# ADR-0010: Procedural NPC presentation

- **Status:** Accepted
- **Date:** TBD

## Context

Avatars are `CharacterBody3D` capsules color-coded by `NpcType`, with a few props (camera, box, hat, sign, bag), height and brightness variation from a seed, a walk bob, and a head turn toward the guard when noticed. They work as markers. At conversation distance they do not read as people: no neck, no face direction, no shoes, no hair.

The player is supposed to judge from clothes, props, and behavior, not from a label. The HUD currently prints the internal type (`Violent Threat`, `Trespasser`) next to the name. Putting that name on the body would make the judgment for them.

A full Mixamo / GLB pipeline would also add animation imports, licenses, and a skeleton the rest of the sim does not need yet. AI textures in `assets/textures/ai/` are not sized or wired for clothing.

## Decision

Keep the procedural capsule rig for this pass. Do not add skinned meshes or Mixamo.

Make the body read as a person at conversation distance:

- Neck between torso and head.
- Shoes.
- Hair cap whose color comes from the visual seed.
- Two dark eye spheres so the head has a front.
- Named `Head` node (`Rig/Head`) as the attach point for the focus circle (ADR-0008) and the focus cone.
- Collision capsule scaled to the visible height so the cone hits the body the player sees.

Keep archetype props, height / brightness variation, walk bob, and the notice head-turn.

Do **not** put the internal type name on the body or as a world nametag. A focused `display_name` under the ring is allowed. The debug overlay (`F`) may still print type, intent, and FSM state. The HUD target line can keep the type during the prototype; removing it from the HUD is a later readability pass, not this one.

AI clothing textures stay out unless a map is already the right size and is wired on purpose.

## Consequences

### Positive

- People have a face direction the ring and the "noticed the guard" cue can use.
- No new asset toolchain, licenses, or animation retargeting.
- Head is a stable node other systems can find.
- The player is not told `Violent Threat` by a floating label.

### Negative

- Capsule people still look like a prototype at cinematic camera distance.
- Hair and eyes are spheres; they will not survive a close-up trailer.
- A later skinned-mesh pass will replace this rig and must keep the `Head` contract.

## Alternatives considered

- **Skinned Mixamo / GLB characters now:** Rejected. Cost and pipeline exceed this pass; the sim only needs a readable body and a head node.
- **Billboard sprites:** Rejected; first-person movement walks around people, and sprites fail at profile views.
- **Keep colored capsules as-is:** Rejected; the focus circle and cone need a real head, and capsules do not read as people at two metres.
- **World labels with archetype names:** Rejected because they leak sim truth and skip observation.