Bots, items, and tunables
Beyond placing the map, the GM console lets you populate the field with bots and items and adjust a few runtime knobs.
Bots are engine-controlled players. They’re great for:
- filling out a group that’s a bit thin,
- demoing a game by yourself, or
- being the opposition entirely (as in Bots vs Humans).
Whether a game supports bots, and how they behave, is defined by the game’s author as one or more bot classes. From the console’s Bots panel you can:
- Add bots of an available class, choosing how many. Each class can declare a minimum (pre-staged for you, and you can’t remove below it) and a maximum (adds clamp to the headroom).
- Rename a bot.
- Remove a bot (down to the class minimum).
- Adjust tunables (below).
Bots are placed automatically when the game starts and then move on their own, chasing or fleeing players according to their behavior. In Tag, for instance, bots flee when they’re not “it” and chase when they are; in Bots vs Humans, they hunt the nearest human and retreat when wounded.
Tunables
Section titled “Tunables”A tunable is a numeric knob the game’s author exposed for you to adjust at
runtime — most commonly bot speed (speedMps, in meters per second). The
console shows a slider with the author’s min/max/step. Adjusting a tunable lets
you balance a session on the fly:
- Bots too easy? Nudge speed up.
- Steamrolling the humans? Bring it down.
Tunables can be set per class (all bots of that type) or, where supported, per individual bot. A per-bot override beats the class setting.
Most games spawn their own items at start (the 12 chests in Pirate’s Booty, the flags in Capture the Flag, health boosts in Bots vs Humans) based on the ruleset. You generally don’t need to place items by hand.
When you want to, the console can spawn an item of a declared kind at a spot on the map — handy for testing pickups or seeding a custom scenario. Items you spawn behave exactly like ruleset-spawned ones: players pick them up by walking over them or tapping the grab button, depending on the game.
Putting it together for a good session
Section titled “Putting it together for a good session”- Match bot count and speed to your humans. A couple of moderate bots make a small game lively; a swarm of fast ones makes it brutal.
- Use bots to demo. Start a session, add a few bots, and watch the behavior on the spectator map before a real group arrives.
- Tune mid-game. You’re the GM — if it’s lopsided, slide the knobs.
For how authors define bots and tunables, see the Bots & behavior trees reference.