NPC fear: how bears react to Naughty

Bears don’t watch Naughty directly. Every bear has a fear component that holds its fear level, and a fear generator that gives off fear events for other bears to pick up. Being hit, seeing another bear get hit or hurt, and seeing a kill all go through this one system.

Where it lives

Container	Script	What’s in it
global.lu	globaldictionnary	The fear event constants (FEAR_ATTACKED, FEAR_WIT_ATTACKED, …)
global.lu	npc	NPC:AddFear, NPC:InitFears (the fear table), NPC:InitFearEvents, threshold setters
naughtyisland.lu	naughtyisland_npcbase	What a bear does when it’s hit (HealthChangedCB) or dies (DeathCB); applies each bear’s thresholds
naughtyisland.lu	naughtyisland_npcs	Per-bear definitions (NPCDef), including max fear and thresholds

Episode and challenge containers carry their own *_npcs definitions (for example ep10story.lu → ep10story_npcs) with different values for the same bears.

Fear events

Each event is a hashed name. The TEXT is the game’s own debug description (demo_fearevent_* strings). From globaldictionnary (selected lines):

FEAR_TORMENTOR = --[[HASH:"demo_fearevent_see_tormentor" TEXT:"sees Naughty!"]]0x972502d2
FEAR_WITNESS_KILL = --[[HASH:"demo_fearevent_witness_kill" TEXT:"witnesses a Bear being killed!!!"]]0xfedbeab9
FEAR_ATTACKED = --[[HASH:"demo_fearevent_attacked" TEXT:"is attacked!"]]0x538405ab
FEAR_WIT_ATTACKED = --[[HASH:"demo_fearevent_witness_attacked" TEXT:"witnesses an attacked Bear!"]]0x621aabbb
FEAR_WIT_INJURED = --[[HASH:"demo_fearevent_witness_injured" TEXT:"witnesses an injured Bear!"]]0xadb546f0

“Tormentor” is the scripts’ word for Naughty.

What happens when Naughty hits a bear

naughtyisland_npcbase, complete function:

function NaughtyIsland_NPCBase:HealthChangedCB()
  local message = self.healthChangedMsgListener:GetMessage()
  if not message:IsDamaging() then
    return
  end
  local damageData = message:GetDamageData()
  if self.className == CHEERLEADER or self.className == SMART then
    local generateAttribute = self:GenerateAttribute(STATE_ATTACK_CHARGED, false)
    self.objectDescriptor:SetVisibleAttribute(generateAttribute)
  end
  local fearGeneratorComponent = GetComponent(self.gameObjectEnvironment, "Fear generator Component")
  local fearComponent = GetComponent(self.gameObjectEnvironment, "Fear Component")
  if GetCharacterModelAttributes(self.gameObjectEnvironment):IsInjured() and self.isInjured == false then
    local modeledObject = GetModeledObject(self.gameObjectEnvironment)
    self.isInjured = true
    fearGeneratorComponent:ActivateFearEvent(FEAR_WIT_INJURED)
    local fearInjured = engine.FearEvent_Create(FEAR_INJURED, true, 0.0, nil)
    fearComponent:ApplyFearEvent(fearInjured)
    local soundManagerManipulator = engine.SoundManagerManipulator()
    modeledObject:GetSoundManager(soundManagerManipulator)
    GlobalPlayCustomSound("VO_SCARED_SCREAM", soundManagerManipulator, self.soundSuffix)
  end
  if damageData ~= nil and damageData:GetDamageType() ~= DAMAGE_TYPE_TRAP then
    fearGeneratorComponent:ActivateFearEvent(FEAR_WIT_ATTACKED)
    local fearAttacked = engine.FearEvent_Create(FEAR_ATTACKED, true, 0.0, nil)
    fearComponent:ApplyFearEvent(fearAttacked)
    local attacker = damageData:GetAttacker()
    if attacker ~= nil then
      AchievementUsedWeapon(attacker)
    end
  end
end

Confirmed, step by step:

1. Only damaging messages count.
2. The first time the bear becomes injured, its generator switches on FEAR_WIT_INJURED, the bear applies FEAR_INJURED to itself, and it plays VO_SCARED_SCREAM.
3. Any hit that isn’t trap damage switches on FEAR_WIT_ATTACKED on the victim’s generator and applies FEAR_ATTACKED to the victim.
4. Cheerleader and Smart class bears also lose their “attack charged” state when hit.

When the bear dies, DeathCB in the same script switches its generator from FEAR_WIT_INJURED to FEAR_WITNESS_KILL.

NPC:InitFearEvents in npc registers these events on every bear’s generator, so every bear can also be the source. The third argument is 3.0 for FEAR_WIT_ATTACKED and 0.0 for FEAR_WIT_INJURED (selected lines):

  fearEvent = engine.FearEvent_Create(FEAR_WIT_ATTACKED, false, 3.0, GetModeledObject(self.gameObjectEnvironment))
  fearGeneratorComponent:AddFearEvent(fearEvent)
  fearEvent = engine.FearEvent_Create(FEAR_WIT_INJURED, false, 0.0, GetModeledObject(self.gameObjectEnvironment))
  fearGeneratorComponent:AddFearEvent(fearEvent)

Interpretation: the 3.0 is how many seconds the event stays active. Which bears perceive an event (range, line of sight) is decided by the engine, not the scripts.

