Update 1.3 for The UAISK is available now!

Isn't it a bit ridiculous that, with many AI bots, you can walk up directly behind them and "physically" bump into them; and they still won't notice you? Well, this will no longer be a problem when you have The Universal AI Starter Kit! As a general rule, AI bots detect the player (or another bot) by sight, hearing or when they are attacked. However, you can often go up behind a bot, and if it doesn't see you and you don't shoot it, you can literally bump right into it and it won't react. This seemed pretty silly to me, and so I created a very basic, simulated "sense of touch", which tells the bot to turn around if it collides with the player or another bot. This should make for more interesting game play and will make it more difficult to "sneak up" on the AI.

Another exciting new feature in this update is the Path Editor. Now you are able to create and edit paths the same way that you do with the bots; using the player or the camera to create the path in the game environment. For anyone who has used the AI Marker Editor which is already in the kit, this new Path Editor is very similar (if you haven't, watch this video to see how the AI Marker Editor works, although after this update that video is a bit out of date). The Path Editor incorporates the same user friendly approach as the AI Marker Editor; thus allowing you to create and edit paths for your AI quickly and easily, within your game world.

I've made another improvement to the main UAISK Editor as well. The Editor pages are now selectable from a drop down menu. This means that the pages have been divided up a bit more so that everything is easier to navigate through and manage. Also, additional instructions have been added to each page, which should make it much easier for you to get started using the Editor.

There is now an improved naming system with the bots, which will allow you to give them "real names" that can be displayed above their heads (as opposed to just debug info, but that's still an option as well). This could come in handy for both development, and certain types of game play purposes.

I have also upgraded many elements of the kit's weapons system. The bots are now able to pick up and use weapons while in game (I should note that they don't deliberately "seek out" weapons that may be sitting around, but if they happen to bump into one, then they can grab it and use it). Depending on your game, you could also use this feature in correlation with paths, for a scripted event.

This update also comes with a new setting which allows your bots to determine whether to shoot an enemy or not, based on the enemies' minimum distance from the bot. This comes in handy if the bot is using a rocket launcher or a similar, explosive weapon and you don't want them to kill themselves by launching it at a targeted player or another bot that is too close to them. You're able to change the distance at which they decide not to fire the weapon and if they have another weapon that is better for short range attacks, they can automatically switch to this more appropriate weapon. I have also made a variety of other significant changes to the kit's weapon system that should make it even easier for you to customize certain aspects of your AI's weapons and basic functionality.

There are many other features that The Universal AI Starter Kit has, that you may not be aware of. When you get your copy of the kit, be sure to look through everything and let your creativity run wild. There are so many combinations of settings and behaviors; I think you'll be surprised as to what you are able to do with this!

Would you like to know more about The Universal AI Starter Kit? For the first time I'm publicly releasing the usage instructions that come with the kit. This should give you a much better idea of what the kit includes and what it's about. Check it out here.