[RELEASED] Breadcrumb Ai (v2.0 IN DEVELOPMENT)

*NOTE: Breadcrumb Ai v2.0 is currently in development!

A lot is changing in 2.0!
​

New UI
The Breadcrumb Ai interface is now a dockable window. In this section you'll be able to do the following:

• Create new Ai Class Type
  • Modify base stats like speed, vision, etc.
• Create new Teams
  • By default there will be a Player and Enemy team
  • You can create any type of team with any name

More info as I develop, I figure this would be a good space to post during this process if anyone has feedback.



The Inspector
The inspector has changed as well, it's no longer going to be the main place to create your Ai. Instead it will be where you select your Ai Class and then you can add modifiers to the base stats. An example of this would be say an Archer Class, but you have two enemies where one is a Basic Archer and the other is a Boss Archer.



Some Notes
I'm designing Breadcrumb Ai for Unity5 but once development is complete I'll be testing it all with 4.5, and if it's all kosher I'll be keeping it 4.5 compatible. An Important note is that the price will be going up, so best grab Breadcrumb Ai now!

Breadcrumb Ai
Customize your enemies' brains'

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v1.2.2 Now Available!​

[ASSET STORE]​

 

This looks interesting! How difficult would it be to use in a multiplayer game? I am looking for something simple to use and your asset looks perfect for our prototyping.

 

Thanks!

By "multiplayer" do you mean online or local?

Local multiplayer works fairly easily because the Ai will detect multiple players and follow the closest one.

As for Online, I'm not entirely sure because it depends on how you're handling the network I guess. If the Ai is local then it might be different to each player since it's not really using RPC functions. I've not yet dealt with Ai online, it's definitely now on my list of things to look into for future updates!

Cheers!

 

Is there an option for 'preference' or something?

For example, say there a monster and 3 players. Generally, monster will attack closest player. However, certain games allow you to 'pull aggro' or whatever, basically making the preference not the closest player, but the closest player that has increased preference.

You'd think English was my second language with this description, ugh. Anyhow, I'd like to have 'tank' players that can pull the aggro, overriding the 'closest' check.

 

I totally understand what you're saying. Currently it's strictly based on closest player. However, add it to the list! I love the idea, I'll work on that for a future update.

Cheers!

 

Online. We do have a single player game in the pipeline so this might work for that. In the meantime, I hope to see you make this work online in the future.

 

happy to see it on sale, bought it. and there's forum thread to discuss different scenarios.

I think in the demo there's too much enemy spawned too quick because it almost crashes when I play after a minute.
I like constant numbers of enemies. after put the prefabs in game, (changed the tags n layers) and the camera to 30,70,0 and -5f,5,-5f and now I can see whats going on
I like it. though because the ai script is not extendable (or what), the attack distance looks like must be on gun script and the animations separate.

I'm seeing those variables in readme
this should be like the basic starting point (when building upon this system)
lifeState
visionState
attackState etc.

so its getComponent.ai<>;
if(ai.lifestate == true); oh yeah, you using it in demo enemy script.

 

Yes, the demo can become sluggish on slower computers due to the amount of things going on in the game, especially once you start to destroy the crates and barrels. It's tricky for me to test mainly because on this PC it runs smoothly. However, that was just a quick demo designed to show you what the Ai system does.

Yes currently there are different states that you can use to control damage, animations, etc. The end goal is to have all of this taken care of by Breadcrumb Ai so there's no additional work done on the developers end other than customizing. But as it stands, you're right, I'm currently using a separate script to detect the states to do things like this:

if(ai.lifeState == Ai.LIFE_STATE.IsDead)
{

//animate death​

}

Future updates will make all of this easier on the dev to just simply customize it without having to code additional scripts.

Cheers!

Edit: Also, Breadcrumb Ai uses it's own namespace so make sure you are doing using BreadcrumbAi; in your secondary scripts.

