NPC Jobs

NPC Jobs

In the previous section, we looked at the various roles that NPCs can play in a game. In this section, we’ll look at the kinds of jobs NPCs might fill in a game. The key to this is that the job should be something interesting that makes the scene look more real. For instance, in a large office, people at computer terminals and on the phone would be realistic, plus people hanging around the copier or the coffee dispenser. On the street, a window cleaner or construction worker would be interesting, and a homeless person (in this sense, a job) might add some sense of realistic atmosphere. Whenever possible, these jobs should be active jobs where the NPCs can be shown doing something. People in an office might be moving around, delivering papers, discussing plans, working on a white board (which could have real data on it—jokes, clues, mathematical formulae, whatever...).

These jobs could also be their defining role in the game. For instance, the court magician’s job is to work magic, but this is also his role in the game. In a simplistic sense, a party member (ally) or an enemy can have a job/role that is pretty much the same. For instance, a guard is generally just that a guard. And that is both his role and his job. Also note that the player’s character could have one or more of these jobs.

NPC Roles

NPCs are non-player characters, and they populate most games. Even the ghosts in Pac-Man were NPCs, because your enemies in most games are also NPCs. Only in multiplayer games is anyone in the game other than you a player character. In one-on-one fighting games, the stock characters can be NPCs when you play against the machine or player characters when you fight against a human opponent.

Character roles have nothing to do with their skills, training, or professions, but with their relationship to the player’s character and the story as a whole. These are basic roles such as hero, villain, father, mother, and so on. Of course, not all roles are suitable for all types of games, so some of these roles would only appear in RPGs, for instance. Units in strategy games, even vehicle and weapon units can also be considered NPCs, although they aren’t technically characters.