Enemy Skills by Example - Instant-Cast Ice Lance | AI Series Part 23




Published: 27 Jul 2021

In this tutorial we're creating a new implementation of a SkillScriptableObject: Ice Lance. This will be an instant-cast skill, meaning the enemy will not be interrupted while using this ability. It may not necessarily be "instant", depending on the number of ice lances you configure to shoot, but the enemy will continue to chase and even attack while this skill is activating.


Instant-cast abilities are generally weaker and have shorter cooldowns than channeled abilities. Usually they're also lighter on resources than channeled skills, but because of the faster cooldowns, they can burn through all resources very quickly.

While this implementation is a basic implementation of an instant-cast skill, I hope by the end you understand the paradigm you can apply to any instant-cast ability in your game.


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๐Ÿ“š Resources

โšซ Part 1 of this subseries (AI Series 21) - Foundation and Jump: https://youtu.be/faNV-hWu07o

โšซ Part 2 of this subseries (AI Series 22) - Fire Breath: https://youtu.be/N0MxweZG88o

โšซ Part 3 of this subseries (AI Series 23) - YOU ARE HERE! Ice Lance: https://youtu.be/F0vNZ6L94dM

โšซ Part 4 of this subseries (AI Series 24) - Poison Gas: https://youtu.be/6ZrX6hfV094

โšซ This tutorial is also re-using some concepts first covered in AI Series Part 7 where I covered creating bullets and ranged attacking enemies: https://youtu.be/QzitQSLhfG0

Check that one out too for a full explanation of the bullet mechanics and line of sight checking.


As usual with the AI Series, we're using the NavMesh Components: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/NavMesh-BuildingComponents.html not the built-in navigation system.


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