🧩 3D Maze Runner – AI Gameplay Project (PC)

---

🎮 Project Overview

3D Maze Runner is a PC-based third-person / first-person Unity game focused on AI behavior, maze navigation, and combat mechanics.

The project was designed as a training and research-oriented gameplay system, emphasizing:

• Custom enemy AI logic
• Maze-based level structure
• Player–enemy interaction
• No NavMesh usage (pure script-driven AI)

All characters—including the player and enemy robots—are built entirely using Unity primitive shapes, highlighting logic and systems over visual assets.

---

🏗️ Project Structure

The project follows a clean Unity asset organization:

Assets/
├── Animation/        → Enemy & player animations
├── Materials/        → Maze walls, characters, environment
├── Prefabs/          → Player, enemy, projectile, medikit
├── Scenes/           → Maze gameplay scene
├── Scripts/          → Core gameplay & AI logic
├── Textures/         → Basic textures for environment

This structure keeps gameplay logic, visuals, and prefabs decoupled, making the project easy to extend and debug.

---

🧠 Maze Environment Design

• Fully enclosed 3D maze

• Narrow corridors and intersections

• Walls used as line-of-sight blockers

• Designed to:

  • Test AI perception
  • Limit visibility
  • Force close-range encounters

• Maze layout directly affects:

  • Enemy detection
  • Combat difficulty
  • Player survival strategy

The maze itself acts as a core gameplay mechanic, not just a level.

---

🤖 Characters (Built from Primitive Shapes)

👤 Player (BayMax Controller)

• Constructed using Unity cubes, capsules, and spheres
• First-person shooting + free movement
• Mouse-based camera control
• Health system with recovery items

👾 Enemy Robots

• Fully procedural humanoid robots
• Head, body, and mouth constructed from primitives
• Animations driven via state-based logic

This design keeps the focus on behavior and AI, not assets.

---

🧠 Enemy AI System (No NavMesh)

⚠️ No NavMesh or Unity AI Navigation used

Enemy behavior is implemented using custom scripting only.

🔁 AI State Machine

Each enemy operates using a finite state machine:

State	Behavior
Idle	Enemy waits and scans surroundings
Walking	Moves forward through maze
TurnAround	Rotates when obstacle detected
AttackPlayer	Attacks when player detected
Dead	Death animation and cleanup

---

👁️ Player Detection (Custom Vision System)

• Enemy uses multi-ray raycasting (field-of-view scanning)
• ~90 rays cast in a cone pattern
• Detects player only if visible
• Walls and maze geometry block vision naturally

This simulates realistic AI perception without pathfinding.

---

🚶 Movement & Obstacle Avoidance

• Forward movement only

• Obstacle detection via raycasts

• On collision:

  • Enemy rotates by a random angle
  • Continues navigation

• This creates emergent maze navigation behavior

---

🔫 Enemy Attacks

• Enemy attacks only when:

  • Player is in view
  • Line of sight is clear

• Uses raycasting from mouth position

• Deals continuous damage while attacking

---

🎯 Player Gameplay Mechanics

🕹️ Movement

• WASD keyboard input
• Smooth directional movement
• Mouse-based camera rotation
• Cursor locked for immersion

🔫 Shooting

• Projectile-based combat
• Physics-driven bullets
• Collision-based damage system

❤️ Health System

• Player has limited health
• Enemies reduce health on contact
• Medikit pickups restore health
• Medikit respawns after cooldown

---

👾 Enemy Spawning System

• Enemies spawn at random maze spawn points

• Spawn locations are removed once used

• Ensures:

  • No enemy overlap
  • Balanced maze coverage

• Total enemy count configurable

---

🧪 Technical Highlights

• ❌ No NavMesh
• ❌ No AI Pathfinding package
• ✅ Raycast-based perception
• ✅ State-driven AI
• ✅ Event-based input system
• ✅ Physics-based projectiles
• ✅ Modular gameplay scripts

---

🎯 Learning & Research Focus

This project demonstrates:

• Custom AI design
• Maze-based decision making
• Enemy perception without pathfinding
• State machines in gameplay AI
• Unity gameplay architecture fundamentals

It is ideal as:

• AI training project
• Gameplay systems demo
• Portfolio project for Unity / game AI roles

---

🖥️ Platform

• PC (Windows)
• Unity Engine
• Keyboard + Mouse controls

---

🚀 Future Improvements

Potential extensions:

• Smarter pursuit behavior
• Cooperative enemy AI
• Dynamic maze generation
• Difficulty scaling
• Sound-based enemy detection

---

📌 Summary

3D Maze Runner is a systems-focused Unity project that showcases:

• Custom AI behavior
• Maze-driven gameplay design
• Combat mechanics
• Clean gameplay architecture

All built with simple geometry and pure logic, making the AI behavior the star of the project.