This is probably going to be the hardest suggestion to (optionally) bring to life…
But putting PixeliaNPCs (Pixelian characters but they’re NPCs) in our worlds, just like the ones in Pixel Station, would be an incredible feature for the game.
We can dress them up like Mannequins and give them dialogue like Signs and Hello Bots. They could also probably function as Portals and even NPCs for Story-categorized worlds.
So basically, I’m making a bunch of worlds based on the web show Spooky Month, and I’ve always wanted that suggestion in the game, because I want people to be able to talk to other characters.
In fact, I’m trying to stock up on Mannequins just to give their clothes to the PixeliaNPCs!
The Spooky Month-themed worlds will just be kinda like those worlds with so many locations that you need a LOT of portals to get to them all. Idk if those kinds of worlds have a unique term for them, but I’ll just call them “World Chains”.
Back on topic, just to tell the PixeliaNPCs apart from actual players, there should be a unique little icon above the PixeliaNPCs that’s only visible to world owners, co-owners and mods, so they can NPSee who’s who (pun intended).
Maybe the icon could be the word “NPC”, or a star. Or maybe the PixeliaNPC has a uniquely-colored aura that you can change like a Pixel Background block thing from the Color-O-Mat.
Or maybe, if you’re able to name them, the name should be a different font/color from the usernames of regular players/mods/owners/creators/etc.
And to elaborate on the other parts…
The way you dress them up is like, as mentioned before, a Mannequin, but also a regular Pixelian. You can change their skin tone and contact lenses, give them emotes and expressions, and so much more.
The way you change their dialogue is like Signs and Hello Bots. Basically, for example, when you go near a PixeliaNPC, they could say something like “Hey, over here! I need to tell you a thing!” and when you interact with them, they could start detailing a whole story about their life, or the rules for a world if the PixeliaNPC is dressed like the world owner and the actual world owner is almost always AFK.
Also players should be able to respond with different choices for different outcomes. For instance, a PixeliaNPC tells the player a joke, and they either say the punchline when the player asks, or they get mad over the player knowing (and stealing) the joke. Some choices can even warp you to new worlds!
The way they function as portals is that, for example, they’ll say something like “Where would you like to go?” and the worlds would show up next to them so the PixeliaNPC can warp you to one of them. It’s optional to need another PixeliaNPC to serve as the world’s other portal, because all other portals can be used with a PixeliaNPC. This would be useful for World Chains, as I explained above.
And the way they’re useful for worlds with the Story category (cateSTORY) is, well, all those features! They’ll serve as either tutorial guides or just people to talk to. Or just a story you “read” by walking past them through a long hallway, kinda like an exhibit but more narrative! Or just use the dialogue choices thing lol
Obviously, this is going to be VERY complex to code into the game, but just so players don’t abuse the PixeliaNPC features and functions, they should be limited to the following:
A PixeliaNPC WILL NOT be coded to be able to serve as a store owner/merchant/trader/etc. They simply serve to chat with. So basically for example, that means they’ll have no quests for you to complete or items you can buy from them, regardless of your currency type (Gems, Bytecoins, regular blocks and props, etc). This is to prevent scamming.
A PixeliaNPC CANNOT violate the code of conduct in any way. They can’t swear, they can’t be genuinely rude, and they can’t have inappropriate content anywhere on them, not just in the dialogue. They also can’t provide spoilers and leaks.
A PixeliaNPC CANNOT swap clothes with you like a mannequin. You have to MANNEQU-ally dress them up (pun intended again).
A PixeliaNPC CANNOT warp players to worlds filled with trolls, hackers, scammers, traps, etc. This also applies to the dialogue choice feature.
(Idk any other limitations they should have aside from only serving as chat buddies or tour guides or idk lol)
Sorry this was a lot of writing, I really feel like this should be added because even though it’s extremely hard to implement, it’ll be the biggest breakthrough in all of Pixel Worlds (well, in my opinion lol)!
EDIT: Added stuff about the Mannequin-ish feature and fixed stuff.
EDIT 2: Added content about the usefulness for Story worlds, and put in a “choices” feature for the dialogue part.
