#43 Ghost AI Sight & Hunt Detection - How to Make a Ghost Hunting Game in Unreal

In this lesson, we continue building the hunting mechanic for our Ghost AI in Unreal Engine 5. In the last video, we forced the hunt manually to test if our Behavior Tree works. This time, we start moving closer to a real ghost system by using AI Perception. The goal is to let the ghost detect the player through sight, update the Blackboard, and start the hunt based on player sanity. We begin by checking the Nav Mesh and showing how to visualize where the AI can move in the level. After that, we add AI Perception to the ghost AI Controller and set up sight and hearing configs. This gives the ghost the foundation for detecting players by vision and later by sound. Then we use the AI Debugger to visualize the perception ranges in the level. This makes it much easier to understand how far the ghost can see or hear and lets us adjust the values until the detection range feels better for gameplay. Next, we connect perception updates to the Blackboard. When the ghost sees the player, we store the player actor and set the Can See Player value to true. When the ghost loses the player, we reset the values again. This allows the Behavior Tree to react to real detection instead of hardcoded test values. We also add a simple sanity variable to the player. For now, this is only a basic test setup, but it gives us a first condition for starting a hunt. Later, this can be expanded into a full sanity system with random hunt chances and multiplayer support. To check all players in a multiplayer-ready way, we use the Game State player array and loop through every player. If a player meets the sanity condition, the Blackboard value Is Hunting is set to true. This allows the ghost to enter the hunt branch of the Behavior Tree. By the end of this video, the ghost can detect the player through sight, update the Blackboard correctly, and start hunting when the sanity condition is met. It is still an early version, but the core connection between AI Perception, Blackboard, Behavior Tree, and sanity-based hunting is now working. What you will learn in this video: How to visualize AI navigation with Nav Mesh How to add AI Perception to a ghost AI Controller How to set up sight and hearing perception How to use the AI Debugger to view detection ranges How to adjust sight radius and lose sight radius How to update Blackboard values from AI Perception How to set and clear the detected player actor How to use Can See Player in the Behavior Tree How to add a simple sanity value to the player How to start a hunt from a sanity condition How to loop through all players with the Game State How to test the first real ghost hunt detection Chapters: 0:00 Intro & Hunting Mechanic Goal 0:34 Preparing the Test Setup 0:48 Visualizing AI Navigation 1:30 Setting Up AI Perception 2:27 Using the AI Debugger 3:05 Adjusting Sight and Hearing Ranges 4:28 Adding a Simple Sanity Variable 5:51 Handling Target Perception Updates 9:00 Moving AI Perception to the AI Controller 10:41 Debugging the Blackboard Player Target 11:53 Fixing Perception Detection Settings 12:31 Updating Can See Player in the Blackboard 14:35 Handling Forgotten Targets 17:14 Testing Sight Detection 18:00 Planning Sanity-Based Hunt Start 22:06 Looping Through Players and Checking Sanity 23:39 Testing the Hunt Start 24:34 Current Result and 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. #UnrealEngine5 #UE5 #UnrealEngine #GhostHuntingGame #HorrorGame #GhostAI #AIPerception #BehaviorTree #Blackboard #HuntDetection #SanitySystem #EnemyAI #UE5Blueprints #BlueprintTutorial #HorrorGameDevelopment #IndieGameDev #FirstPersonHorror #PhasmophobiaInspired