Most threads in here lead with a framework list. I’d rather just show you the thing.
An NPC that actually talks back
That’s a bartender. A player walks up, presses E, and types. It answers in character — it knows the venue’s house rules and whatever local gossip has been written into it, and it remembers individual players between visits. Ask a follow-up and it picks up where you left off.
The lore belongs to whoever owns the venue: facts, house rules, rumours, names, topics it should refuse to discuss. It stays inside that.
Being straight with you: that clip is my own test server, and it has not run on a live city yet. It’s finished and it works. It just hasn’t had real players on it — which is the one thing I’m short of.
What it is, technically
- A resource folder and two lines in
server.cfg - The client never talks to my endpoint. The server-side script makes an outbound HTTPS call, and that is the only network traffic the resource generates
- No database, no schema changes, nothing to migrate
- Ships with an export, so you can drive the interaction from
qb-target/ox_target/ ESX instead of the built-in prompt - Remove the
ensureline and it’s gone, no leftovers
Typical reply lands in 2-4 seconds, with a 7-second timeout. If my end is slow or down, the bartender says something in character rather than breaking the scene — a player never sees an error.
What else I build
I’m not a framework specialist and I won’t pretend to be. What I actually do is build the systems behind things — APIs, backends, integrations, AI — and wire them into the game.
So: custom scripts and systems, jobs, UI, and particularly anything that needs a real server behind it rather than Lua alone. If what you want is a straightforward re-skin of an existing resource, there are cheaper people in this category and I’ll say so rather than take the work.
Two ways to start
The bartender, free, as a pilot. One venue, one server. I do the setup with you. If it doesn’t add anything to the room, you pull it and we’ve both learned something. I want one city actually running it more than I want the money.
Paid work. Tell me what you need and I’ll tell you honestly whether it’s something I should be doing.
Reply here or send me a DM.