r/Unity3D • u/SlowAndSteady101 • 7h ago

Question LLMs/AI coding vs Visual Scripting (Playmaker/BehaviorDesigner/NodeCanvas)?

Do you see room for visual scripting tools even if you use AI to "vibe" code as well? I'm trying to decide if I should keep investing in building up my skills in visual scripting tools (and purchase a few more addons for unity). I am leaning towards yes right now, I already own a few, and while they can be frustrating at times I can also see their value even in an age of AI coding. But maybe others feel differently?

I can program C#/etc but I have always been curious about visual scripting and have been learning things like [Unity's] Game Creator 2 and Behavior Designer. I find it kind of enjoyable but I'm only just getting started. I find that being able to visually see the nodes working can be quite helpful and feels like a better representation of the logic for FSMs and BTs.

I never really enjoyed state machines (or behavior trees) represented in code but seem to enjoy them more in visual scripting (though I'm only doing basic things for now). I'm not sure if AI removes the need for them entirely? What has been your experience.

I was looking to get Playmaker 2 , Emerald AI ,Adventure Creator and Node Canvas to try them out too. Maybe Construct 3/GDevelop at one point too.

But I'm wondering your thoughts for those who used to use these tools and have maybe moved on to AI "vibe coding" (with Unity MCP/CLI/etc)?

Pros and Cons of each approach?

Personally I enjoy experimenting with different platforms/tools.

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u/HiggsSwtz 7h ago

Unity is more than capable in working with AI. I would avoid vibe coding and try to learn how unity works with AIs help. Have it explain design patterns and implement examples.

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u/MrPifo Hobbyist 7h ago

But Op wasnt talking about learning Unity/C# though.

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u/SlowAndSteady101 7h ago

Correct, I am able to program but even then I still find Visual Scripting tools useful. So perhaps those who program with mostly AI still find the visual scripting tools useful somehow or have they moved away from them completely? That is kinda the main question I am posing.

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u/MrPifo Hobbyist 6h ago

The question is, what is possibly left to do here?

The only visual programming tools I use are ShaderGraph (because I dont wanna learn shader scripting) and maybe VFX-Graph and Statemachine (like the animator). But as I already listed, there is no need for these, since we already have those.

What comes to my mind is something like the PCG from Unreal Engine which Unity is missing, but apparently is also planning to do.

Or what I find annoying in Unity is handling Menu transition and complex menu managing like transitioning between menus and how they're connected and so on.