Implementing Custom State Machine for 3 rd Person Battleground in Unity

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Introduction
The gaming industry has experienced unprecedented growth, evolving into a global powerhouse with diverse platforms and a vast consumer base.Market leaders such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo continue to dominate the console space, while PC gaming thrives with companies like Valve and Epic Games.Mobile gaming, led by giants like Tencent and Apple, has become a major revenue driver, reaching billions of users worldwide.The rise of cloud gaming services, exemplified by Google Stadia and Microsoft's xCloud, signals a shift toward accessible, subscription-based gaming experiences.Revenue projections for the next decade suggest sustained industry expansion, with estimates surpassing $200 billion annually.Emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are poised to play a pivotal role, offering immersive and innovative gaming experiences.Esports, led by organizations like Tencent-owned Riot Games and Activision Blizzard, continues its meteoric rise, attracting massive audiences and lucrative sponsorships.The ongoing integration of blockchain and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) into gaming ecosystems further exemplifies the industry's adaptability and willingness to embrace cutting-edge technologies.As gaming becomes increasingly intertwined with other forms of entertainment and social interaction, the industry's future seems promising, characterized by continuous innovation, diverse gaming experiences, and a flourishing global market.In this regard, the choice of a game development engine depends on the project's requirements, the team's expertise, and the desired platform.Unity and Unreal Engine stand out as industry leaders, each with its strengths and use cases, while other engines like Godot, CryEngine, and Lumberyard cater to specific needs within the diverse landscape of game development.Unity is a versatile and widely used game development engine known for its accessibility, crossplatform support, and flexibility.It enables developers to create 2D, 3D, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) games.Unity uses C# as its primary scripting language and offers a robust Asset Store for pre-built assets and plugins.Key Features:

Limitation of using Unity Animation State Machines
The implementation of animation state machines in Unity for the development of 3rd person action games presents a myriad of challenges that can significantly impact the overall gaming experience.One major concern revolves around the intricate synchronization of character animations, where transitioning seamlessly between action states often results in disjointed and unrealistic movements.This issue not only compromises the visual aesthetics of the game but can also hinder player immersion.Furthermore, the complexity of managing multiple animation states can lead to programming inefficiencies, causing performance bottlenecks and impacting the game's responsiveness.Balancing the responsiveness of character controls with the intricacies of combat animations poses a significant technical challenge, often resulting in delayed or inaccurate player inputs during critical gameplay moments.
The struggle to achieve a cohesive and visually appealing animation blend becomes particularly pronounced when integrating diverse character movements, such as jumping, climbing, and melee attacks.The potential for unintended animation interruptions or glitches during dynamic sequences creates a risk of frustrating player experiences and negatively affecting the game's overall polish.
Additionally, the scalability of animation state machines in larger game projects can become a stumbling block, making it difficult for developers to maintain and expand the system as the game evolves.This lack of scalability can impede the addition of new features, characters, or animations, limiting the game's potential for growth and innovation.
Collaboration between animators and programmers becomes challenging due to the inherent complexity of animation state machines, often resulting in miscommunications and delays in implementing desired changes or improvements.This discord can hinder the creative workflow and compromise the timely delivery of a polished gaming experience.In summary, the use of animation state machines in Unity for 3rd person action games introduces a range of challenges, encompassing synchronization issues, performance bottlenecks, responsiveness concerns, visual glitches, scalability limitations, and collaboration difficulties.Addressing these challenges is imperative to ensure the development of immersive, fluid, and engaging gaming experiences that meet the expectations of modern gamers.Cinemachine Cinemachine is a powerful and flexible camera system for Unity 3D that simplifies the process of creating dynamic, high-quality camera behaviors for games and interactive applications.Key Features of Cinemachine: 1. Smart Camera Controls: Cinemachine offers smart camera controls that automatically adjust to provide the best view of the scene or action.It handles camera transitions, composition, and follows targets smoothly.3. Virtual Cameras: Instead of manipulating a single camera, Cinemachine uses virtual cameras that define different camera behaviors and settings.Developers can switch between these virtual cameras seamlessly to create diverse cinematic effects.4. Advanced Camera Shake: Cinemachine provides robust camera shake effects, enhancing the realism and impact of actions like explosions, impacts, and rapid movements.5. Blend and Cut: Cinemachine can blend smoothly between different camera states or cut instantly, giving developers control over the pacing and style of camera transitions.6. Extensions and Customization: Cinemachine includes numerous extensions for custom behaviors, such as collision detection, damping, and look-ahead, allowing for extensive customization and finetuning.7. Integration with Timeline: Cinemachine integrates seamlessly with Unity's Timeline tool, enabling developers to choreograph complex camera sequences alongside animations and events.ii.

