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PlayMaker - Visual Scripting for Unity

Discussion in 'Assets and Asset Store' started by Alex-Chouls, Dec 31, 2010.

  1. linusnorden

    linusnorden

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    im heading there now /L
     
  2. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Video tutorial showing how to build animation graphs in Playmaker (720p recommended):



    The animation got a little choppy in the video capture :(

    This is a more advanced tutorial that starts to show the power of Playmaker once you go beyond the basics. The animation graph workflow shown here is normally found in expensive middleware used by large teams (e.g., Havok Behavior). With Playmaker I really wanted to bring this kind of state based workflow - simple, clear, and powerful - to Unity for indie developers (and I wanted to use it myself!).
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2011
  3. MitchStan

    MitchStan

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    Just curious and learning from these videos - why use global events in this particular case? Could you have used non-global events?
     
  4. sjm-tech

    sjm-tech

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    There is Any ability to obtain a demo version?
    Video and webplayer are great but it would be important to test it!
    Thanks

    Max

    p.s. Sorry for asking here, but i didn't receive any reply asking at homesite default email
     
  5. MaDDoX

    MaDDoX

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    I can't watch this specific video right now (damn job firewall!) but I've asked Alex about it previously. In my understanding, there are two main advantages for global events. First it can work as a "shortcut" (like in Antares) since the event can be placed anywhere instead of being necessarily tied to a state. Second but even more important, global events don't depend on the current state, meaning it will be fired by other FSMs independently of whatever state the current machine is. This can be quite powerful if used right, both to ignore/treat incoming messages and to make sure messages are executed no matter what.

    Of course Alex can correct me in any of these claims if they're false, I haven't used them too often up to now.
     
  6. RichBosworth

    RichBosworth

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    Hi,

    Would it be possible to introduce custom variable types in the future? Or could you extend the current variable types? I know I can achieve this via scripts, but at the moment I want to be able to set values in a List in the Inspector (i.e. not having to go into the FSM to change the lists). I can't achieve this with the current set-up.
     
  7. Redz0ne

    Redz0ne

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    I'm with Sjm... not that i'm against it but given that i've had no luck with getting the beta to DL and install properly, having something to test before considering purchase would be very much appreciated. (maybe cripple it or have an X-days useable kinda thing)

    cause... well, $100 is a bit of an investment (and before anyone lampoons me for saying $100 is a largish chunk of change... well, not everyone has access to the same kinds of funds and would have to save for something like this. so, knowing just what it is that it can do and wether it can even DO the things i have in mind would be nice before shelling out that kind of money.)
     
  8. Toad

    Toad

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    Thanks for the video tutorials Alex. Please keep them coming!
     
  9. p6r

    p6r

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    Thanks for the videos...

    I would like small videos about other simple things : It's always good to show basics for new users !!!
    * first person controller (not only a screenshot like on your forum)
    * mouse click to drag and drop or instantiate objects from a mouse click
    * ...

    In fact the very simple things we need in any games or applications... first to learn playmaker and second to be able to create easily and quickly as promised by all these editors.

    Your included samples are fantastic to show us what we can do with playmaker but it's frustrating not to know how to do that little by little. It's why these videos are so important (for me only !?!)... I don't want to be disappointed or frustrated with such a (expensive) great tool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    6R
     
  10. RichBosworth

    RichBosworth

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    The examples in the videos are fantastic! However, I'd really appreciate some game specific examples (just like the weapon example you gave in an earlier post). I feel that these would be great advertisements for your product as well!
     
  11. MaDDoX

    MaDDoX

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    ?? That's kinda weird considering the beta was simply a unity package which you imported just like any user-created package. As a matter of fact the final release is just the same.

    Not saying Playmaker doesn't need a limited demo of sorts, maybe with the playmaker logo on top of generated scenes like in the beta. I wouldn't be so sure of the purchase if I hadn't took part of the beta myself and tested/approved it with my team coders. It's just that proper betas tend to be harder to create (and "maintain") than what most people think.
     
  12. Frank Oz

    Frank Oz

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    The beta6 worked fine for me, I had it downloaded but never got around to checking it out until much later (after playMaker went out of beta and removed the links), worked first time, bought the full thing a few days later lol.
     
  13. ibyte

    ibyte

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    Hi,

    Looking for feedback on Playmaker.

    If one is already using a FSM in code, does Playmaker buy you much over and above that?

