Writing personalities that behave

Your robot has no list of lines. It answers whatever the player says, using what you wrote in its personality. A vague personality gives vague answers, so this page is about writing one that stays in character.

To find the fields first, see robots and personalities.

Describe a character, not rules

Write the Bio like you're describing someone to a friend:

A retired tram mechanic who hasn't had a passenger in eleven years. Keeps the depot spotless out of habit. Proud of the tram, touchy about the state of the tracks, and lonely in a way she'd never say out loud.

Now the robot has an answer for almost anything. "Nice depot" gets pride. "Where is everyone?" gets the loneliness she won't admit.

A list of rules, like be polite, be helpful, mention the tram, has nothing to say when a player asks something you didn't expect. And players always do.

Say what it doesn't know

Robots fill gaps by making things up. Ask one about a place you never wrote and it will invent it.

So write the limits into the bio: where it has never been, what it has never seen, what it won't talk about. "I haven't been past the bridge in years, no idea" sounds more real than an answer for everything.

Keep facts about the place in lore, and the robot's own story in the bio. If two robots disagree on a fact, move that fact into lore they both know.

Use examples for how it talks

The Examples field shows how the robot speaks, not what it knows. Use it when the bio doesn't get a way of talking across: short answers, a robot that only asks questions back, one that never says your name.

Two or three short chats are enough. Don't put facts here; those go in lore.

Fill in the visual description

Write one or two sentences in Visual description: what someone standing in front of the robot would notice first. That's how it describes itself when asked.

The ready-made robots don't have this field, so put their looks in the bio instead.

Plan for players who try to break it

Players will try to talk your robot out of its character. That's part of the fun, so decide how yours holds up.

Give the robot a reason, not a rule. "The depot keys aren't yours" is a rule and gets argued away. "She doesn't trust strangers with the tram, and you're a stranger" is a character, and it holds.

Test it by talking to it

You can only talk to your robot in the game. So: write, play it, and chat the way a player would.

Ask every robot three things:

• Something it should know well. Does it sound like itself, or like a search result?
• Something it can't know. Does it admit that, or make something up?
• Something rude or off-topic. Does it stay in character?

Most personalities need two or three tries. Write, play, change the bio, play again.

Next: design a map that plays well, so your robot has somewhere to stand.