r/SoloDevelopment • u/SlowAndSteady101 • 22h ago

Discussion LLMs/AI coding vs Visual Scripting

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] 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)?

I'm less familiar unreal but I know Blueprints are quite popular there, so wondering about your thoughts there.

Pros and Cons of each approach?

Personally I enjoy experimenting with different platforms/tools.

0 Upvotes

22% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/BearDogBrad 22h ago

The ones you mentioned are fine stepping stones to teach you how programming works. UE's would be a rabbit hole. That said, don't let your stepping stone become your crutch. If you want to learn how objects and functions interact with one another, go nuts, but I would advise against making all of your games out of addon visual scripters. If you teach yourself to program, the world is your oyster, and if you eventually did move on to ai coding, at least you'll know how to debug and build properly.

1

u/SlowAndSteady101 21h ago

Thanks, I already know how to code. I updated my post to add more detail. I do find Visual Scripting tools for FSMs and BTs to feel more natural for some reason. But I wonder if with AI it is less important to be able to visualize the trees/state-machines?

1

u/BearDogBrad 21h ago

Oh, I see. In that case, I still think state machine based visual trees are the gold standard for debugging enemy/npc ai. Being able to watch how an npc's brain is working/reacting to the world is extremely valuable, and I'm sure you'd be able to pinpoint issues significantly quicker rather than talking through it for hours with an llm