How much each event scares a bear

NPC:InitFears in npc is the fear table: one AddFear call per event. The first 13 lines of the function:

function NPC:InitFears()
  self:AddFear(FEAR_SONAR, FEARTYPE_PLAYER, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, false, 0.0, {}, 1.5)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_TORMENTOR, FEARTYPE_PLAYER, 30.0, 20.0, 10.0, 0.0, 0.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_NBSCREAM, FEARTYPE_PLAYER, 30.0, 20.0, 10.0, 5.0, 5.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_TERRORIZE, FEARTYPE_PLAYER, 100.0, 75.0, 50.0, 25.0, 10.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_WITNESS_KILL, FEARTYPE_TORMENT, 100.0, 75.0, 50.0, 25.0, 25.0, true)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_ATTACKED, FEARTYPE_AGGRESSION, 50.0, 25.0, 15.0, 10.0, 5.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_CORNERED, FEARTYPE_PLAYER, 30.0, 20.0, 10.0, 5.0, 0.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_INJURED, FEARTYPE_AGGRESSION, 100.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_WIT_ATTACKED, FEARTYPE_AGGRESSION, 40.0, 20.0, 10.0, 5.0, 0.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_WIT_INJURED, FEARTYPE_TORMENT, 50.0, 40.0, 20.0, 10.0, 5.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_SCREAM, FEARTYPE_TORMENT, 25.0, 20.0, 10.0, 5.0, 0.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_HIDDEN_TERRORIZE, FEARTYPE_PLAYER, 200.0, 150.0, 100.0, 50.0, 25.0, false)
  self:AddFear(FEAR_STEALTH_SCARE, FEARTYPE_PLAYER, 200.0, 150.0, 100.0, 50.0, 25.0, false)

The rest of the table follows the same pattern: one entry per object for scares (FEAR_SCARE_*), seen kills (FEAR_SEE_KILL_*), destroyed (FEAR_SEEDESTROY_*) and disabled (FEAR_SEEDISABLED_*) objects, plus kill types (FEAR_KILLED_*).

AddFear’s arguments, confirmed from its body (Fear_Create, SetFearLevels, SetShocking, …):

Argument	Meaning
1	The fear event
2	Its category: FEARTYPE_PLAYER, _AGGRESSION, _TORMENT, _STRANGE, _TRAP
3–7	Five fear values, passed to SetFearLevels
8	“Shocking”
9	Optional: how many shocks are permitted (default -1)
11	Optional: immune time

Interpretation: the five values are the amount of fear added at each of the bear’s fear stages, getting smaller as the bear is already more scared. “Shocking” is set on the kill-type events and probably triggers a stronger reaction. Neither has been tested in-game yet.

What the table shows either way: seeing a bear get hit (40) scares less than being hit (50); seeing a kill (100, shocking) scares more; seeing an object kill (200 or more, shocking) scares most.

Fear thresholds

Each bear type is defined with a maximum fear level and three thresholds. From naughtyisland_npcs:

STARDUST = NPCDef("Stardust", --[[HASH:"npc_names_Stardust" TEXT:"Stardust"]]0x4b5fa30b, CHEERLEADER, 0, FACTION_NORMAL_BEAR_HASH, 20, false, {0.79, 1.0, 0.82}, 90, 1500, 1.5, {0.2, 0.5, 1.0}, NORMALBEAR2_SOUNDSUFFIX, "")

The arguments follow NPCDef.__init in npc: …, color {0.79, 1.0, 0.82}, maxHP 90, maxFearLevel 1500, shootingSpeed 1.5, fearThresholds {0.2, 0.5, 1.0}, … . naughtyisland_npcbase applies them:

  v:SetMaxFearLevel(maxFearLevel)
  v:SetScaredThreshold(fearThresholds[1])
  v:SetTerrifiedThreshold(fearThresholds[2])
  v:SetPanicThreshold(fearThresholds[3])

Interpretation: the thresholds are fractions of the maximum, so Stardust becomes scared at 20% of 1500 (300), terrified at 50% (750) and panics at 100%.

Changing it

• How strongly bears react: edit the values in NPC:InitFears (global.lu → npc) and ship. Keep the .0 on these values (40.0, not 40): Ship treats a number without a decimal point as the game’s integer type, and these are floating-point.
• How easily one bear type breaks: edit its maxFearLevel or fearThresholds in the *_npcs script of the level you’re changing.
• What counts as an attack: HealthChangedCB skips trap damage; that’s the DAMAGE_TYPE_TRAP check.

Verified in-game: a global.lu with NPC:InitFears multiplied by 10, read and shipped with Seam Ripper, boots and plays correctly in the tutorial and in gameplay (the 2026-09-24 scare test).