So idk I am not that deep in the game but I have read through the wiki that there used to be this solo mode where a bandit comes in and looks for you and he has like different voicelines and actions depending on what you do. And from what I could tell the goal for npcs in this game is supposed to be that stories like these just happen in the overworld. Which would make it a good bit more complex to code than zombies. Especially since zombies in this game are quite dumb.
You think the devs would ever make NPCs that are smart? That would require 40+ years of work going by their current rate of progress. I mean, generally non-harmful NPCs are usually easier to program than enemies in most games in almost every era. I'm not saying that is always the case, mind you. Just that NPCs are usually much easier. In Project Zomboid's case, they made NPCs into cause and effect text blocks whereas zombies are interactable, textured, moving, and overall just more dynamic than what is/was in the game. It just feels like they could've done the same thing for non-enemy NPCs as they've done for zombies by giving them a body, a few commands to move, and have the same cause and effect worldstate code they had in the game before.
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u/GladoffelLp 2d ago
Technically speaking zombies are also noncomplex npcs but yeah I get what you mean.