Getting started

By the end of this page you have a player that walks where you click and fights an enemy that fights back.

Install

Copy the com.smartargs.vantage folder into your project’s Packages/ folder, or add it through Window → Package Manager → + → Add package from disk and pick its package.json.

To run the package’s own tests from your project, add this line to Packages/manifest.json:

"testables": ["com.smartargs.vantage"]

1. Create a unit definition

A unit definition is the blueprint for a kind of unit. Right-click in the Project window and choose Create → Vantage → Units → Unit Definition. Name it PlayerUnit.

Set these fields and leave the rest at their defaults:

Armor, crit, evade and the other combat stats already exist in the package. You never have to create them.

2. Create the basic attack

The basic attack is an ordinary ability that reads its damage from whoever casts it, so one asset serves every unit in your game.

1. Create → Vantage → Abilities → Effects → Basic Attack Damage. Name it BasicAttackDamage.
2. Create → Vantage → Abilities → Ability Definition. Name it BasicAttack and set:

3. Open PlayerUnit again and drag BasicAttack into Basic Attack.

3. Build the prefab

1. Create an empty GameObject (or use your character model) and add Vantage → Units → VtUnit. Unity adds the rest of the unit’s components for you.
2. Drag PlayerUnit into the Definition field.
3. Add Vantage → Movement → VtTopDownClickToMove, VtNavMeshPathProvider and VtTopDownClickInput. The first one also adds a CharacterController.
4. Save it as a prefab.

4. Make an enemy

Duplicate PlayerUnit, name it SkeletonUnit, set Faction to Enemy, check Use Hostile AI, and build a second prefab from it without the input component.

5. Set up the scene

• A ground plane with a collider, and a NavMesh baked over it: add a NavMeshSurface component (AI Navigation package) to the ground and press Bake. Without a bake the player still walks, in straight lines, and the console tells you why.
• A camera tagged MainCamera looking down at the ground.
• An EventSystem (GameObject → UI → Event System).
• Your player prefab at (0, 1, 0) and the skeleton a few units away.

Press Play. Right-click the ground and the player walks there. Walk near the skeleton and it attacks you; right-click it and the player fights back until one of them dies. Damage numbers float above both units.

What next

• Give the skeleton loot, XP and aggro by setting fields on its definition. Every module opts in the same way: a field or checkbox on the unit definition.
• Add a second ability with a cast time and a cooldown, grant it on the definition, add VtAbilityHotkeys to the player and drop the ability into slot 1. Press 1 to cast it.
• Read Concepts once. It is short and it explains why the rest of the package looks the way it does.

If something does not work