Casebier
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Another couple of suggestions that I have for NPC activities...

1. Go To LABEL on Death(Sword/Bomb/SlayerHook/ALL) - When the NPC dies from the specified attack, it jumps to LABEL in the programming and performs everything at that point before actually dying. Ways to protect against over-abuse by architects would be to keep the Death label seperate from the rest of the code, or force it to die once it reaches another label in the program.

2. Do THIS on Death(Sword/Bomb/SlayerHook/ALL) - Similiar to the above, but it would only be one action, acting similiar to the If ... Go To command. When a program reaches this section of code, it would just "store" the action for when the NPC dies, replacing it with any other occurences of this command that might happen later.

3. Change Appearance - NPC changes his picture. Most obvious uses that still follow DROD's theme would be to change the clothing color on an NPC, change an NPC Eye(inactive) to (active), change a tar baby to a mud baby and vice-versa, change a roach to a roach queen and change a goblin to a goblin king.

4. Wait For Sword - NPC waits for a sword to enter a certain square. This could be used as a puzzle feature of a board... if the player stabs something he shouldn't, something bad happens... something other than bombs exploding.

5. More NPC Graphics of in-game items - Roach eggs, bombs, dead rock golems, the Neather.

6. Custom NPC Graphic - Architect would be required to supply either a series of files for each facing of the NPC, or one file with all the facings in a line. Files could also include death graphics.

Notes on the above suggestions:
#3 - I realize this could also be done by using two NPCs, but I think that current method is further from DROD's purpose of having nothing hidden from the player.

#4 - This could also be done by lining a path with NPCs and then having another NPC detect when an NPC leaves those squares, but it would be highly inefficient.

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Jatopian
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I think 'wait for sword' is the best of these suggestions.

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schep
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3. Change Appearance and 4. Wait For Sword are the sorts of things that probably should have been possible originally, based on the overall feel and capabilities of 2.0 scripting. The omission of sword-testing has been noted a few times, and as you mentioned, change appearance is mostly possible with multiple scripts, but sometimes annoying.

The suggestions about actions at/after NPC death, as presented, don't fit so well into the current implementation and game model. You would either need to insert things out of place into the sequence of events in a turn, or let the effect happen long after the cause. But I think something like "Wait for script 'Goblin1' to end" in a separate script would be nice. Possibly with the ability to distinguish between death, last command, Turn Into Monster, End, and End-ed on previous visit.

Beef Row
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Casebier wrote:
5. More NPC Graphics of in-game items - Roach eggs, bombs, dead rock golems, the Neather.

How would NPC bombs work? Would they still detonate? Would turn into monster turn them into normal bombs?

I like the idea of NPC roach eggs and dead rock golems though. I assume with the eggs, turn into monster would begin their growth cycle... so maybe there would need to be a visual diffrence.

(Picturing a "Aliens vs PreDRODor" hold with the roach egg NPCs. Big cave full of eggs. You hit the first one, and they all start to wake up....)

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Casebier
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Well, if an NPC has Invulnerability set, it would act like an un-primed bomb, and wouldn't explode (or die) when hit. Might need a visual difference in that case.

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Revisiting old Project: ZelDROD 1 / ZelDROD RPG (If I can ever find the custom graphic files that I made for it.)

Tahnan
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Casebier wrote:
5. More NPC Graphics of in-game items - Roach eggs, bombs, dead rock golems, the Neather.

I admit I'm not positive why you'd want a bomb NPC or a dead rock golem NPC. But it does make me think about the possibilities of the latter. Imagine a pile of rock saying, "Used to be golem. Sad now." (Wait 5.) "Starting to crumble at edges." (Wait 5.) "Hey you with sword. Can you pile me up a little?" (Wait 5.) "Perhaps someday architect make me into mosaic." And so on.

It's not worth implementing it just for this possibility, but I suddenly want to write a hold in which Beethro faces a horde of talking obstacles.

Briareos
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Tahnan wrote:

Casebier wrote:
5. More NPC Graphics of in-game items - Roach eggs, bombs, dead rock golems, the Neather.

I admit I'm not positive why you'd want a bomb NPC or a dead rock golem NPC.

I guess to have another way of adding obstacles depending on something else, like which entrance you're using...

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Chaco
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Striking an orb to make a passage cave in. Try doing that with rock golem NPCs.

Although bushes growing if you leave a room then re-enter seems a little weird.

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Tahnan
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Chaco wrote:
Striking an orb to make a passage cave in. Try doing that with rock golem NPCs.

Well, you could create them, and then have mimics appear, and kill them, and then other mimics appear to hit bombs to kill the...yeah, OK.

Although bushes growing if you leave a room then re-enter seems a little weird.

Ah! But what a wonderful way to say: "Time passes." (Or: "Welcome to the woooorld of tomorrrrrow!", if you can get the right vibrato into your voice.)