Spider & Mikas
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?
Spider
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.
Mikas
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?
Spider
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?
Mikas
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.
Spider
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?
Mikas
Maybe add a tiny telemetry hook so every time the AI flips a state you ping a quick log—then you can spot patterns before the player does. And if the game gets multiplayer, think about syncing that panic cooldown across clients so everyone’s enemy AI stays in sync. Anything else you’re curious about?
Spider
That’s a smart move—logging state flips gives a good audit trail. For multiplayer, you might also want to randomize the seed used for the random offsets so each client stays deterministic; otherwise you could get subtle desyncs. Anything else you’re wondering about?