some random ideas for HN2(continues in replies because I wrote too much :/ )

[ripe lantern]

here's a few ideas that I thought was gonna put into a fangame, but plot twist, idk how to create anything in ue4, so I'll just share them, maybe the devs get inspired from it or something!

• Man in the hat(Smith) stalking mechanic: this mechanic would be similar to the Guest's, but he wouldn't attack you if you turn away. this was based on his SN behavior, Smith would stalk the player and take photos of them from nearby bushes/from behind trees, but he'd never come closer, than 3-5 meters for example. if the player tried to get to him, he would run away, or just simply despawn.
  because of this, the player would have to be careful with how they break in the houses, or steal stuff, because for example if they torture the AI too much, Smith would get enough evidences and just catch them as soon as the leave the AI's house, or something like that. he would have the same catch animation as in HG, because it was cool. another option is, he could drive on the roads with his car_placeholder, because why not.

• Leslie mechanic: I imagine Leslie as the guy, who doesn't take work that seriously. so, while Nielsen investigates in the house, the other is by the lake, watching the grass grow, or something. he is inactive, until you get too close to him, or Nielsen alerts him about the intruder. then Leslie gets to chase the player, but only around the house, because Nielsen is already inside, and two AI's running after you in a small house like that would be terrible. Nielsen could have the inside of the house.

• walking AI's: some fangames have this, and I support the idea, put characters on the street, just simply walking from A to B. They will stop when the player gets near them, but they don't have to be interactable. or maybe put some characters at the bakery tables during the first or second night, something like that.

• befriending Imbir: many people have a free roam Imbir idea as well. I always imagined the cat as Beatrix's companion (while she was a playable character). you could "befriend" Imbir by giving it various treats multiple times. first, you could pet it, then later, it would follow you for a while(but would get tired of you eventually, because it is a cat after all), and help you find your items, for example. or give you hints (for example help finding the mayor's trophies, etc). basically, replacement of the crow flock from the alphas for lost items, which was also a nice mechanic.

• lost and found box for certain items: luckily, now we have that thing in the office for the shovel, extinguisher etc, but what about smaller items, like the tapes, or the golden apple coin? I often ended up losing them, and sometimes they didn't spawn back to their place. they could just teleport into this box, placed in or near the office. this applies to any item, which later gets to the game.

• Mayor and Skipper interaction: it'd be nice if the mayor sometimes interacted with his very own dog, just like on the screenshot. or maybe add the ball mechanic for the dog too, I can't enjoy tossing the ball and the dog bringing it back to me, because I'm on standard :c it would be nice to befriend the doggo and play with it. you could give both for Skipper and Imbir some treats and they'd be friendlier after it.

• easter eggs: these are just small homages to previous builds. the player could find various scrapped characters on the map, for example Smith, just standing on a flower field (in memoriam Women's day render) / sitting on the vole bench, reading his newspaper.. or after following Imbir, we could find Beatrix, chilling out of bounds, or something. they wouldn't be AI's, but rather animations, so we couldn't interact with them, but they'd still be there, and we wouldn't feel they are wasted.
  the other option for this, is a graveyard, which is essential for a town, like RB. the scrapped characters would be there in the form of tombstones, each of them having an item on their graves: hat, helmet, eyepatch etc.
  the third option is, in the museum, or any other building, we could see framed photos about scrapped the characters, as memorial.
  or bonus option, make missing posters about them :((

+1
if the Guest is added to the game, let him live in / go to the mayak. I don't need fancy background story for it anymore. I just want the weird birb to live in the weird building, which we all love and care about. it would be nice

[ripe lantern]

I'm open for other suggestions btw!

[ripe lantern]

funny you say that, because Guest living in the Neighbor house was exactly old storyline as well

[ripe lantern]

nya
because I worked on this too much

[ripe lantern]

oh wow I just found this...

I'll add the "make a full animation for Neighbor closing the bath faucet" in addition and that's it, because that is still just keyframes....
not to mention the other AI's who don't even have their own iirc?

[brittle aspen]

I like the walking NPCs