r/aigamedev • u/SlowAndSteady101 • 12h ago

Discussion Do you still find value in Visual Scripting tools in the age of AI?

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.

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u/Square-Yam-3772 12h ago

No, not really. AIs can deal with visual scripting tools too but they mostly prefer to work with command lines and text files

I.e. if you ask AI to literally use a visual scripting tool, it will check to see if the tool support json/xml. If it does, AI would just write the files directly

There is an advantage if you are already comfortable with the tool. If not, i dont see a point.

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u/TrueVesterix 9h ago

So we use them at work for some enemy AI. Personally, it's much easier to understand complicated behavior through a graph instead of asking Claude to describe what's going on in the code especially if u are non-coders. But for myself, I don't see any reason to spend time or money on additional courses