Tormentor667 wrote:[Road to Wolfenstein] Devblog 04 | NPCs with a brain
How terribly insulting it was for us to hear that most of the people playing the second chapter of Blade of Agony hated our friendly NPCs: Douglas and Ryan (well, the latter still for a reason) were a pain for the players. Instead of helping you, giving you cover, and being a new and interesting gameplay feature, they just - well - sucked. It was about time to change something here.
Improvements for friendly NPC followers
AFADoomer took the community's feedback very seriously, and started re-writing most of the code in order to improve sidekicks like Douglas, Ryan and Ascher, so that they were actually useful companions, rather than annoying obstacles that get in your way instead of covering you. They will now try to avoid being in your line of sight, they will try to move away from you if they are in your way, and most importantly, you can interact with them. Just like in Half-Life 2, you can "use" them once to make them hold their position, and then "use" them again to make them follow you. So if you want a sidekick following you, just leave everything as it is, and if you are more of a "James Bond" special agent who doesn't need or want support, simply leave them behind; it's up to you.
That sounds like it will be a great improvement. I look forward to seeing how they behave.
Accompanying NPCs are something that is very hard to get right; even commercial games get it very wrong sometimes. I'm sure we can all think of games where the so-called "helpful" NPCs just got in the way, preventing the player moving properly, getting caught in crossfire or just plain sucking. The worst types are the ones that need to be kept alive but who blindly wander in front of you as you fire.
NPCs can be very good and expand the world, removing the feeling of being totally alone against all the bad guys but if they become an annoyance, they can really detract from a game.