NPCs

Characters the server moves for the mod, such as zombies. spawn makes one on the navmesh, the map’s walkable floor, and the mod tells it where to go: walk to a point, chase a player, attack. It stops with stop and goes with remove, as a model does.

An NPC finds its own way around walls and closed doors. When a door opens or a crate moves, the navmesh changes with it within a tick or two, and every NPC finds its way again.

An NPC is listed among the players, so its orders are methods of a player’s object; on a person or a bot they fail. NPCs have no health of the engine’s. A mod that lets players kill them keeps its own count, and removes them.

Fields

What a player, p, or an entity, e, reads beside the mod’s state. A field of the other side’s fails.

Name	Type	Side	What it is
p.npc	boolean	On both sides	Whether they are an NPC the mod spawned.

attack

On the server x:attack({ animation?, length? }?)

Plays an NPC's attack: a jab, or the clip it names, so each of an NPC's attacks may have its own.

It hurts no one: the mod hurts whom the attack reaches, as it likes. On a player it fails; on an NPC gone it does nothing.

Name	Type	What it is
options	table?	A table of the options below. It, and each option, may be left out.
animation	animation?	The .anim file it plays; punch_jab without.
length	number?0 to 3600	How long it lasts, in seconds, above 0; the clip's own without.

Fails

• a value of the wrong type
• an option it does not have
• a value outside its range

To have a zombie jab, then swing a cross

local zombie = spawn({ at = vector.create(0, 0, 1) })
zombie:attack()
wait(0.5)
zombie:attack({ animation = "punch_cross", length = 0.6 })

spawn

On the server spawn(options?) → Player

Spawns an NPC on the navmesh, standing still, and gives it as a player's object.

It is listed among the players, and takes the orders an NPC takes whether held from players or entities. It has no health nor weapons of the engine’s: a mod that lets players kill it keeps its own count, and removes it.

Name	Type	What it is
options	table?	A table of the options below. It, and each option, may be left out.
at	vector?	Where it stands, on the navmesh's point nearest; the map's origin without.
owner	(Player | number)?	The player it is about, whom owner, team and spectators pick by.
read_by	(Group | ((Player?, Player) -> boolean))?	Who is shown it; everyone without.
kind	string?	Its kind, one entity_kind declared on its base; the base's own without.

Returns

Player

Fails

• a value of the wrong type
• an option it does not have

To spawn a zombie that hunts a player

local zombie = spawn({ at = vector.create(0, 0, 20) })
zombie:set_name("Zombie")
zombie:chase(p)

To spawn a boss its target alone sees

local boss = spawn({ at = vector.create(0, 0, 20), owner = p, read_by = owner })
boss:set_speed(2)

walk_to

On the server x:walk_to(point)

Walks an NPC across the navmesh to the point nearest a point, finding its way around walls and closed doors.

It walks there and stands, until another order. On a player, a model or a part it fails; on an NPC gone it does nothing.

Name	Type	What it is
point	vector	Needed.

Fails

• a value of the wrong type

To send a zombie to a window

local zombie = spawn()
zombie:walk_to(vector.create(12, 0, 4))

chase

On the server x:chase(player)

Makes an NPC chase a player across the navmesh, following them as they move, until another order.

Name	Type	What it is
player	Player | number	Needed.

Fails

• a value of the wrong type

To set a zombie on a player

local zombie = spawn({ at = vector.create(0, 0, 15) })
zombie:chase(p)

set_speed

On the server x:set_speed(speed)

Sets how fast an NPC walks, in meters a second.

Name	Type	What it is
speed	number0 or more	Needed.

Fails

• a value of the wrong type
• a value outside its range

To make a zombie sprint

local zombie = spawn()
zombie:set_speed(6)

set_name

On the server x:set_name(name?)

Names an NPC, so it passes as a player: every player's game lists it with the players, as a scoreboard does, and shows its name, as in chat and a kill feed.

The name is cleaned and cut as a player’s is. Nil, or a name empty once cleaned, takes the name away. On a player it fails: their name is their own.

Name	Type	What it is
name	string?	May be left out.

Fails

• a value of the wrong type

To name a boss

local boss = spawn()
boss:set_name("The Butcher")

bumps

On the server bumps(kind, kinds)

Declares which kinds of body a kind bumps into: a player's body, or an NPC's.

Bodies are round, stop a move as a wall does, can be stood on, and are never pushed. Without it nothing bumps, and NPCs only steer clear of each other. Each kind’s is declared by one module, at its top as it loads: a second module’s fails at load, naming both, and a module declaring it again replaces its own.

Name	Type	What it is
kind	"player" | "npc"	Needed.
kinds	{"player" | "npc"}	Needed.

Fails

• a value of the wrong type

To make players and zombies block each other

bumps("player", { "player", "npc" })
bumps("npc", { "player", "npc" })