Hello, Frost Hunters! 💜
Happy Friday! We are back with another Dev Diary, and this time we are taking a closer look at how we have been bringing NPCs to life and giving them more ways to go about their day around the village. 🫶
NPCs have always been an important part of making Moonfrost feel warm and welcoming. We want them to feel like genuine residents with things to do.
Rather than having characters simply stand in one place all day, we have been working on giving them more active routines, allowing them to move around, spend time in different locations and take part in everyday village life. 😉
As you explore, you will be able to see NPCs moving around the village and spending time in different areas throughout the day.
These movements may seem like a small detail, but they make a big difference to how the village feels. Seeing familiar faces wandering along the roads and going about their routines helps the village feel much more active and lived-in. ✨
Of course, this also means the NPC you are looking for may not always be standing exactly where you last saw them. 👀
With NPCs now following their own routines, we also wanted to make sure you had a way to keep track of them.
We previously shared on Discord and in our previous dev diary that we have been working on an in-game map after seeing your requests for one, and we have also been reading through your suggestions about what you would like it to include.
One idea that came up was the ability to locate NPCs on the map, especially now that they can move around and follow their own routines. We loved the suggestion, so we have been working on adding NPCs to the in-game map! 🎉
NPCs will be visible on the map whenever you are in the same area as them, making it much easier to find someone when you want to speak with them. When you move to a different area, the map will update to show the NPCs located in your current area.
No more searching every corner of the village while wondering where everyone has disappeared to. Well… hopefully not too often, anyway. 😜
NPCs will not only move between different locations, but also interact with their surroundings as part of their daily routines.
You may spot them sitting down to take a break, or carrying out different activities around the village. These actions help show what each character is doing throughout the day and make their routines feel more natural.
Behind the scenes, making these moments work can sometimes require a little extra care. Since every character has a different shape and build, the same animation will not always fit everyone perfectly.
In this example, we first applied the main characters’ sitting animation, but it caused clipping and did not line up correctly with the bench. To fix this, we added another animation layer to adjust the position of the hips, then refined the placement of the legs and hands so the final pose looked more natural.
These bespoke adjustments help each NPC interact with their surroundings in a way that feels more polished and believable. You might pass someone hard at work, only to find them resting somewhere else later in the day. 😉
Making NPCs more dynamic is another step towards making Moonfrost feel more alive.
As the village changes and grows, we want its residents to adapt accordingly. You will see them spending time in the new places you’ve restored, making the rebuilding of the village even more rewarding!
Their routines are not only there to make the village feel busier. They also give us more ways to show their individual personalities, relationships and stories through the small things they do each day. 😉✨
NPC movement and interactions are still being developed, and we are continuing to refine their schedules and behaviour around the village.
There may still be a few moments where someone takes the scenic route, gets distracted or decides to stand somewhere slightly unexpected. Apparently, even NPCs have moments where they forget what they were doing. 😜
For now, we want to know: will you use the map to find everyone straight away, or will you wander around and see who you bump into? 👀
See you in the next Dev Diary, Frost Hunters! 💜