fix: surface NPC dialog response lifecycle

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ versioned release tag yet, so entries are organized as pre-alpha snapshots.
 
 ### Added
 
+- Focused NPC dialog now reports response lifecycle in the UGUI chat panel:
+  waiting, retrying, answered, or failed after bounded DOS.AI retry.
 - Player-to-NPC chat now uses bounded direct-reply retry in Unity when the
   model path hits transient DOS.AI timeout or 5xx errors, while still
   suppressing deterministic fallback speech so only model-authored NPC lines

ROADMAP.md

@@ -141,6 +141,8 @@ Recommended views:
 - [x] Player-to-NPC dialog now retries transient DOS.AI timeout or 5xx failures
   a bounded number of times and keeps deterministic fallback speech out of the
   conversation UI.
+- [x] Focused NPC dialog now shows response lifecycle feedback in the chat panel
+  so a failed DOS.AI reply is visible instead of looking like a silent NPC.
 - [ ] Real combat damage, enemy rewards, loot drops, quest progress, and player
   time-loot from other users are not implemented yet.
 

Unity/Assets/_SecondSpawn/Scripts/AI/PrototypeAgentBrain.cs

@@ -975,6 +975,7 @@ private IEnumerator PlayerChatResponseLoop()
                 string decisionError = null;
                 var request = BuildDecisionRequest();
                 SetBrainStatus("AI answering", new Color(0.72f, 0.82f, 0.95f), $"player chat attempt {_pendingPlayerChatAttemptCount}");
+                PrototypeNearbyNpcChatBox.TryNotifyFocusedNpcResponseStarted(AgentId, DisplayName, _pendingPlayerChatAttemptCount);
                 var stimulus = _pendingMessageFromNpc ? "npc_speech" : "player_chat";
                 Debug.Log($"[PrototypeAgentBrain] Player chat decision request agent={AgentId}, attempt={_pendingPlayerChatAttemptCount}, stimulus={stimulus}, allowed={string.Join(",", request.allowed ?? new string[0])}, message={request.world_snapshot?.last_player_message?.text}");
                 yield return NpcDecisionRequestScheduler.WaitForSlot(
@@ -1017,6 +1018,7 @@ private IEnumerator PlayerChatResponseLoop()
             {
                 Debug.LogWarning($"[PrototypeAgentBrain] Player chat response exhausted model attempts agent={AgentId}, attempts={_pendingPlayerChatAttemptCount}");
                 SetBrainStatus("AI no answer", new Color(1f, 0.62f, 0.16f), "player chat model attempts exhausted");
+                PrototypeNearbyNpcChatBox.TryNotifyFocusedNpcResponseFailed(AgentId, DisplayName, "DOS.AI unavailable");
                 ClearPendingPlayerChat();
             }
 

Unity/Assets/_SecondSpawn/Scripts/AI/PrototypeNearbyNpcChatBox.cs

@@ -65,11 +65,24 @@ public static bool TryRouteFocusedNpcSpeech(string actorId, string displayName,
             return chat != null && chat.TryAddFocusedNpcSpeech(actorId, displayName, text);
         }
 
+        public static bool TryNotifyFocusedNpcResponseStarted(string actorId, string displayName, int attempt)
+        {
+            var chat = FindAnyObjectByType<PrototypeNearbyNpcChatBox>();
+            return chat != null && chat.TryMarkFocusedNpcResponseStarted(actorId, displayName, attempt);
+        }
+
+        public static bool TryNotifyFocusedNpcResponseFailed(string actorId, string displayName, string reason)
+        {
+            var chat = FindAnyObjectByType<PrototypeNearbyNpcChatBox>();
+            return chat != null && chat.TryMarkFocusedNpcResponseFailed(actorId, displayName, reason);
+        }
+
         public sealed class DialogueLine
         {
             public string speaker;
             public string text;
             public bool is_player;
+            public bool is_system;
         }
 
