Getting Started with Scripted Avatar NPCs
Scripted Avatar NPCs provide you with a method to craft NPCs that can interact with your players, enhance gameplay, and provide narrative context to your worlds regardless of your skill level or expertise.
- Scripted Avatar NPCs are supported for TypeScript v2.0.0 or later.
- Conversation features are not available.
- Adding a Scripted Avatar NPC has the same performance impacts on your world as adding another player.
- Tip: If you are adding multiple NPCs to your world, you should consider spawning them in as needed.
- Place the NPC gizmo on the ground of your world. Do not locate Scripted Avatar NPCs above or below the surface of the world.
To create a fully functioning Scripted Avatar NPC, you must build the following elements:
- Create a Scripted Avatar NPC entity:
- Add NPC gizmo to your world.
- Click Edit Avatar to change appearance.
- Modify Scripted Avatar NPC properties as needed.
- Checkpoint: NPC exists as an entity in your world.
- See Create Scripted Avatar NPC.
- Add Navigation (if Scripted Avatar NPC is mobile in the world):
- Create a navigation profile for your NPC.
- Build navigation volumes in your world for the NPC to use.
- Assign these volumes to the profile used for your NPC.
- Assign the navigation profile to your NPC.
- Build behaviors in TypeScript for the NPC to maneuver through the navigation volume(s).
- Checkpoint: NPC has a navigation space in the world and uses it to move.
- See Build Navigation for Scripted Avatar NPCs.
- Script the NPC Controller (if Scripted Avatar NPC responds to the environment):
- Build TypeScript to manage NPC behaviors.
- Map TypeScript to APIs to drive behaviors.
- Checkpoint: NPC expresses behaviors in the world
- Conversation (if Scripted Avatar NPC speaks to the player):
- Note: Not supported at this time.
- Spawning and despawning:
When you deploy or spawn a Scripted Avatar NPC, it consumes the same resources as adding another player. To assess performance:
- Determine the maximum number of players that you can technically support in the world. Call this value
maxPlayerCount. - Determine the number of Scripted Avatar NPCs you need for your world. Call this value
totalScriptedNPCs.
- This figure should also include any Scripted Avatar NPCs that you intend to spawn.
- Modify your world’s player settings:
- In the menu system, select Horizon menu > Player Settings.
- Set the value of Maximum number of players to
maxPlayerCount - totalScriptedNPCs. - Note: This value represents the true number of human players who can participate in the world.
- Into your world, add NPC gizmo instances for each of the
totalScriptedNPCs.
- This should also include NPCs that you will later spawn through code.
- Test performance of your world when you have
maxPlayerCount players in it.
