Spider & Mikas
I was just tweaking a new AI for my game, but the enemy keeps looping around the same spot like a stuck hamster. How do you normally break those infinite loops?
Sounds like your enemy AI is stuck in a tight loop. First, check the loop condition – make sure there's a clear exit or a state change that happens after a few iterations. Add a counter or a timer so if it loops too many times it automatically resets or switches to another state. Also, look at the pathfinding logic; if the target node is blocked, the AI might keep trying the same spot. Adding a fallback or random waypoint can help it break out. And don't forget to log the position each loop – that will show if it's stuck on the same point. Once you see the pattern, you can tweak the condition or add a fail‑safe.
Nice rundown, but I’ve seen more efficient ways to squash that bug. First, dump the whole loop into a state machine, not a single “if” that never changes. Then add a watchdog: if the AI stays in the same state for, say, 30 frames, force a transition to “wander.” Also, give the pathfinder a small random offset so it doesn’t always aim at the same node. And logging is great, but real-time visual debugging—draw the last few positions—makes it instant to spot the loop. Anything else you’re wrestling with?
Sounds solid. One more tweak you could try is a “stuck detector” that measures the distance the enemy has moved over a short window—if that distance is below a threshold, you trigger the same wander transition. It’s a bit more granular than just a frame count and can catch cases where the AI is moving slowly but still stuck. Also, consider giving the AI a small “panic” mode that runs for a couple of frames and forces it to pick a completely random target before resuming normal behavior. That can break cycles when the pathfinder gets trapped in a corner. Anything else you’d like to dig into?
Yeah, a little “panic” boost is a nice touch. You could also randomize the navmesh sampling radius when the stuck detector fires—if the AI tries to grab a waypoint further away, it’ll likely bypass the corner trap. Just remember to keep the thresholds adaptive; what’s “stuck” at 10 units in a tight level isn’t stuck in a sprawling open world.
Sounds good. If you want to keep things even more robust, add a small “cool‑down” after a panic reset so the AI doesn’t immediately re‑enter the same trap. And keep an eye on the navmesh size: a larger sampling radius can help skip tight corners but might miss tight passages, so you could tweak that based on the level’s scale. Anything else on your mind?