         [RuntimeInitializeOnLoadMethod(RuntimeInitializeLoadType.AfterSceneLoad)]
@@ -210,7 +223,7 @@ private IEnumerator SendNearbyMessage(string message, List<string> explicitActor
             _status = nearbyActorIds.Count == 0
                 ? "No nearby NPC heard that line."
                 : IsFocusedNpcRecipient(nearbyActorIds)
-                    ? $"Queued for {_focusedNpcDisplayName}."
+                    ? $"Waiting for {_focusedNpcDisplayName}."
                     : $"Queued for {nearbyActorIds.Count} nearby NPC{(nearbyActorIds.Count == 1 ? "" : "s")}.";
             Debug.Log($"[PrototypeNearbyNpcChatBox] Player message route recipients={nearbyActorIds.Count}, focused={IsFocusedNpcRecipient(nearbyActorIds)}, message={Shorten(message, 80)}");
 
@@ -667,7 +680,8 @@ private void AddHistory(string speaker, string text, bool isPlayer)
             {
                 speaker = safeSpeaker,
                 text = Shorten(text, 220),
-                is_player = isPlayer
+                is_player = isPlayer,
+                is_system = false
             });
 
             while (_history.Count > Mathf.Max(1, _historyLimit))
@@ -697,6 +711,63 @@ private bool TryAddFocusedNpcSpeech(string actorId, string displayName, string t
             return true;
         }
 
+        private bool TryMarkFocusedNpcResponseStarted(string actorId, string displayName, int attempt)
+        {
+            if (!IsMatchingFocusedNpc(actorId))
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            FocusNpc(ResolveBrain(actorId));
+            var safeName = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(displayName) ? FocusedNpcDisplayName : displayName.Trim();
+            var suffix = attempt > 1 ? $" retry {attempt}" : "";
+            _status = $"{safeName} is answering{suffix}.";
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        private bool TryMarkFocusedNpcResponseFailed(string actorId, string displayName, string reason)
+        {
+            if (!IsMatchingFocusedNpc(actorId))
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            FocusNpc(ResolveBrain(actorId));
+            var safeName = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(displayName) ? FocusedNpcDisplayName : displayName.Trim();
+            var safeReason = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(reason) ? "model unavailable" : reason.Trim();
+            _status = $"{safeName} could not answer: {safeReason}.";
+            AddSystemLine($"{safeName} could not reach DOS.AI after retrying. Try again in a moment.");
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        private bool IsMatchingFocusedNpc(string actorId)
+        {
+            return IsFocusedNpcActive() &&
+                !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(actorId) &&
+                string.Equals(actorId.Trim(), _focusedNpcActorId, System.StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+        }
+
+        private void AddSystemLine(string text)
+        {
+            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(text))
+            {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            _dialogueLines.Add(new DialogueLine
+            {
+                speaker = "System",
+                text = Shorten(text, 220),
+                is_player = false,
+                is_system = true
+            });
+
+            while (_dialogueLines.Count > Mathf.Max(1, _historyLimit))
+            {
+                _dialogueLines.RemoveAt(0);
+            }
+        }
+
         private static bool ConsumeSubmitEventForChatField()
         {
             var current = Event.current;

Unity/Assets/_SecondSpawn/Scripts/UI/NearbyNpcChatPanel.cs

@@ -237,6 +237,8 @@ private void Render()
                 builder.Append(line.text);
                 builder.Append(':');
                 builder.Append(line.is_player);
+                builder.Append(':');
+                builder.Append(line.is_system);
             }
 
             var state = builder.ToString();
@@ -327,6 +329,12 @@ private void RenderDialogueRows()
             var firstIsPlayer = _chat.DialogueLines[0].is_player;
             foreach (var line in _chat.DialogueLines)
             {
+                if (line.is_system)
+                {
+                    CreateSystemRow(line.text);
+                    continue;
+                }
+
                 CreateMessageRow(line, line.is_player == firstIsPlayer);
             }
         }