unable to regain their lost health, however, and will die permanently once their health
reaches zero.
NPCs employ a resistances system, such that certain types of damage will be more
or less effective on different NPCs. For instance, the Slayers are partially resistant to
damage from projectiles, while taking extra damage from melee attacks. The Infernas
are invulnerable while they are moving, but once they have completely burned down to
a pile of cinders, their cinders are invulnerable to fire-based attacks. They are
extremely vulnerable to explosive or melee attacks and take normal damage from pro-
jectile attacks.
Taking Damage
Monsters can be slowed down in their movement by certain weapons, while other
weapons will actually knock them over and/or stun them. The stunning depends on the
creature, the amount of damage sustained, and the origin of the damage. For instance,
the Festers are relatively immune to being slowed or knocked down, while
Cartwheelers are easily pushed back. Furthermore, being shot by a shotgun will be
much more likely to knock a creature over than being shot by a pistol bullet.
There are eight possible reactions for an NPC to have when he takes damage:
- No reaction.
- Hit reaction animation played, monster speed is unaffected. Hit reactions
will vary from NPC to NPC based on types of hit reaction (for example, light,
medium, heavy), which will be based on the amount of damage sustained.
There will be a minimum of damage that must be sustained to trigger any hit
reaction. - Hit reaction played, monster is slowed down.
- Monster plays a “knocked back” animation and is actually pushed backward
by the weapon. - Monster is actually knocked down/stunned by the weapon, then can get up
after the duration of the stun. - Monster is killed by the damage and plays an appropriate death animation.
- Monster is killed by the damage and sent flying through the air by the
damage sustained. This occurs if the damage comes from a position below
the NPC. - Monster is killed by the damage and the damage is so great that the creature
“gibs” (parts of his body sent flying in various directions).
Reaction to Light
In general NPCs tend to stay out of the brighter areas, though some are far more averse
to it than others. For instance, the Cartwheeler doesn’t mind light that much, the
Mainliner will always flee to a dark area when illuminated, and a Burrower has no reac-
tion to light and dark. Extremely bright lights, such as the prison spotlights, will cause
all NPCs to flee from their path.
Appendix B: Sample Design Document:The Suffering 623