Common Graphs

Solve a gameplay flow

Common Graphs show how States, Actions, Conditions, transitions, Shared Variables, and Subgraphs fit together to solve recognizable problems. Each page describes the graph shape, the transition settings that matter, and a Play Mode result you can verify.

These are adaptable patterns rather than downloadable graphs. Keep the state and transition structure, then substitute the movement, combat, animation, audio, or project-specific Actions that fit your game.

The turret tutorial is a complete example that combines sensing, Actions, Conditions, and transitions into one practical state machine.

Watch the State Designer turret tutorial on YouTube.

Illustrated walkthroughs

Patrol, Chase, and Attack – Moves an agent through perception, pursuit, and attack-range states.

Flee at Low Health – Uses Any for one high-priority interrupt from several ordinary states.

Timed State Cycle – Combines Timer, input, and State Finished transitions in a repeating flow.

React to an Event – Starts a response when another graph or script sends a named event.

Reusable Attack Subgraph – Swaps melee and ranged behavior behind one parent-graph state.

These screenshot-backed guides remain visible beneath Common Graphs in the documentation menu.

More patterns

The remaining patterns are summarized together here so the menu stays focused. Open one when its graph shape matches the problem you are solving.

Attack with Cooldown – Shares one ready timestamp between the attack Action and its transition Condition.

Toggle an Interaction – Models a door or switch with stable and in-progress states.

Menu Screen Flow – Keeps mutually exclusive UI screens in explicit states and uses button Conditions to navigate.

Dialogue Choice Flow – Maps each visible response to an explicit transition and returns the selected branch to the conversation owner.

Turn-Based Phase Loop – Alternates player and opponent phases without allowing both controllers to act at once.

Save and Resume a State Machine – Chooses the data boundary and verifies an active-state round trip.

Persistent State Across Scenes – Keeps one owner alive while scene-local references are rebound.

Animation-Driven Locomotion – Separates locomotion modes from Animator and movement Actions.

Adapt a pattern

Name states after durable modes such as Patrol or Open, and put yes-or-no decisions on transitions. Put work that changes the game in Actions. Use Shared Variables when both sides of a transition need the same target, health value, cooldown timestamp, or selection index.

Start with the smallest useful graph, verify each transition in Play Mode, and add an Any interrupt or a Subgraph Reference only when the shared route or reusable behavior makes the graph easier to follow.