Make an NPC class structured like a Player class?

[EnishTest]

Hello
I’m currently implementing the NPC system into my game, because I want to make the NPC behave like a single player, with minimal change to the current source code, so I want to create an NPC class that has same structure as Player class
I just want the NPC class to have a UserId field, a Character field and be able to trigger events like the Player class
Can someone help me?
Thank

[waves5217 (waves)]

Player instance is its own userdata and also has some inherited properties. The closest we can get is by creating table objects (prototype classes) with similar properties, states, behaviors.

In the lua VM we don’t have access to underlaying C code to create real userdata. That would overcomplicate things as well. It also wouldn’t make sense to deeply copy every single element, since NPCs don’t need properties and functions like :SetAccountAge(), :GetFriendsOnline(), .DevComputerMovementMode and so on.

NPCs wouldn’t have a camera, therefore some functions player instances have would have to be slightly omitted, such as :Move(walkDirection: Vector3, relativeToCamera: boolean).

Other than that, it’s not complicated. Take the draft I’m sending as a possible example.

local Npc = {}
Npc.__index = Npc

local CharacterModule = require(...)

local signals = {}

local function Init(self)
	self.Character = CharacterModule.new() -- suppose this returns prepared char
	signals[self.UserId]:Fire(self.Character)
	-- configure everything else
	-- ...
end

function Npc.new(uniqueID: number)
	local self = setmetatable({}, Npc)
	
	self.UserId = uniqueID
	self.ClassName = "NPC"
	self.DisplayName = "Dummy"
	
	self.Character = nil
	
	signals[self.UserId] = {}
	signals[self.UserId].CharacterAdded = Instance.new("BindableEvent")
	
	-- Shotcut, so the requiring script can use :Connect(), :Wait() etc.
	self.CharacterAdded = signals[self.UserId].CharacterAdded.Event
	
	Init(self)
	
	return self
end

function Npc:Move(walkDirection: Vector3)
	local humanoid = self.Character:FindFirstChild("Humanoid")
	humanoid:WalkToPoint(walkDirection)
end

function Npc:Destroy()
	signals[self.UserId] = nil
	self.Character:Destroy()
	self.Character = nil
end

return Npc

Technically, you could also take Instance class into consideration, and have the Npc class inherit some of the functionality, though that doesn’t seem very necessary.