Spaceship AI | Spaceship AI NPC System and Framework

A complete AI system designed for dynamic, engaging spaceship behaviors, ideal for space shooters, sci-fi adventures, and tactical combat games. This asset offers a range of highly customizable AI features, enabling spaceships to patrol designated areas, detect and engage players, perform strategic attack runs, dodge incoming fire, and even retreat when health is low. It includes advanced movement controls and sound integration for audio cues on actions like firing, fly-bys, and damage, enhancing the immersion and intensity of gameplay.

The SpaceshipAI asset features a well-organized, user-friendly custom editor, making it easy to adjust behavior in categorized sections for movement, detection, attack, health, and audio. This structure allows developers to rapidly tweak settings without overwhelming complexity, creating unique AI interactions with ease. Spaceships equipped with SpaceshipAI can react to players intelligently, making it feel as though they are engaged in real space combat.

Key Features

• Configurable Waypoint Patrol System: Spaceships follow a set of waypoints, patrolling specific areas or routes in space. These patrol paths can be modified to fit complex paths, allowing for creative placement around objectives or as sentries around valuable targets. The custom editor makes waypoint setup quick and efficient, enabling users to easily visualize and adjust patrol patterns.
• Target Detection with Field of View and Firing Arc: Spaceships detect players within a defined range and field of view. Detection isn’t just range-based; it also considers the spaceship’s orientation, adding realism to the AI. This ensures spaceships engage only when players are within their line of sight, adding tactical depth to combat.
• Attack Runs and Controlled Firing Intervals: Once the player is detected within the firing arc, the spaceship begins an attack run, adjusting its speed and orientation for accurate firing. The firing interval can be customized to control the frequency of shots, providing varied levels of challenge. Players experience realistic strafing runs, as the spaceship fires and moves at the same time, then veers off to prepare for the next approach.
• Fly-by Maneuvers with Minimum Distance and Collision Avoidance: During an attack run, the spaceship can perform a fly-by, a maneuver that allows it to pass close to the player without colliding. This feature maintains a minimum distance from the player, adjusting slightly to avoid direct paths, making the AI feel adaptive and realistic in its movements.
• Evasive Actions and Health-Triggered Retreat: Spaceships can dodge left or right when under fire, giving them reactive behavior that adds depth to engagements. When health drops below a defined threshold, the spaceship switches to a retreat state, navigating to a safer area to regroup. This retreat feature offers players a sense of progression and reward, as the spaceship dynamically adapts based on the player’s success in damaging it.
• Customizable Audio Feedback for Immersive Gameplay: The asset includes audio source slots for firing, attack initiation, fly-bys, and damage taken. These can be set up with spatial audio, so players hear sounds relative to the spaceship’s position, making each encounter rich with audio feedback. This is especially effective in VR and AR setups or with surround sound.

Practical Examples and Scenarios

1. Patrolling a Space Station’s Perimeter: Imagine a spaceship patrolling the perimeter of a massive space station. With SpaceshipAI, the spaceship follows a set waypoint path around the station, providing security and presence. When the player’s ship approaches, it detects them and switches from patrolling to engaging, initiating an attack run and strafing the player with laser fire.
2. Fly-bys Around an Enemy Ship with Audio Feedback: In a dogfight scenario, the spaceship closes in on the player, executing a high-speed fly-by, and fires rapidly while passing. With a customized audio setup, players hear the whoosh of engines and the firing sounds, giving an immersive sense of movement and action. The spaceship veers off after each run, looping back for another pass, allowing players to predict and strategize counter-attacks.
3. Tactical Retreat When Health is Low: In a boss encounter, the spaceship AI begins with aggressive attack runs. As the player deals damage, the spaceship’s health decreases, eventually triggering a retreat to a nearby point. This behavior rewards players for sustained attacks, as the spaceship momentarily leaves the battle, creating a moment of respite for the player and setting up tension for its return.
4. Multiple AI Spaceships with Coordinated Attacks: Using multiple instances of SpaceshipAI, you can create an entire fleet of AI-controlled ships, each patrolling or engaging the player independently. Some spaceships can prioritize patrolling objectives, while others perform attack runs and evasive maneuvers, creating a full-scale battle environment. Combining these AI behaviors with spatial audio for firing and movement further enhances the sense of scale and immersion.

Editor and Customization

• Intuitive Custom Editor: The asset includes a custom editor that groups settings into collapsible sections. You can easily switch between Movement, Detection, Attack, Health, and Audio sections, making it easy to customize different aspects of behavior without overwhelming the inspector.
• Waypoint Management: The waypoints list allows you to define specific patrol points for the spaceship. These waypoints appear in the scene view, making setup and adjustments visually intuitive.
• Adjustable Detection and Engagement Parameters: Control the detection range, firing angles, and distance thresholds for attack runs and retreating behavior. This provides flexibility in defining unique encounters for different spaceships, allowing for a variety of behaviors that keep players engaged.

SpaceshipAI provides game developers with a highly adaptable and immersive AI solution for space combat. With realistic behavior patterns and detailed customization, this asset helps create engaging, responsive, and lifelike spaceship AI that elevates any space-themed game in Unity.