Methodology
Action Map Creating an action map in Unity 3D involves setting up input controls for your game using the Input System package.The Input System offers a more flexible and robust way to handle player inputs than the legacy input manager.
Step 1: Installing the Input System Package First, you need to install the Input System package.Open the Package Manager (Window > Package Manager), search for "Input System," and install it.After installation, Unity will prompt you to restart the editor to enable the new input system.
Step 2: Setting Up the Input Actions 1. Create Input Actions Asset: • Go to the Project window, right-click, and select Create > Input Actions.Name this asset "PlayerInputActions".

Open the Input Actions Editor:
• Double-click on the "PlayerInputActions" asset to open the Input Actions editor.

Creating an Action Map:
• Click the + button to add a new action map.Name it "Player".

Adding Actions:
• Within the "Player" action map, add actions for different player inputs.For example, add actions named "Move", "Jump", "Attack", and "Dodge".

Defining Bindings:
• For each action, define the control bindings.For "Move", add a 2D Vector Composite and bind it to the "WASD" keys on the keyboard and the left stick on the gamepad.

Storage: 1TB SSD
The performance of AAA (Triple-A) games is measured through various metrics and benchmarks to ensure smooth and enjoyable gameplay experiences.Some criteria that were considered: 1. Frame Rate (FPS): Frame rate measures the number of frames rendered per second.Higher frame rates, typically 30 FPS or above, contribute to smoother animations and more responsive controls.Many AAA games aim for 60 FPS or even higher for a more immersive experience.2. Resolution: The resolution of the game refers to the number of pixels displayed on the screen.
Higher resolutions, such as 1080p (Full HD), 1440p (Quad HD), or 4K, result in sharper and more detailed visuals.The choice of resolution can impact performance, and optimizing games for various resolutions is crucial for a broad player base.3. Graphics Settings: AAA games often provide a range of graphics settings that users can adjust based on their hardware capabilities.These settings include options for texture quality, shadow quality, anti-aliasing, and other visual effects.4. Load Times: Load times are critical for a seamless gaming experience.Faster load times contribute to a smoother flow between levels or scenes.The performance is evaluated based on how quickly the game loads assets, textures, and levels.5. Stability and Consistency: Stability refers to the reliability of the game's performance over time.
Consistency in frame rate and responsiveness is crucial to avoid issues like stuttering, freezing, or sudden drops in performance during gameplay.6. CPU and GPU Utilization: Monitoring the utilization of the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) provides insights into how efficiently the game utilizes hardware resources.Balanced utilization ensures optimal performance without bottlenecks.Expanding multiplayer capabilities becomes more feasible with a robust state machine, as managing multiple player states and synchronizing them over a network can be handled more systematically.Moreover, the state machine can be extended to support various game modes, each with unique rules and player interactions, enhancing replay ability and user engagement.
Finally, the modular nature of a custom state machine allows for easier porting to different platforms, ensuring the game can reach a wider audience across PCs, consoles, and mobile devices.This foundational work sets the stage for continuous improvement and expansion, ensuring the game's longevity and success.
Unity supports multiple platforms, including PC, consoles, mobile devices, and web browsers.This allows developers to create games for a broad range of devices and operating systems.2. User-Friendly Interface: Unity's intuitive interface and drag-and-drop functionality make it accessible for both beginners and experienced developers.The visual editor simplifies scene creation, asset management, and overall game design.
1. Cross-Platform Development: 3. Large Community and Documentation: Unity boasts a vast and active community, providing ample resources for learning and problem-solving.Extensive documentation, tutorials, and

