Introduction to Behaviours
Behaviours are the main way you tell agents what to do.
In 0.12.x, behaviours are content-driven. You build them in the editor, assign them through Module Settings and scene setup, and the runtime uses them to decide what agents should do next.
The two main behaviour types
There are two core behaviour families:
WorkbehavioursNeedbehaviours
They share some node concepts, but they solve different problems.
Work behaviours
Work behaviours describe what an agent does as part of a role in society.
Think of them as structured job logic. A work tree answers questions like:
- what is this agent's role?
- what duties belong to that role?
- how is each duty carried out?
- what concrete actions happen in the scene?
Good work trees feel like job design, not animation scripting.
Need behaviours
Need behaviours describe how an agent restores something it lacks.
That can be a literal survival-style need such as rest, or a softer simulation need such as entertainment or social interaction.
A need tree answers questions like:
- what does the agent require?
- what are the valid ways to satisfy it?
- how effective is each method?
- what world actions must happen to fulfill it?
How to think about them
The most useful mental model is:
- work trees define duty
- need trees define recovery
Agents move between these based on time, weighting, availability, and the state of the world.
Best practice for new users
Start small.
- create one simple work tree
- create one simple need tree
- test them in a tiny scene
- expand only after the full loop works
If you build too much content before testing, it becomes harder to tell whether a problem is caused by logic, world setup, or missing references.