    Sitting on the fence right now without a demo to play with.

    iByte
     
  14. Vancete

    Vancete

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    Anyone can send me the latest beta, please? I'm student and I prefer to test it before buy the tool.
    Thanks in advance :)
     
  15. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    @MitchStan - It was just convenient to use global transitions in that example. As MaDDoX said, global transitions are useful to jump to a state regardless of the current state, and can help to simplify the graph. Normally you want to react to events based on the current state - that's one of the main advantages of an FSM (instead of a bunch of ugly if-thens that are hard to maintain and debug).

    @RickyBozzy - We'll be adding new variable types in this order: Rect, anything derived from UnityEngine.Object (lots of new types!), then support for custom types in the action editor (any class made up of known types).

    Re Trial Version: We will release a trial version soon with the next asset store update. The versions need to be in sync...

    Thanks for the video suggestions! We will try to make a variety of basic and real game examples.

    @iByte - Playmaker is a comprehensive development environment for FSMs, so you get visualization, easy editing, edit time error checking, runtime debugging etc. Take a look at the online manual and videos to get a feel for the workflow.
     
  16. sjm-tech

    sjm-tech

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    great news... i will wait..thanks!
     
  17. ibyte

    ibyte

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    Hi Alex, is it possible to view more then one FSM (graph) executing at a time?

    iByte
     
  18. MaDDoX

    MaDDoX

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    We're replacing the multiple FSMs in both our under-development games with Playmaker ones. It makes a night-and-day difference, seriously, especially in the debugging and "maintain-ability" of the FSMs.
     
  19. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Currently you can only see one FSM graph at a time, but there's also an FSM browser window that shows all FSMs in the scene and their current state. And there are lots of automatic or one click shortcuts to graphs (select a game object, click an object in the game view, jump to a breakpoint/error...)
     
  20. ibyte

    ibyte

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    Hi Alex, another question if you will.

    Is it easy to exclude parts of your system without breaking things?

    For example, I use EZ GUI and want to continue with that package. Can I remove your ONGUI support (and it's replacement) from the package without affecting things?

    Thanks

    iByte
     
  21. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Yes. PlayMakerGUI is a component that you can just delete (or not add to the scene).
     
  22. ibyte

    ibyte

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    Hi Alex, thanks for answering those questions. You now have a new customer. :)
     
  23. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  24. Vancete

    Vancete

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    I sended a PM to you, waiting for answer.
    Thanks (and sorry for my bad English)
     
  25. Extrakun

    Extrakun

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    I got some questions; tried sending it to the official email but there's no reply, so I guess I'll try those here.


    Is the license of PlayMaker bind to an individual, to machine or to the copy of Unity3D it is registered for?
     
  26. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Hi extrakun,

    The Playmaker license is tied to a single user (not machine or Unity license). We'll add this to the FAQ...
     
  27. fas

    fas

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    Hey Alex,

    I think Playmaker looks great, however I'm developing for mobile platforms so naturally I'm concerned about performance. I've read the FAQ and I also saw that someone else had performane inquiries earlier on in the thread. Is there a screencast that goes into more depth on mobile performance using Playmaker and using object pools? How is the integrated object pool system coming along, and will that be available as a free update?

    Cheers!
     
  28. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Video tutorial showing how to control the animation graph built in the previous tutorial: (720p recommended):



    In case you missed the first part:

     
  29. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    @fas - The next update is likely to be a maintenance update (mainly bug fixes, maybe a few smaller features). The update after that will likely have the object pool system. In the meantime, maybe you can ask users on the Playmaker forum about their experience with mobile development with playmaker - I know there are quite a few already. I know one user built his own object pool system - maybe he'll be willing to share some tips... It's also possible to create your own object pools with Playmaker actions (just create objects outside the game loop and enable/disable them inside the game loop), it's just nicer to have a built in solution that does more of the busywork for you...
     
  30. Toad

    Toad

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  31. fas

    fas

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    Cool, thanks for the link MattSimpson, that shed a little light on the technique for me.

    So basically, as I understand it, the main benefit of an object pool or recycler is the performance gain you get when you instantiate objects during gameplay? Is there a point to putting other things in there?

    And also another quick question for you alexchouls, does Playmaker fully support Android now? The FAQ says "should run on Android after we've finished our tests".

    Cheers
     
  32. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    We have users working on Android, and they've confirmed that the Device Touch and Gesture actions work on their devices. The Acceleration and GPS actions are more iOS specific and would need some fiddling to get working on Android. We don't have Android devices to test on yet, but we're happy to work with Android developers one on one to develop Android actions.