Dodge State Impact State Dead State iv. Handling Movement States Fall Hang State Jump State Pull Up State B. Enemy
SoftwareDeveloping games in Unity with C# requires a specific set of system and software requirements.Software Requirements: 1. Unity Hub: Unity Hub is a management tool for Unity projects.It allows you to install and manage different versions of Unity.2.Unity Editor: Unity Editor is the core development environment where you design, build, and test your games.3.Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code: Unity uses Visual Studio as the default integrated development Cinemachine is a camera system for Unity that provides dynamic and procedural cam-era movements.It's useful for creating cinematic and visually appealing gameplay experiences.3. Post-Processing Stack: The Post-Processing Stack in Unity enhances visual effects in games.It includes features like ambient occlusion, bloom, and color grading to improve the overall look of your game.Additional Recommendations: 1. UI/UX Design Tools: Depending on your game's requirements, you might use design tools like Adobe XD, Sketch, or Figma for UI/UX design.2. 3D Modelling Software (Optional): For creating 3D models, you may use software like Blender, Autodesk Maya, or Cinema 4D.Implementation Unity, one of the most popular game development engines, relies heavily on C# as its primary scripting language.Coding in C# within the Unity environment offers a powerful and flexible approach to game development.
environment (IDE).Visual Studio Code is also a popular choice with additional plugins for Unity.Plugins and Frameworks: 1. TextMeshPro: Unity's TextMeshPro is a powerful text rendering tool that provides enhanced text and font capabilities.It is widely used for creating dynamic and stylized text in games.2. Cinemachine: A. Player i. Creating the State Machine for Player: Define the States: Create an enumeration to represent all possible states of the player.State Machine Base Class: Create a base class for the state machine that will handle the current state and transitions.Player Controller: Implement the player controller to manage states and handle state transitions.ii.Implementing Specific States Each state will inherit from the base State class and override necessary methods.

Table 1 : Tabulated Results Comparison Criteria Animation State Machine Custom State Machine Custom State Ma- chine Scaled with load Frame Rate (FPS)
Using custom state machines in Unity for game development provides several benefits, offering greater control, flexibility, and efficiency in managing the logic and behavior of game entities.Below are the details: 1. Flexibility and Control: Tailored to Game Requirements: Custom state machines allow developers to design and implement states that precisely fit the specific requirements of the game.This flexibility is particularly valuable in scenarios where Unity's built-in Animator Controller might not provide the required level of customization.2.

Seamless Integration with Game Logic:
Direct Script Integration: Custom state machines are often implemented directly in scripts using C#.This tight integration allows for seamless coordination between game logic, user input, and state transitions.3.

Responsive and Realistic Gameplay: Fine
-tuned Transitions: With a custom state machine, developers can fine-tune state transitions to create responsive and realistic gameplay.This is crucial for character movements, combat animations, and other dynamic behaviors, providing a more immersive experience for players.4. Optimized Performance: Reduced Overhead: Custom state machines can be optimized for performance, reducing unnecessary overhead associated with generic solutions.This optimization is especially important in resource-intensive games where performance is a critical factor.2.

Dynamic State Changes: Adaptable to Changing Conditions:
Implementing a custom state machine in Unity 3D for developing a third-person combat game opens up numerous future possibilities.A well-designed state machine enhances modularity, maintainability, and scalability of the game's codebase, facilitating easier updates and feature additions.Future enhancements could include more sophisticated AI behaviors, allowing enemies and NPCs to exhibit more realistic and varied responses in combat scenarios.Additionally, integrating more advanced animation blending techniques and transitions can lead to smoother and more natural character movements.As the game evolves, the state machine can accommodate new combat mechanics, such as advanced combos, special attacks, and defensive manoeuvrers, without significant refactoring.
Custom state machines are adaptable to changing game conditions.They can dynamically adjust states based on variables such as health, environmental factors, or player progression, allowing for a more dynamic and engaging gaming experience.3.Support for Non-Animation States: Beyond Animation Control: While Unity's Animator Controlleris primarily focused on animation, custom state machines can handle a broader range of states.This includes non-animation states related to gameplay mechanics, AI behavior, or any other aspect of the game that requires state-based control.