Waypoint Example

v0.9.0 by: standardcombo

This example of an enemy camp combines a few components to create an encounter where a squad of skeletons patrol an area.

See the NPC_KIT_README file for general info about the NPC Kit.

Camps

The first group of components is the 'Minion Camp', responsible for spawning and respawning the skeletons. The camp is driven by the scripts 'NPCSpawner' and 'NPCCampBehavior_AlwaysSpawn'. These scripts define "When" and "How" to spawn NPCs. Each of the scripts has custom properties that can be tuned to adjust their behavior.

NPC camps are characterized by a number of spawn points that tell the spawner scripts "What" and "Where" to spawn. Each spawn point has references to the NPC templates which they will spawn. These are setup as custom properties. A spawn point can have any number of NPC templates assigned as custom properties. No specific names need to be given to the custom properties on spawn points. The position and rotation of a spawn point determine the orientation of the NPCs that spawn from it. Spawn points are usually placed touching the ground and should be adjusted on uneven terrain.

This assemblage of parts is what allows NPC camps to come in all forms, to spawn all kinds of NPCs, in various compositions, and to behave in different ways as players approach or leave the area.

Waypoints

The patrolling behavior of the NPCs is determined by the design of the waypoint objects. This example comes with three waypoints: "main", "A" and "B".

Each waypoint has an area defined by its child trigger. Each waypoint also has references to other waypoints, forming a network. When an NPC enters a waypoint's area, it looks at the list of other waypoints that have been assigned as custom properties and selects one of them at random. The NPC is directed to go to the chosen waypoint and the cycle continues until the NPC exits the patrolling state--for example if they are engaged in combat.

In this example, the waypoint "main" has two destinations: "A" & "B". Meanwhile, both points "A" and "B" have only one destination, back to "main".

If a waypoint only has one destination assigned to it then that is always chosen as the next patrol destination. If a waypoint has no destination waypoints assigned to it then it behaves as an end point. NPCs that reach a waypoint with no destinations are put to "sleep".

For more information check the tooltips on each of the script properties.