NPC Scheduling

It was tough being an NPC in the old days. They could only stand in one place (or endlessly walk the same path) repeating the same bit of dialogue over and over again. Obviously, this isn't very realistic, so game developers have began to give NPCs scripted events in which they would be at different locations depending on what time of day it is according to the In-Universe Game Clock.

Examples of NPC Scheduling include:

• Arcanum - Partial example: salespersons walk into a back room at night to sleep, but stand completely still at their sales desk all day long.
• In Animal Crossing, animal villagers wander about town in real time according to the system clock. Mostly this sets whether the villagers are in their houses, outside, visiting each other or you (if you invite them over), or if they are sleeping. How much time they spend indoors or outside as well as sleep and waking times are also set by villager's personalities.
• Beyond Good and Evil has, oddly, NPC scheduling for the children on the Lighthouse island. They do different things based on the In Game Plot, that change as the story progresses. It isn't really useful for anything, though, and is probably a What Could Have Been remnant.
• The first two Breath of Fire games had this. A notable demonstration of this is in the first game, where you had to wait until nighttime to enter the village tower (the guards would block the entrance otherwise) to acquire the Earth Key.
• Chulip - the people you have to kiss (yeah, it's a Widget Series) either wander about in town, are home, or aren't anywhere you can find them at all depending on the time of day.
• Deadly Premonition has every single named story character follow a routine, which even changes depending on what's currently going on in the story. They even change their routine depending on the weather.
• Along with Oblivion (from the same company), very well done in Fallout 3. Stand around a town long enough, you'll see people doing chores, going to eat, sleeping, etc.
• Dark Cloud - There doesn't seem to be any set schedule, but aside from the shopkeeper all of the NPCs will wander about the town. You'll also get slightly different rewards from some of the residents at different times of day.
• All of the NPCs in Infocom's Deadline (published back in 1982) had schedules; figuring these out so that the PC could be in the right place at the right time to gather evidence was a big part of the challenge.
• Several of the Dragon Quest games had this, particularly the later ones (#8 comes to mind).
• Final Fantasy XI dabbled in this; in Lower Jeuno, there were a series of streetlights that needed to be lit every night, and if no player started the quest to do it, an NPC would spawn and walk down the street lighting the lamps. There were also shops that would be closed on certain days of the week and be restocked at particular times—although for some reason, they'd still hang around at their shop counter to tell you the shop was closed.
• The NPCs of Gothic operate on a realistic schedule, and also judge player's actions based on the time. Standing just inside a shop door during the day is fine. Doing the same at night is considered suspicious behavior.
• The Harvest Moon series - All characters have certain schedules set that they'll adhere to for certain days and times. Certain characters can only be found manning a shop on the shops open days, then found wandering around town when it's closed, for example.
• The Hitman series - most, if not all, of the characters will move about as time progresses; figuring out when and where is the best time to strike without being caught is how one earns the Silent Assassin rating.
  • Some missions added difficulty by having the targets enter and leave the map on a schedule, giving you much less time to perform the hit and make your getaway.
• When visiting Tony the arms dealer's shop in Jagged Alliance 2, his assistant will sometimes inform you that "Tony stepped out for a bit," and is thus unavailable to do business. Both his absences and the times of his return are unpredictable.
• The Last Express - every character, event, and the entire rest of the game runs on a strict schedule. The Save Scumming feature is even based around winding a clock back, mirroring the titular train's scheduled route along the stops of the Orient Express.
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Every NPC moves about the city according to a schedule; and you even get a handy dandy scheduler that shows you when a particular quest is active. More importantly, if you choose to do Anju and Kafei's subquest, then she'll stay in town to wait for Kafei instead of going to Romani Ranch.
• This was one of the selling points of Lure Of The Temptress.
• Magicians Quest Mysterious Times is a bit like a hybrid of Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon's scheduling—the characters do wander somewhat randomly (like they do in Animal Crossing), but, like Harvest Moon, they have specific places where they're likely to be at certain times of the day. One character, for example, might practice magic at the ruins most afternoons, but spend most evenings by the beach.
• Oblivion - Most of the them have scheduled "wander" times where they walk around randomly, but they also eat, sleep, go to certain shops at particular times, and sometimes go out to see mudcrabs.
  • In fact (unless they're given an infinitely respawning item of food in their inventory) NPCs who don't eat regularly will starve and it's possible to assassinate an NPC by planting poisoned food.
• Pokémon Gold and Silver (and Crystal) have lots of NPCs that only make appearance on certain days of the week. There's even a set of 7 gift-giving NPCs that each appears only one day of the week.
  • Taken to the logical extreme in Pokémon Black and White, where the stadiums in Nimbasa town open and close at varying times across the day to prepare for and hold sporting matches, NPCs that only show up on the weekends or weekdays, Swarming Pokemon that change each day, and the changing seasons of the world (which change at the end of each month of real time), which will cause certain NPCs and areas to become available or be made unavailable depending on the season and the weather. Certain pokemon are only catchable in the Winter, while a man who trades (the only) Munchlax in the game shows up in the summer, as well as The Cameo by Cynthia occurring then.
• Radiata Stories had this as one of its main gimmicks. (Another was the fact that like 50% of those NPCs were Optional Party Members.)
• The Rune Factory series - All characters wander around town and are found in their homes and shops at certain times/days.
• Shenmue
• Ultima has been doing this since 1988 at least. Ultima V was the first one in the series to have it, but since then it became a series staple.