Behavior Trees and Blackboards

Behavior trees and Blackboards work together to allow our AI to follow different logical paths and make decisions based on a variety of conditions and variables.

A behavior tree (BT) is a visual scripting tool that allows you to tell a pawn what to do based on certain factors and parameters. For example, a BT can tell an AI to move to a certain location based on whether the AI can see the player.

To give an example of how BTs and Blackboards are used in games, let's look at the game Gears of War 5, which was developed with Unreal Engine 4. The AI in Gears of War 5, and throughout the Gears of War series, always try to flank the player, or force the player out of cover. In order to do this, a key component of the AI logic is to know who the player is, and where the player is. A reference variable to the player, and a location vector to store the location of the player, exist in the Blackboard. The logic that determines how these variables are...