My First NavMesh in Unity

It feels like only yesterday that I was playing around for the first time with Unity's NavMesh system. The journey from those initial experiments to now has been nothing short of exhilarating. I made this video almost two years ago, but it still marks a special milestone in my airport simulation adventure.

For those unfamiliar, a NavMesh (Navigation Mesh) is a fundamental component in game development that allows characters to navigate complex environments intelligently. For an analyst like me who was mainly used to looking at charts and numbers, seeing these numbers come to life in a 3D space was truly magical.

This video is a snapshot of my first successful implementation of a NavMesh in Unity. The concept was simple: every capsule represents a passenger that has to find their way to an airport pier of the same color. Halfway through their trip, they're blocked by a small door that represents a security checkpoint. Only when the checkpoint opens can they continue to the pier.

And I got it working... but only to some extent. The passengers are pushing each other through the little security door, causing nothing but chaos that would have shut down our airport completely if this were happening in real life. But hey, it's a start!

The main concepts used in this prototype are: spawning objects (a passenger prefab), setting up a NavMesh, assigning NavMeshAgents to the passengers, and creating simple scripts to control their behavior. However simple this may look, it was an awesome accomplishment that set the stage for many more complex simulations to come.

Or as they say: it was one small step for Rein, but one giant leap for AirportSimulations.com!

Enjoy!