Here are some NPC-related thoughts I had on how to make Sacrament seem more alive:
As a quick note: I’ll call the type of passing by dialogue, that doesn’t open a dialogue window background dialogue here, don’t know if there’s a specific term for that.
Construction Projects
Buildings could have actual construction sites with materials and tools lying around and NPCs/Danos working on it. Then you’d need a way to manage projects at Danos’ place even when he’s gone: either you contribute materials directly at the future project site, or at a planning table at Danos’ place or even both.
If you have NPCs working on the site they could also have some stage-specific dialogue referencing what they’re currently doing, e.g. something like “Now I break my back lifting timber to the roof, and after this they’ll have me break it at the quarry” when building a roof.
When there are multiple projects going, maybe you could catch Danos’ walking between the different sites,mumbling to himself (as background dialogue) about what he’s seen and needs to check at the different sites. Maybe this could the sort of dialogue you hear when passing by without needing to talk to him.
Multiple stages to the longer projects would also be cool, so that when you leave town for a while after starting the project you’ll see some progress. Giving a stronger feeling of the town still existing & people actually doing stuff while you’re gone.
At night Danos could return home (and brood over the planning table if it exists), and the workers could go to the inn or pantry.
Some mostly cosmetic that might affect some NPCs attitude towards the player might also be fun. For example a homeless shelter for poor souls of Sacrament that make them more amenable to the player, or sewer repairs that put the shit-shoveler out of work after which he spends his time at the inn or at the homeless shelter.
Shops
It’d be nice to see the shopkeepers working around their shops, e.g. like stocking shelves, cleaning tables, prepping ingredients, serving food at the pantry, kicking out drunkards at the inn.
Or maybe even work at some of the crafting stations in shops that have them. Then they would need to leave that station space when the player comes close (or talks to them once) and might say something like “You want to use this? Alright, I was almost pretty much anyway.” (also as ).
In general, the player would need to interact with the counter to access the shop’s menu and then the shopkeeper will stop whatever else they’re doing and move behind the counter too.
Other NPCs browsing the shop would be great too, possibly also with some background dialogue like haggling, complaints about quality, and so on.
Miscellaneous
Right now, all characters (almost?) always drop their one line of background dialogue when passing by which can get old fast, and also pretty ridiculous when too many NPCs talk at once (e.g. when crossing the town square), some improvements to that:
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a smaller chance to trigger background dialogue
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not too many of them should talk simultaneously, at least not when they’re standing close to each other: a combination of closer/louder and farther away/quieter dialoge at the same time could be fine
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ideally, some different lines per NPC
Lastly, maybe you could actually find some work for Victoria:
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She already mentions Winnick might find a use for her
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she could work at the pantry or the inn once they’re constructed (or at some other future building)
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or she could work for the player, maybe you could tell her to stock/empty the crafting stations in your home from/to the chests
Anyway, that’s what came mind when walking through town and what I think could be cool. I’m guessing some of this is already planned anyway too.
Keep up the good work!