
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RGB model — up to three colour copies, each running its **own** A* on its own
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collision layer (`pathfinding.lua`), stepping in real time and pathing across
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room seams over the world grid. Copies split apart and additively re-merge to
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white on arrival. Pathfinding is footprint-aware, so a 2×2 NPC routes its whole
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body around obstacles rather than threading a 1-wide gap.
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## Testing without a story
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You don't need an Ink book to try it: in the editor (`DEBUG`), **left-click an
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NPC** to open the destination picker — a filterable list of every Mark. Type to
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filter, click a row (or Enter for the top match) to send it; Esc cancels.
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