 

first, I really like the bullet prefab. though Im gonna use it with raycast script because looks like colliders are not well registered with projectile speeds and most of them shoot through walls. (also there was +200drawcalls but can be reduced by particle settings)

those variables, could you make them public in the ai script? if someone wants to check, can easily do so when writing the game script.

also theres looks like enemies go in circles sometimes (tried ai options checked differently but still happens) if they dont see the player - could it be that two waypoints are the same distance?

is there a raycast for wall (on ai)?

 

The states are set to public so you can access them from another script, also make sure your script is using BreadcrumbAi;

The enemy goes in circles if your Wander option is selected but the distance float you choose is too small of a number. This is under the Wander Options in the Ai script on your enemy.

Cheers!


Also, I'm not sure what kind of computer you are running but the demo does need a fairly decent computer to run smoothly. My computer for instance, I have no issues with colliders or slow down, etc. However, there are a number of Debug calls in the editor, so that can also cause issues. In any event, the demo was designed just to show what Breadcrumb Ai can do, so the game itself isn't highly optimized, it was only created in 3 days, hehe. I'd highly suggest clearing out a lot of the scene to remove any sluggishness if you plan on using the demo to play around.

 

Im looking at the demo (-spawners +enemyprefabs -level(except waypoints)). the wander distance is 5.
the rotating/circling seems to happen every time after a couple seconds.
also when setting it to for example 10, after playing it goes back to 5 (?).
and this goes on with every option in the ai script(!), its all checked even when was unchecked previously.

 

I'm having trouble understand exactly what is occurring with the ai spinning. It's possible the wander time rate is too low so the ai is changing direction to fast? I'm sorry if this isn't any help, I'm just having trouble understanding.

As for the options getting reset, I mention this in the ReadMe file. There's an issue with some Editor options in Unity where it will revert back to the original public variable you first set it to. In order to resolve this you must RESET the script by selecting the cog wheel on the right side of the script component on the gameobject and selecting RESET. This will clear all the variables and save it properly the next time you change one.

I hope that helps!

Cheers!

 

hm okay
I reset the ai sript and the wander options disappeared
the wander options looked like: time limit = 5, time rate = 1, distance = 5.
changed time rate to 5, enemy still circles

 

The wander option disappeared because you reset the Ai. By default the Ai script doesn't have any options selected. Under Ai Options you'll have to check Enable Wander.
I messed around with my options and was not able to reproduce the spinning around other than the wander settings being low. :\

 

When they wander, do they wander around their spawn point, or it is just a general wander? Can you give them a target to wander 'near' such as a larger creature that spawned them?

 

Hi Yukichu!

The wander option selects a random X and Z axis at a customizable distance from the enemies current position. You can set the amount of time you wander and the time between positions wandering to.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!

 

That makes sense, but... I nominate adding my request as a feature

Having a point of origin that something cannot wander beyond would be nice, in addition to that point of origin being something that can move - so basically just use a transform I suppose. Otherwise, couldn't you theoretically have say, a giant monster wander across a map to a newbie area, or something like that?

 

hey,

any impact on the GC with breadcrumb AI ?

 

You are correct! A level 900 monster can technically find is way to a level 1 zone!
So, what does this mean? I've added it to the list!
I'll design the Ai to have the option where the wander is a strict area you can customize.

Cheers!

 

Hi, if you're wondering about destroying/instantiating objects, the Ai itself does not do this. The breadcrumb's are pooled objects, so they do not get instantiated and then destroyed.

The game Demo however, I designed the demo in a few short days just to show what the Ai can do. So the demo is loaded with instantiate/destroy all over the place. It is 100% not optimized, as the focus was on the Ai system itself.

Hope this helps!

 

Based on the commentary so far, I'm going to assume this is too CPU intensive for Mobile. Thoughts on putting this for Mobile? Will it work or has it been tested on Mobile? I like the way your setup works.

 

I've not been able to test this on mobile yet, though I've yet to have any contact me with any issues. I do plan on making sure it works for all platforms as soon as I am able, that is for sure.

Cheers!
Mike

 

Hi Mike,
Does it works with Terrain surface?

