NPCs, here me out...

[Odin]

Here is a thought that is fairly simple in theory (I know programming this would be much more complex) but a way to populate Valheim with more people than just the players, because lets face it, the world is pretty empty besides the monsters you fight is to implement an NPC mechanic. It IS an awesome game and I love it! So here goes:

NPCs will be randomly dropped in by the Valkyrie at the standing stones and they will begin to form their own little homestead somewhere randomly chosen nearby. These NPCs will also get attacked by the monsters and can very possibly die leaving behind nothing but what they have already interacted with or built. If the players do encounter the NPCs there will be some simple dialogue about hiring the NPCs to come work for the players and to perform tasks (chop wood, harvest berries, honey, farming, tend to tame animals, build buildings, etc.). Once these tasks are complete the NPCs will go into idle mode and can become unhappy fairly quickly causing them to either run away or steal things and run away or even attack the players. If the NPC runs away they will again begin to form their own homestead.

NPCs can also randomly be found out in the world building their own homesteads (rare spawn). Again they could be recruited to either come live with the players and get paid or get hired as day workers by the player to perform tasks. The players will need to pay a daily/weekly whatever fee (another use for treasure....) or the NPCs will become discontent and could do anything from just leaving, to stealing, to open rebellion. The players can also hire them to go fighting or traveling with them.

Anyway just a thought to populate the world.

Keep up the great work!

 

[Odin]

As I was playing last night, I don't know how I didn't think of this before, but I ran into several of the random abandoned villages in the meadows area. Those would be perfect spots for randomly spawned NPCs that are actually running the small village.

 

[Philoric]

Interesting ideas. I have been giving NPC:s some thought aswell.

Before even touching upon this subject I want to state the obvious: Valheim is a fantastic game as it is. Sure, there is the occasional rough edge here and there. Sure, there are certain features I wish would be added. And there are also a few things I wish they'd gone about differently. But overall I have to say this is a very well designed game and I give it a huge thumbs up!

BUT ...

If there is any significant aspect of the game where I wish the developers would venture into new territory, it pertains to NPCs. If the developers decide to never undertake such a thing, it is of course their choice. And if they do indeed implement some sort of NPC interaction, I sincerely hope it is not done half heartedly.

One way to go about it would be your idea about random NPCs spawning at the standing stones. I assume they would all be slightly different with appearance and traits generated at random. If I understand your point correctly they would behave a little bit liked tameable creatures, but more intelligent and with dialogue options.

My own thoughts on the subject of NPCs revolve around being able to custom design their appearance, behaviour and even their dialogue. I haven't given much thought to how, where and when they would appear in the world. Perhaps the player would even be able to create new NPCs with the correct resources. The main point of my vision, however, is that the player would be able tailor everything about an NPC and then have them populate their houses.

Going further along those lines, a server host could use the admin console to spawn custom made characters to his hearts content, and have them populate the world. Perhaps the game would also support some sort of scripting for NPCs. This would open up the possibility for the host to prepare and orchestrate an adventure, similar to how a dungeon master would prepare a pen and paper roleplaying game.

 

[nööli]

Awesome ideas I really hope they add something like this.

I also thought it would be cool if the NPCs were different races from the norse mythology, for example dwarves, elves or humans.

They could also have different purposes, the dwarves would somehow be related to forging armour and weapons. For example a sixth tier workbench upgrade could be added and could only be used by a dwarf. Or the dwarves themselves could act as the upgrade.

Elves could help upgrade your ”magical” items such as the teleporter or ward or weapons with special attributes like poison, frost etc.

And finally humans could be expert farmers that would farm your crops and could maybe breed them together to make them grow faster or drop more.