dead NPC question.

[d4verman]

Is there a way place a custom NPC and make the look dead w/o using the body bag prop? 

I have an NPC that shows up for a few seconds in one mission just to tell the player something. In the next mission I need to show the NPC has been murdered and the player finds the body. 

[cranebump]

There's an "Unconscious" selection, though I can't recall if it is available under all NPC objectives (allies, rescues, etc.).  That said, I don't think you can have them as an objective where the body stays put (I imagine the NPC will get up, then fall back down when you leave them). You can use "Dead Slab" to have an NPC fall over to the ground on a rescue, but they won't stay there, to the best of my knowledge. On the whole, I think you're okay with the body bag (though it's not visually optimal), since players will note the bad news from the visual clue.

[Darmian]

40 minutes ago, d4verman said:

Is there a way place a custom NPC and make the look dead w/o using the body bag prop? 

I have an NPC that shows up for a few seconds in one mission just to tell the player something. In the next mission I need to show the NPC has been murdered and the player finds the body. 

There's a dead slab choice, however there's a catch.  You have to set the body as a friendly boss and have friendlies around them, or else they GET UP when you get to them. And obviously set them to not follow, just in case.

Edited January 19 by Darmian

[d4verman]

1 hour ago, Darmian said:

There's a dead slab choice, however there's a catch.  You have to set the body as a friendly boss and have friendlies around them, or else they GET UP when you get to them. And obviously set them to not follow, just in case.

Hmm...I might have to tweak my script a bit but I might be able to make that work. 

[Darmian]

16 minutes ago, d4verman said:

Hmm...I might have to tweak my script a bit but I might be able to make that work. 

Maybe police investigating the body or something?

[d4verman]

6 minutes ago, Darmian said:

Maybe police investigating the body or something?

 

No, I need the "friendlies" to leave (or just despawn) when the body is found and the "friendlies" are the ones that committed the murder (and frame the player for it). I don't know if its going to work if they don't despawn or leave. 

[Darmian]

2 minutes ago, d4verman said:

 

No, I need the "friendlies" to leave (or just despawn) when the body is found and the "friendlies" are the ones that committed the murder (and frame the player for it). I don't know if its going to work if they don't despawn or leave. 

Ah.  Snag being that the "body" will get up then.

[d4verman]

15 minutes ago, Darmian said:

Ah.  Snag being that the "body" will get up then.

Yeah I just tested it and hilariously, the "dead" person got up and ran out of the door!

 

My original plan was to have the player enter an empty place (in this situation a small Arachnos base) find the body, and even if they can't click on it, click on a nearby object which triggers an ambush of troops thinking the player is the killer. I can make that work, except for the empty map part. It looks like the MA won't let me set up the map with no "enemies" already in it. 

[Frozen Burn]

2 hours ago, d4verman said:

Yeah I just tested it and hilariously, the "dead" person got up and ran out of the door!

 

My original plan was to have the player enter an empty place (in this situation a small Arachnos base) find the body, and even if they can't click on it, click on a nearby object which triggers an ambush of troops thinking the player is the killer. I can make that work, except for the empty map part. It looks like the MA won't let me set up the map with no "enemies" already in it. 

 

New Zombie twist!  The dead guy Zombifies running away screaming, "[Player Name] killed me!  They're murderers!" and then the ambush of troops come to get their revenge!  😄  

 

Then in the following mish, you can use one of the Zombie / Banished Pantheon / etc foes as your guy that you have to put down again.  😄  

 

 

 

Edited January 19 by Frozen Burn

[Defeat All Snakes]

Yes. You can set them as a friendly boss with the unconscious/dead slab emote and just have no surrounding mobs - or have surrounding mobs that are in the same pose if you want to present a massacre instead of a single victim. They won't get up because bosses have no reaction emote, and since the boss is friendly, it won't attack, either. However, they will spring into action if enemies get too close or wing them with an AoE. You can use the "boss unaware" text bark to present a narrative as well. *You see a dead body, it's f***ed up like WHOAH* or something to that effect.

I've used this trick over and over again, you just need to make sure you pick a map where you can guarantee that the body will spawn separately enough from any combat areas. Even if the team drags enemies to that location and break the illusion, most players -- most players -- will understand that this wasn't intentional and is just the sort of thing that happens in AE arcs. 

Edited January 20 by Defeat All Snakes

[Defeat All Snakes]

5 hours ago, d4verman said:

It looks like the MA won't let me set up the map with no "enemies" already in it. 

It should. You just need one mandatory objective for a complete mission. Clicking a glowie definitely counts.

[cranebump]

@Defeat All Snakes’s suggestion, above would achieve the effect for sure. But the OP was originally asking about having the “dead” NPC as an objective. Having the actual body would be preferable, but would require a bit more work to simulate the effect. However, nearby glowie drawing an ambush is going to activate the “dead” bod when the bad guys roll in. could avoid this with an Enemy boss spawn back up the path, with boss text indicating “you’re under arrest” etc. This would draw the player(s) away from the dead NPC.
 

On the whole, though, In this case, you can either take a 1 step, unpretty approach (body bag spawns ambush), or the much more artful, 3 step approach (unclickable body, nearby glowie, boss group). Depends on how important it is to you to have the actual body. 
 

Also: in lieu of a body bag, you could instead use an object, say a piece of machinery, and say the body is stuffed there. Then give it a gruesome description or something. Sometimes what can be imagined is stronger than what we can see.

Edited January 20 by cranebump

[Defeat All Snakes]

7 hours ago, cranebump said:

But the OP was originally asking about having the “dead” NPC as an objective

Obviously I’ll defer to the OP themselves, but I’ve re-read every post they’ve made in the thread and I don’t see it. They just needed the body found as part of the mission and wanted to avoid the body bag route if possible — to “Show the NPC has been murdered and the player finds the body,” “even if they can't click on it.” The body bag route is probably the most reliable as you can make it an objective and then use the ambush without any potential problems, but since the whole point of the thread is not doing that, then the way I’d probably handle it myself is more or less your second suggestion:

-Pick a smaller, linear map.
-Set mission completion to Find the Exit.
-Have one or more enemy spawns or patrols midway hinting at the awesome murder they just done. Have a mandatory one that changes the objective to finding out what happened.
-Put the dead guy in the last room along with one or more glowies constituting evidence of the frameup. The corpse itself can shout the shocking reveal.
-Have said glowie spawn the cops or whoever back in the middle and/or front areas shouting narratively helpful things about you being the killer, whom they presumably intend to bring to justice.

Its not perfect, but this is the AE, where our primary choice is what kind of mess you want to put up with.

Edited January 20 by Defeat All Snakes

[cranebump]

Hmmm...maybe I misinterpreted their intent, then. Yeah, I think what you've got there is a good solution for avoiding the body bag situation. What kind of mess you want to put up with certainly sums up the AE design choices.:-)

[d4verman]

I'll just have to rework my script. Your suggestions are great, but I need to work on the story so it makes a little more sense.