Forum: gaming.stackexchange.com
Tags: <terraria>
Title: How do I build a house for my NPCs?
Question: I read on the wiki that people will move in under the following conditions:   You do something to please them  An empty house is available with a light source, table, and chair (also with walls).   I have a house which is about 7x8, then a roof space above that; about half the area. I could put furniture up there too, but will anyone move in?

Answers:
sents: text: Houses need to fulfill a set of requirements to be considered a proper house.
text: The step-by-step guide to making a house is as follows: The room must be at least approximately 42 blocks away from any corruption .
text: Build the walls and roof.
text: The room must be five tiles tall at the least ,not counting the roof itself.
text: The floor cannot be only wood platform, there must be a place for the NPC to stand without him standing on wood platforms.
text: Make sure the room is big enough to be considered a proper house as well.
text: Fill in the house with background walls .
text: Any player-placed wall will work.
text: Place a light source inside the room .
text: A torch on the wall works fine, butyou can also use candles and othersuch fancy items.
text: You can make saidfancy decorations with metals at ananvil.
text: Place
text: at least one "Comfort Item"(chair) and a "Flat Surface Item"(table) in the house.
text: Place a Door in the house, in one of the walls.
text: Assuming you've done everything right, the game should treat your room as a house.
text: The first house you build will be taken by the Guide , and any further houses by whichever NPCs appear.
text: There is also a size limit (60-750 tiles including walls, floor and ceiling), and the first house you build will always go to the guide.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/7111/The Communist Duck
score: 72
sents: text: It has to to be 6 blocks tall and 7 blocks wide.
text: It needs to be made from wood.
text: It also needs to at least one chair, one table, a torch, and a wood floor.
text: NOW REMEMBER
text: - You have to unlock all the NPC's.
text: The Guide is the only one that's free.
text: If he never moves in the house then just wait, it takes time.
text: Leave the house for a while.
text: Later, when you come back he will be in the house.
text: How to unlock NPC's Guns Dealer
text: : Carry a gun in your inventory.
text: Mechanic - You can find her in the Dungeon, just make sure to kill Skeletron before entering.
text: Merchant - I think you need at least 50 silver coins.
text: Demolitionist
text: - You need at least one bomb in your inventory and the Merchant.
text: Nurse - You need to have used at least one life crystal.
text: Goblin Tinkerer - After you defeat the Goblin Army look on the map, then head to where he's at.
text: When you first see him he will be called the Bound Goblin.
text: Tap (or click) on him
text: and he will begin talking to you.
text: Then make the house.
text: Dryad - Defeat a boss, King Slime doesn't count.
text: Santa Claus
text: - It has to be somewhere around Christmas.
text: Party Girl - Has a fairly rare chance to spawn after having eight NPC's.
text: Also, make sure that the chat doesn't say (NPC's name) needs to settle down or she won't spawn.
text: Truffle -
text: Only spawns in Hardmode (activated after the defeating the Wall of Flash).
text: Not only that, he can only spawn in player made surface glowing mushroom biome.
text: Pirate -
text: Only spawns in Hardmode.
text: Is unlocked after defeating the Pirate Invasion.
text: Wizard - Rare spawn underground after Hardmode is activated.
text: There are some more but it will take lots of explaining.
text: REMEMBER - if you see a message like (NPC's name) needs to settle down, then build a house.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/68439/Anthony
score: 17
sents: text: While it says empty 'house' it really means empty room.
text: It needs to have a door as well as the light source, table chair and background walls (Also needs the walls that stop baddies from getting into it :))
text: There is a size requirement however, and I do not think the roof above a 7x8 house would be large enough to entice an NPC to stay there.
text: (I usually build about 10x5 rooms or so and the NPCs never complain :))
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/8581/James
score: 15
sents: text: NPC houses require all four sides to be covered (2 side walls, ceiling, and floor) and then have a background wall, a door, lighting, and furniture.
text: I usually make mine a little bigger than the space requirement, and I also put a door on BOTH walls just in case, have two torches in the ceiling corners and place a table and one chair on either side of it, all just to be safe.
text: The only other requirement that NPCs have is that the background wall is not a dirt wall, it's the only kind of wall they don't accept.
text: If that's what you were using then there's your problem.
text: =)
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/36381/Daemon
score: 11
sents: text: In addition to the other answers, it might be worth noting that your house can sometimes be too small even in its smallest allowed size.
text: This happened to me when I built 6 block by 6 block houses and the doors had been opened towards the interior of the house.
text: This seemingly shrinks its size (I assume that's because an open door counts as wall).
text: I recommend building slightly bigger houses to compensate for this, or else NPCs won't respawn unless you close the doors.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/18131/Gigala
score: 11
sents: text: You need to have a building with a width of at least 10 and a height of at least 7, fully enclosed in walls.
text: There must be background walls, a chair, a table, and torches.
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/46089/Jared
score: 10
sents: text: For the first house you build, and every other house, you have to have it be anywhere from 60-750 blocks for area (most people use 6x10 houses).
text: There has to be a chair, and for the first house use a Workbench as the table.
text: For the rest of the houses you should use a table because it will take up less wood.
text: You also need full background (I recommend wood background since it will look nice and you can craft it easily) and a light source (1 torch will work).
text: Finally, just place a door on either side.
text: That's all you need!
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/108145/imafancyman
score: 9
sents: text: Try building a 14 block wide house then cut it in half for a door to fit.
text: Then put a crafting table and a chair in each part and select your npc.
text: Click on the house and move so that you can't see the house and the npc should move in.
text: Also you need to place a torch in the house for this to work. :)
answer_details: author: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/87704/EaterOfTheLemons
score: 6

Summary of the answers:
The game should treat your room as a house. There is a size limit and it must have walls, a door, a light source, table and chair.
There is a wide range of rules for the houses of the NPCs consisting of side walls, a ceiling, a floor, a background wall, a door, lighting, and furniture.