Small Squadron

Role: Technical Design

I contracted work for the indie game “Small Squadron”, building an AI framework from the ground up for their game’s flight combat system.  Common systems for AI pathfinding in unity such as unity’s built in NavMesh system work well for ground based systems, but for this game we could not find an acceptable solution for partially obstructed, midair pathfinding for aerial dogfights.  There was also an expressed need that the fighter planes should have the ability to traverse tight passageways as well as obstacle avoidance in more open spaces that accounts for their motion along six axes of freedom.

To solve this, I devised a novel pathfinding system from the ground up for their game based in A* Pathfinding algorithms.  Using a collection of nodes placed throughout the level the fighter planes can find an optimal path to their destination, calculating flight paths accounting for their in-flight momentum and turning speed.  More complex behaviors are built upon this pathfinding for chase, flee, and patrol behaviors based upon current line of sight available to the bot in-game.