Building AI-driven Characters Using Playmaker in Unity
By Shane Whelan
Course info



Course info



Description
It can be difficult to visualize something as abstract as the behavior of an AI character in a game, let alone implement the code to make it work. In this course, Building AI-driven Characters Using Playmaker in Unity, you will use Playmaker to build a working UI. First, you will implement a point-and-click player control system driven by Navmesh. Then, you will add a ‘brain’ inside an enemy character, all without writing a line of code.Finally, you will sketch out a flow diagram of state-driven behavior, then add actions to that diagram to get the gameplay working for real. By the end of the course, you will know how to prototype your own games using Playmaker. Required Software: Unity 2017 and Playmaker.
Section Introduction Transcripts
Course Overview
Hi everyone, my name is Shane Whelan, and welcome to my course on Building AI-driven Characters Using Playmaker in Unity. I'm a game design animation teacher at Ballyfermot College of Further Education in Dublin. Unity has become an increasingly visual game engine, opening up new possibilities to artists and other visually minded people when it comes to developing games and other interactive material. Playmaker is a visual scripting system for Unity that relies on the concept of finite state machines to assemble interactive gameplay without writing a line of code. In fact, Playmaker is particularly suited to people who may feel reluctant or unable to write code, but still want to have a voice on the game design team. This course is all about using the Playmaker system for Unity to get you to a point where you can rapidly prototype your own games, covering control systems, game mechanics, and AI. Some of the major topics that we will cover include building a point-and-click control system, rapidly adding layers of responsive feedback to player actions, enhancing visual and audio effects, and building a decision-making system for a character. By the end of this course, you'll know how to prototype your own games using Playmaker. Before beginning the course, you should be familiar with the basic Unity editor, as well as some key Unity components, namely the Animator, Physics rigidbodies and colliders, and the NavMesh system. But from here, you should feel comfortable diving into Unity with courses on Game Mechanic Design Fundamentals and the Swords and Shovels Character Controller and AI. I hope you'll join me on this journey to learn about finite state machines with the Building AI-driven Characters Using Playmaker in Unity course at Pluralsight.