This proposal is to enable npc creation from Tiled. For Hercules only. It could even provide a way to add a "npc finder" to manaplus so that players can easily know where a npc is (manaplus would simply have to look at the tmx). Should not be used for floating npcs (no map).

Usage

For the examples below we will use the map 009-1 and position 25, 25. The only mandatory property to make a npc is "callfunc". To make a store, put "shop" instead of "callfunc".

Shop npc

Object type: shop
Object name: FooBar#Baz

Property	Value
items	Item,Item:*2,Item,Item:9

Gives:

009-1,25,25,0|shop|FooBar#Baz|32767,Item:*1,Item:*2,Item:*1,Item:9

Anonymous npc

if you do not care what name your npc has you can set its name to # to get an auto-generated name. This is particularly useful for npcs that only activate when you walk over them.

Object type: npc
Object name: #

Property	Value
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,0|script|#009-1_anon0|32767
{
    callfunc "Qux", "", 25, 25;
    end;
}

@wushin: it's up to you to decide the naming convention of anonymous npcs

Semi-anonymous npc

When you have multiple copies of a npc with the same name, you can add # at the end without anything else to append an auto-generated suffix. For example, the barrels would become barrel# instead of barrel#(number). This way you do not have to worry about giving a safe name to a npc.

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#

Property	Value
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,0|script|FooBar#009-1_0|32767
{
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    end;
}

Named npc

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#Baz

Property	Value
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,0|script|FooBar#Baz|32767
{
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    end;
}

That's nice but this npc is not sent to the client since its ID is 32767. Let's add a sprite.

@wushin: There is a "end;" instead of a "close;" because not all function send "mes" so "close2;" should be put before "return;" in the functions

Adding a sprite

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#Baz

Property	Value
sprite	161
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,0|script|FooBar#Baz|161
{
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    end;
}

The "sprite" property is non-mandatory and defaults to 32767 when not set.

Setting the direction

Tiled has a built-in "Rotation" property for objects. To set the direction, set the rotation to any multiple of 90 (or a multiple of 45 if your npc supports all 8 directions). The minimum is -180 and the maximum is 180. For example, 90 is facing west and 180 (or -180) is facing north.

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#Baz
Rotation: 90

Property	Value
sprite	161
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,3|script|FooBar#Baz|161
{
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    end;
}

Setting as debug npc

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#Baz
Rotation: 90

Property	Value
debug	true
sprite	161
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,3|script|FooBar#Baz|161
{
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    end;
OnInit:
    if(DEBUG) end;
    disablenpc "FooBar#Baz";
    end;
}

Adding a trigger area

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#Baz
Rotation: 90 Use tiled to mark the area of the trigger. A collapsed point in the upper left corner denotes a 0,0 trigger.

Property	Value
trigger	true
debug	true
sprite	161
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,3|script|FooBar#Baz|161,2,4
{
    end;
OnTouch:
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    end;
OnInit:
    if(DEBUG) end;
    disablenpc "FooBar#Baz";
    end;
}

Adding a recurring timer

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#Baz
Rotation: 90

Property	Value
interval	10000,Function
trigger	2,4
debug	true
sprite	161
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,3|script|FooBar#Baz|161,2,4
{
    end;
OnTouch:
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    end;
OnTimer10000:
    callfunc "Function", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    initnpctimer;
    end;
OnInit:
    if(DEBUG >= 2) end;
    initnpctimer;
    if(DEBUG) end;
    disablenpc "FooBar#Baz";
    end;
}

Passing arguments to the function

Object type: npc
Object name: FooBar#Baz
Rotation: 90

Property	Value
arguments	19,"ba,z"
interval	10000,Function
trigger	2,4
debug	true
sprite	161
callfunc	Qux

Gives:

009-1,25,25,3|script|FooBar#Baz|161,2,4
{
    end;
OnTouch:
    callfunc "Qux", "FooBar", 25, 25, 19, "ba,z";
    end;
OnTimer10000:
    callfunc "Function", "FooBar", 25, 25;
    initnpctimer;
    end;
OnInit:
    if(DEBUG >= 2) end;
    initnpctimer;
    if(DEBUG) end;
    disablenpc "FooBar#Baz";
    end;
}

Automatically added properties

Property	Value
name	Anything that comes before the # (if any) in the object name
X	the X location of the npc
Y	the Y location of the npc

Any custom property is added after the default properties

Examples

Debug npc

Object type: npc
Object name: Debug#3

Property	Value
sprite	154
debug	true
callfunc	Debug

Gives:

020-1,75,85,0|script|Debug#3|154
{
    callfunc "Debug";
    end;
OnInit:
    if(DEBUG) end;
    disablenpc "Debug#3", "Debug", 75, 85;
    end;
}

Banker

Object type: npc
Object name: Richard

Property	Value
sprite	161
callfunc	Banker

Gives:

009-2,20,99,0|script|Richard|161
{
    callfunc "Banker", "Richard", 20, 99;
    end;
}