This is something I've generally been interested in doing. I know people have replaced NPCs with their custom NPCs, but creating an entirely new NPC seems yet to be discovered. What's the possibility of this happening in XNB modding? I was looking at the files, and although it seems hard, I feel as if it is possible. I'm going to do some playing around to see if I can remotely get a character to show up at all. I'm leaving this up for discussion between the community, as I am generally interested in what you guys think about this. Do you guys think it could be done?
It's been done in XNB modding already: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/kevin-v0-1-new-npc.112067 And I did it with SMAPI: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/smapi-ashley-npc-new-npc.112077/ There was a tutorial somewhere for the XNB replacement method, but I couldn't find it.
Damn. That's awesome. What's the complexity you can go with these NPCs though? Are you able to marry them, create events, etc.? If this has already been done, this gives me more motivation to make one, for I will know I'm not wasting my time with the impossible.
With plain XNB/save modding, you can enable dating, give them events, give them daily schedules, etc. I'm not completely sure how festivals work so I don't know if you can add them to those, but you definitely can with SMAPI (and give them unique dialogue for the festival).
@keyten's work here. Also, follow @sheetcakeghost 's thread. Very cool stuff in progress. Edit: Forgot Omegasis' Custom NPC Plus Shop mod, if you were interested in creating your own project.