 

Yup, this works with terrains. The enemy will go up and down slopes as well as if the player goes around a hill the enemy will no longer see it.

Cheers!

 

hi mike, is this asset can do Ai Follow for things for Sidekick or Pet??

anyway, this is for your reference. it will be cool if your asset can do this

ai is not just following you, but they help attacking from behind
*but for starter, only following is good enough*
*i hope the 2D version for it too in the future, i can wait, cheers

 

Hello!

Technically you could make a "pet" follow you, it would just be a benign enemy following you around. The only issue would be if the "pet" got too far from you and there weren't enough breadcrumbs to catch up, it would just get lost. But you could solve that by respawning the pet if it's lost.

Anyways, the short answer is, yes you can technically make it a pet that follows you as a benign enemy.

The long answer is, Add it to the list! I'll see about making some sort of "Ally" Ai. Thanks for the suggestion/feedback!!!

Cheers!

 

Heya

love this asset, it's a really simple solution, simple to use and has awesome potential

Thinking about how I want to implement this in my project, I had a few questions/ideas:

Have you thought about adding more types of obstacle detection, like ledges and things like that? e.g. so the AI doesn't just run towards you and off a high ledge, or even just wander off one

Another cool feature would be having some kind of avoidance thing, something that might not be an obstacle (like lava or spikes) but the enemy treats it like one so it doesn't damage or kill itself.

I'm already planning to use this in my project and looking forward to updates and new features, cheers for sharing with the community!

 

Hello!

I've actually had this request before! So that means, put it on the list! I definitely want to add in detection for cliffs, etc. I've noticed some users saying their enemies either wander off a cliff or try to follow the player between a gap. In the past I've gone around this by adding colliders, but at this point that's ridiculous of me to ask my users to do that when it should just work. So I've added it to the Coming Soon list, I definitely want to add some sort of avoidance to self harm.

Thanks!
Cheers!

 

Anyone make this work with Realistic FPS Prefab?

 

Hello

If you're having issues with the player not being detected. Make sure the Layer is the proper integer. If you're using another asset that uses the player layer (layer 8) then you might want to change the player layer to another integer.

You can change the layers under Edit > Project Settings > Tags and Layers.
Also in the Ai.cs script, you can change the Player layer mask integer.

Hope that helps!

Cheers!

 

I watched the video on setting it up and I was very confused as to why we had to set things in specific layers. Shouldn't you just have us add the layers, then at startup use some static value found from LayerMask.NameToLayer() ? I really don't want to have to rearrange my layers and then change all current objects that are in the newly named/used layer and whatnot, basically a lot of work I shouldn't have to do really.

 

Hello!

You're absolutely right. Other assets tend to use specific layers like mine does and it causes issues. So in my next update I'll be adding in a manager where you can manually choose what layers you want so that it doesn't cause issues with existing projects or other assets.

Having said that, to avoid this in the mean time, go into the Ai.cs script under BreadcrumbAi>Ai>Scripts>Ai.cs and you can change the Layer integer under the LayerMask parameter near ~Line 62.
Example: playerLayer = (1 << 8); change the 8 to what ever layer you want, etc.

Hope this helps! Thanks for the feedback

Cheers!

 

I'm getting some very buggy AI behavior on uneven ground. In the scene view it looks like it is trying to raycast from the object pivot, which is at the enemy's feet... any way to set the raycast origination point to a bone transform (head?)?

EDIT: BTW, great asset

 

Hello I've had this question a few times. Raycasting shoots out from the exact position of the GameObject. So if you have a child object within the main object and it's higher than the parents position, the raycast will shoot out the bottom. The best way to deal with raycasts is make sure your centered. I made this video for a few people to help explain. The Collider portion was for a specific users issue.

Help this helps!

Cheers!

 

The children of my gameobject have zero'd transforms (except the skeleton of course), the FBX does have it's pivot at the base of the model, as this allows easy snapping, is that the problem? It would be super-cool if it were possible to select a raycast transform, 'cause of animations where the enemy looks from side to side or up or down... can I put the AI script on a child of the skeleton, would that do it? Or is it just not possible? Thanks for your help, I'm digging it the asset a lot.

