BreakEscape/planning_notes/npc/person/progress/FIX_SUMMARY.md

NPC Interaction Fix Summary

🐛 Bug Report

Status: ✅ FIXED

Symptom:

• "Press E to talk to [NPC]" prompt appears correctly
• But pressing E does not trigger the conversation
• NPCs are visible and positioned correctly

Root Cause: Map iterator bug in checkNPCProximity() function

---

🔧 The Fix

What Was Wrong

File: js/systems/interactions.js line 852

// ❌ BROKEN CODE
Object.entries(window.npcManager.npcs).forEach(([npcId, npc]) => {
    // Never runs! Object.entries() on a Map returns []
});

Why it failed:

• window.npcManager.npcs is a JavaScript Map, not a plain object
• Object.entries() only works on plain objects
• Object.entries(new Map()) returns an empty array []
• Result: checkNPCProximity() found zero NPCs
• No prompt was ever shown/updated
• Even though HTML said "Press E", there was no NPC data to interact with

What Was Fixed

// ✅ FIXED CODE
window.npcManager.npcs.forEach((npc) => {
    // Correctly iterates over all NPCs in the Map
});

Why it works:

• Map.forEach() correctly iterates over the Map's entries
• Callback receives (value, key) - we use the value (the NPC)
• Now checkNPCProximity() properly finds all NPCs within range

---

📝 Changes Made

Primary Fix

File: js/systems/interactions.js

Line	Change	Impact
852	Changed Object.entries() to .forEach()	✅ NPC proximity detection now works

Enhanced Debugging

Added comprehensive logging to help diagnose NPC interaction issues:

File: js/systems/interactions.js

• updateNPCInteractionPrompt() - Logs when prompt is created/updated/cleared
• tryInteractWithNearest() - Logs when NPC is found/not found

Files Created:

• planning_notes/npc/person/progress/MAP_ITERATOR_BUG_FIX.md - Bug explanation
• planning_notes/npc/person/progress/NPC_INTERACTION_DEBUG.md - Debugging guide
• test-npc-interaction.html - Interactive test page

---

✅ Verification

How to Test

Option 1: Manual Testing (In Browser)

1. Open test-npc-interaction.html in browser
2. Click "Load NPC Test Scenario"
3. Walk near an NPC
4. "Press E to talk to [Name]" should appear
5. Press E to start conversation

Option 2: Using Test Page Checks

1. Open test-npc-interaction.html
2. Use "System Checks" buttons to verify:
   • ✅ Check NPC System
   • ✅ Check Proximity Detection
   • ✅ List All NPCs
   • ✅ Test Interaction Prompt

Option 3: Console Commands

// Verify NPCs are registered with Map
console.log('NPC Map size:', window.npcManager.npcs.size);

// Verify proximity detection
window.checkNPCProximity();

// Check if prompt is in DOM
document.getElementById('npc-interaction-prompt');

// Manually test E-key
window.tryInteractWithNearest();

---

🎯 Expected Behavior After Fix

Before Fix ❌

🎮 Loaded npc-sprite-test scenario
✅ NPC sprite created: Front NPC at (160, 96)
✅ NPC sprite created: Back NPC at (192, 256)

[Player walks near NPCs - nothing happens]
[checkNPCProximity found 0 NPCs because Object.entries() returned []]

After Fix ✅

🎮 Loaded npc-sprite-test scenario
✅ NPC sprite created: Front NPC at (160, 96)
✅ NPC sprite created: Back NPC at (192, 256)

[Player walks within 64px of NPC]
✅ Created NPC interaction prompt: Front NPC (test_npc_front)

[Player presses E]
🎭 Interacting with NPC: Front NPC (test_npc_front)
🎭 Started conversation with Front NPC

[PersonChatMinigame opens with portraits and dialogue]

---

📊 System Status

Phase 3: Interaction System ✅ COMPLETE

Component	Status	Notes
NPC Sprites	✅ Working	Positioned correctly, visible
Proximity Detection	✅ FIXED	Now uses .forEach() on Map
Interaction Prompts	✅ Working	Shows "Press E to talk"
E-Key Handler	✅ Working	Triggers conversation
PersonChatMinigame	✅ Working	Opens conversation UI
Ink Story Integration	✅ Working	Loads and progresses dialogue

Overall Progress

Phase 1: Basic NPC Sprites ✅ (100%)
Phase 2: Person-Chat Minigame ✅ (100%)
Phase 3: Interaction System ✅ (100%) - NOW FIXED
─────────────────────────────
Phase 1-3 Complete: 50% ✅

Phase 4: Dual Identity (Pending)
Phase 5: Events & Barks (Pending)
Phase 6: Polish & Documentation (Pending)
─────────────────────────────
Full System: 50% ✅

---

🚀 Next Steps

The NPC interaction system is now fully functional!

Ready for Phase 4: Dual Identity System

• Share Ink state between phone and person NPCs
• Implement unified conversation history
• Enable context-aware dialogue

Testing Before Phase 4

1. ✅ Test interaction in different rooms
2. ✅ Test multiple NPCs in same room
3. ✅ Test conversation completion and game resume
4. ✅ Verify event system triggers correctly

---

📚 Resources

• Debug Guide: planning_notes/npc/person/progress/NPC_INTERACTION_DEBUG.md
• Fix Details: planning_notes/npc/person/progress/MAP_ITERATOR_BUG_FIX.md
• Test Page: test-npc-interaction.html
• NPC Manager: js/systems/npc-manager.js (uses Map for NPC storage)

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💡 Key Learning

JavaScript Map vs Object:

• ❌ Object.entries(new Map()) → [] (empty)
• ✅ map.forEach(callback) → Works correctly
• ✅ Array.from(map) → Also works

Always use the correct method for data structure!