    With object pools you minimize frame rate hitches from instantiating objects and destroying objects, which can trigger the garbage collector. It's generally good for objects with shorter lifespans that can be re-used. Or if you want to cap the number of instances of a type of object and control what happens when you hit the cap. E.g., the Playmaker object pool system will allow you to choose: Reuse Oldest, Increase Pool Size, Skip...
     
  33. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Video tutorial showing how to use Mouse Pick: (720p recommended):



    I'll probably make a higher level action that combines some of these steps, but this is still a good example of how to use a Playmaker FSM to break a problem down into states. Think of it like a flow chart with each step being a state. I often build the flow chart and alt-click through the states before adding any actions, just to visualize and test the solution - that way you start with a clear, human readable flow, and it's just a matter of adding the right actions to implement each state.
     
  34. p6r

    p6r

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    Thanks for this new video...
    This one and the other videos are exactly the basics I need to use Playmaker I have bought.

    I have to understand these basics first to understand the "spirit" of Playmaker then to use it for myself. That helps me a lot...
    One or two things at once to learn little by little is perfect. No more...

    I'm waiting for other basic videos... thanks a lot.
    6R
     
  35. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Video tutorial showing how to use GUI Sliders and Buttons: (720p recommended):



    @p6r - more on the way!
     
  36. Toad

    Toad

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    Enjoyed watching the latest videos. More like these please!

    Playmaker rocks!! :)
     
  37. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Thanks Matt! More coming soon...
     
  38. XN-Sigma

    XN-Sigma

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    Hi Alex Chouls!

    I have a few questions about the complexity of the code made with PlayMaker. Sorry if any of them were already answered. :/

    I'm trying to make a racing game, I tried using the scripts from the Car Tutorial for Unity, but they are very problematic and don't really work outside of the car tutorial map so I'd like to make my own car setup.

    So, I was wondering if it's possible to make a car physics code with PlayMaker?
    Also I wonder how complex could the code be just using the nodes available with PlayMaker, I mean, without needing to write a single line of coding?
    And could PlayMaker be used to make core stuff like game modes/rules?
    And finally, can PlayMaker FSMs have setup options outside of the PlayMaker window, I mean, in the Unity Inspector window like normal scripts?

    Well these are my questions, I know very little about programing so when I saw the videos about PlayMaker it caught my attention because it seems so easy to use. :D
     
  39. monsterhead

    monsterhead

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    Thanks for the new videos Alex, they are very informative. Maybe down the road it would be nice have some videos showing simple game types using PlayMaker. Maybe not like a complete walk-throughs but just showing the PlayMaker specific stuff. Thanks.
     
  40. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    I don't have a lot of experience with car physics in Unity, so I'm not sure what's involved. You could take a look at the physics and input actions in the online docs to get an idea of what you can do. I saw a vehicle pack in the asset store that looked very cool - if I were making a vehicle based game I'd be tempted to start with that...

    But Playmaker is well suited to building the game logic, interactive objects, AI etc.
     
  41. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    Last edited: Apr 23, 2011
  42. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    In case you missed it in the other thread, a post mortem on making Hero Test with Unity and Playmaker: http://bit.ly/fGfOdW

    Has some useful tips for working with Playmaker...
     
  43. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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  44. RichBosworth

    RichBosworth

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    Any chance of a 1.2 (with new features - event management etc) soon? :)
     
  45. fis

    fis

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  46. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    @RickyBozzy - The next update is almost done. I'll let you know as soon as we have a beta to test since I know you'll want to hammer on the event management! :) I gotta say, playing with it, that having a global way to manage events makes a big difference! We also have copy/paste actions and other cool stuff: https://hutonggames.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W311
     
  47. Alex-Chouls

    Alex-Chouls

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    @fis - That's pretty cool! Had fun just walking around and setting up different views...
     
  48. linusnorden

    linusnorden

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    Hi alex Any plans to put in the playmaker forum actions in the next release? Like the actions for ez gui and sm2 . Would be great so you dont have to drag them in seperatly Everytime.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2011
  49. returnString

    returnString

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    Just purchased it today and started replacing some old code with it, very nice stuff indeed. More feedback coming as I port most of my project's code over! :)
     
  50. Maurice-Hoffman

    Maurice-Hoffman

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    Hello there i purchased Playmaker and i am very happy with it, i am testing with the examples and in the testlab there is an example under character called ControllerSimpleMove, now am i trying to write a FSM that when the Cylinder hits the stairs they change color and stays that way.

    I have tried several solutions but nothing works and when i make a trigger of the stairs it dissappears, so must i make a trigger and a cube ?

    Can someone help me in the right direction.

    Thanx