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

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, how many there are, where they live, and how they behave is all defined by the game’s author as one or more bot classes: each class names its home zone (bots spawn inside it and stay inside it) and a starting count. From the console you can:

• Scale the population with the class’s count knob in the Game panel — when the game marks count tunable. Raising it spawns bots into the home zone (even mid-game); lowering it removes the most recently spawned first.
• Rename a bot.
• Adjust tunables (below).

Bots spawn into their home zone 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.

Note

The pre-flight checklist requires every bot class’s home zone to be placed before you can start. A game that needs bots simply declares a starting count (Bots vs Humans starts with one) — there’s nothing for you to spawn by hand.

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) and count (the class’s population). The console shows a knob with the author’s min/max/step. Adjusting a tunable lets you balance a session on the fly:

• Bots too easy? Nudge speed up, or add a couple more with the count knob.
• 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. (count is class-level only — it’s a population, not a per-bot property.)

Items

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

• 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.