Edit: Centered the object's pivot in maya, but that didn't seem to do much, the pivot is at the base in Unity still. I have some children of the skeleton hierarchy that are not zero'd transformed, but they can't be (weapons, etc.).

 

With the current setup of the script it's designed to control whatever gameobject the script is associated with. So it moves the rigidbody attached to it and casts the ray from the transform.position. That's why in my Demo project you'll notice that I have an empty gameobject that holds the Rigidbody, Collider and Script only. Then I have child gameobjects for the model and other things. This way you can have the child placed anywhere you want and have the Parent be at the enemies head if you really wanted.

All that being said, I would like to allow you to customize the position where the raycast shoots from. Right now my coming soon list is growing very rapidly so this may take some time to add into the asset, but I may add this in the future.

I hope this is somewhat helpful, if you have more questions or issues let me know.

Cheers!

 

Gotcha, I think I can work with that. I appreciate you've got a lot on your plate, I'll look forward to it. Thanks again for all the help.

 

AI is hunky-dory now, but my player character is getting pushed all over the place by the breadcrumbs... any thoughts on that one?

 

Breadcrumbs use a Trigger Collider with the Breadcrumb layer and tag. If your players physics work against trigger colliders that could be an issue. I haven't seen this issue yet so I'm curious to learn more. Any additional info on your player would be great!

Cheers!

 

There's a character controller being manged by script on my character, and a couple of IK components, but nothing should be effecting the breadcrumb layer, kinda weird. I like the system quite a bit, so I'd love to figure it out.

EDIT: Yeah, I'm dumb, new project, forgot to check the physics manager, Breadcrumbs were in fact checked off to effect Player. So that's problem solved.

EDIT2: may have spoken too soon... it's back...

 

I'm having issues getting this to work with UFPS. It seems like the Breadcrumbs won't work (and the AI doesn't see the player object) unless there is a collider and rigidbody attached. Does this work with a Character Controller or am I doing it wrong?

 

Hello!

From my understanding it's because of Tags and Layers most likely. Breadcrumb Ai uses specific Tags, and it also uses specific Layers set on certain integers. From what I've been hearing from others, UFPS also uses specific ones. So what I would do is take a look at the ReadMe file under BreadcrumbAi>Ai>Documentation>ReadMe and make sure your Tags, as well as your Layers are setup. (remember tags and layers are two different things, by default the Tags section in the inspector gets minimized under Edit > Project Settings > Tags and Layers). Also make sure your players/enemies have the tags and layers set.

If UFPS already uses one of the layers then I would suggest choosing your own Layers then go to the Ai.cs under BreadcrumbAi>Ai>Scripts>Ai.cs and change the LayerMask integer value to whatever layer you chose to be the player.

I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you still need help.

Also, note that I just released v1.2.1 and should be available any day now. This update helps with any frame rate issues the current version may cause.

Cheers!

 

Hey Weezel, I had the same issue as you! Everything was set up correctly, I made the required layer in the Ai.cs script the UFPS "LocalPlayer" layer, tags were all set up right but the enemies weren't noticing me.

The solution I found after some trying stuff out: I added a capsule collider to the player and viola! Enemies chased the player and behaved as they should. Seems the AI just needs to have some kind of collider on the player to detect them and UFPS doesn't use a collider at all, just a character component.

I set mine to Is Trigger = true so it doesn't interfere with physics or movement and it's working fine Hope this helps!

 

Hey thanks for this Simmo! I've tested this with Character Controllers and it works fine (without additional colliders) but I've yet to test this with UFPS. I'll have to go and make that investment and ensure it's functionality as this seems like a regular occurrence.

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the responses guys!

Simmo, I also was able to get it to work last night by adding a capsule collider to the UFPS character controller. I shrunk it down and positioned it over the players head so it wouldn't collide, but setting it to a trigger is definitely a better solution. Thanks!

