#48 Ghost AI Roaming System with Random Points - How to Make a Ghost Hunting Game in Unreal
In this lesson, we continue building the Ghost AI for our Unreal Engine 5 ghost hunting game and create the first version of the roaming system.
Until now, the ghost already had hunt logic, sight and hearing detection, sanity-based hunt chances, and random passive action selection. Now we start working on what the ghost should do when it is not hunting: moving around the house in a believable way.
Instead of using a waypoint-based system, where we would have to place many points manually in every room, we build a more flexible roaming setup. The ghost will choose a random reachable point in a radius and move there using the Nav Mesh. This makes the movement less predictable and saves us from placing waypoint actors all over the level.
We first test a simple random movement setup with Get Random Reachable Point in Radius. The ghost can already pick a reachable location and move to it through the Behavior Tree. This gives us a clean foundation for passive ghost movement.
After that, we add a simple home spot system. Since we do not have the final level and real ghost rooms yet, we store the ghost’s starting location as its temporary home spot. This allows the ghost to roam around, but also gives us a way to bring it back toward its origin from time to time.
To keep it simple for now, we use a random 50/50 decision: sometimes the ghost picks a random reachable point, and sometimes it moves back to its home spot. Later, when we have real rooms and a first playable level, this can be expanded into a proper ghost room system where the chance to return home increases the farther the ghost moves away.
By the end of this video, the ghost has a working roaming system without manually placed waypoints. It can explore nearby areas, move around through the Nav Mesh, and return to its home spot.
What you will learn in this video:
How to plan a roaming system for Ghost AI
Why a waypoint system can become too much work in larger maps
How to use random reachable points for AI movement
How to use Get Random Reachable Point in Radius
How to connect random movement to the Behavior Tree
How to store a temporary home spot for the ghost
How to make the ghost return to its starting area
How to prepare the system for a future ghost room setup
How to make passive ghost movement feel less predictable
Chapters:
0:00 Intro & Roaming System Goal
0:14 Planning the Ghost Roaming System
0:41 Waypoint System vs Random Reachable Points
2:36 Explaining Move Points and Ghost Room Return Logic
4:43 Creating Random Reachable Movement
6:37 Testing the First Random Roaming
7:27 Reviewing What Is Still Missing
8:42 Creating a Temporary Home Spot
10:51 Adding a Random Choice Between Roaming and Home Spot
12:47 Testing the Home Spot Logic
14:46 Final Roaming Result
15:25 Future Ghost Room Improvements
Course Goal:
We are building a first-person ghost hunting horror game in Unreal Engine 5 step by step. The project includes player movement, multiplayer, interaction systems, inventory, equipment, ghost hunting tools, evidence systems, ghost AI, sanity, investigation gameplay, and a complete horror game loop.
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