Zero, I changed the layers in the Breadcrumb AI scripts like you suggested and that worked. UFPS currently has the player layer set to 30 and the enemy set to 25. Thanks for the quick response and the great support!

 

Great Asset! I had the same issues with UFPS, and hacking away at layers and even adding the collider did not work for me. But I have a solution. FYI I am using UFPS' AdvancePlayer Prefab so I don't know if any of this applies to the SimplePlayer prefab too.

I believe the bug is when UFPS adds a child object called Trigger at runtime that gets in the way of the Linecasts of the AI in Breadcrumbs. The child doesn't seem to be tagged or is tagged incorrectly and also has no layer... I also instantiate my player at runtime so that might also be an issue?

Any I wrote a quick script that you can add to the AdvancedPlayer gameobject and it will just make sure everything is on the right layer/tag...

Code (csharp):

1.  
2. using UnityEngine;
3. using System.Collections;
4.  
5. public class BreadCrumbsHelper : MonoBehaviour {
6.  
7.     // Use this for initialization
8.     void Start () {
9.    
10.         gameObject.layer = 8;
11.         for(int i = 0; i < transform.childCount; i++)
12.         {
13.            
14.             gameObject.transform.GetChild(i).gameObject.layer=8;
15.             gameObject.transform.GetChild(i).gameObject.tag="Player";
16.  
17.            
18.         }
19.     }
20.    
21.  
22. }
23.  

 

Hi, Sorry for the late reply!! I have added this into my next update which I'll be hopefully submitting at the end of the week or early next week. In any event what I did was make this an optional thing. I set notifiers on the player so if you don't have your tag or layer set properly it will display a note within the inspector telling you to fix it. Then if you select "Enable UFPS Compatibility" it will do the following.

Code (CSharp):

1. foreach(Transform child in transform){
2.    child.gameObject.layer = transform.gameObject.layer;
3.    child.gameObject.tag = transform.gameObject.tag;
4. }

Still debating on having this at runtime or upon enabling within the editor itself. In any event I felt the need to reply to you since it's been so long. Again sorry for the late reply.

Cheers!
Mike

 

Hi
I've been looking at this asset for a while now and it looks great. But there are some things i am looking for that i haven't found on the asset store that i hope will be added to this product in future updates. 1. could there be an fps Ai integration so you can create an FPS Ai with ease and make it have a primary and secondary weapon, knife in close range and throw grenades when necessary, and when it re-spawns it can choose a different load out like sniper class or shotgun. I know this is big but the closest ive had so far was shooter AI but that also has a lot of problems. And Then my last one would be if the Ai could do parkour jumps and jump or slide under or over obstacles, climb ladders and jump from heights if in a tight situation. Also if the AI can crouch and prone in different areas. I know its a lot but seeing as how the Ai in this package work the smoothest, i would love to see an integration like that. Thank you and still great kit, smoothest Ai and also perfect for zombie games!

 

Hello!

So as it stands, Breadcrumb Ai has been focusing more on dynamic navigation rather than game mechanics such as abilities, weapons, etc. Though that may become something I work on in the future, right now I'm focusing on navigation.

Now, in terms of "parkour" well I've been toying with some of that. My next update (v1.2.2) will include jumps and long jumps. This gives the Ai the ability to jump over obstacles, like a box or table in the way, or do a long jump over a gap. It will look something like this. http://i.imgur.com/XrlqBAb.gif Also, it's fairly customizable so you control the distance and jump height.

As for sliding under, climbing, and all of that, potentially in the future. I like the idea of that.

Cheers!
Mike

EDIT: Here's a newer gif of the obstacle navigation. http://i.imgur.com/kqHS8Xj.gif

 

I would like Breadcrumb to continue to focus on dynamic 3D navigation, for players and NPCs that can jump unusual heights or fly, walk on walls or ceilings, and dynamic environments where objects may be moved or destroyed.

Virtually all of the pathfinding AI in the Unity asset store is geared toward static environments and characters that move in 2D and walk around all obstacles. I appreciate having a pathfinding AI that allows a ninja to jump over a cardboard box, or to destroy the box and walk through that space.