Wave Spawner

Wave Spawner

This scriptable object provides configuration for the various waves used when the Runtime Spawner has Wave Spawning enabled.

To Create a new Wave Spawner config you can Right Click in the Project window and go to ‘Create Other ⇒ Runtime Spawner ⇒ Wave Spawner’

Or use the Assets menu (Create ⇒ Runtime Spawner ⇒ Wave Spawner)

This will create an empty Wave Spawner, as shown below:

Click the ‘+’ button to create new Waves.

Below is a screenshot of a populated Wave Spawner

Properties (WaveSpawner)

• Description Free‑form text for identifying the spawner (queryable in‑game).

• Spawn Delay (float 0..10) Initial delay before the first wave starts.

• Wave Interval (float 0..10) Delay inserted after a wave completes (including any looping) and before the next wave starts.

• Waves (List<WaveEntry>) The ordered list of waves. Use + to add waves.

Validation: On edit, each wave auto-fills its name if blank and clamps counts (see below).

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Wave Configuration (WaveEntry)

Wave Info

• Name (string) Display name. If blank, auto‑fills to Wave {index+1}.

• Description (string) Optional, queryable in‑game.

Wave Timing

• Spawn Delay (float 0..10) Delay before this wave begins.

• Spawn Instance Interval (float 0..10) Delay between spawning each agent within this wave.

• Spawn Count Min / Max (int 1..100) A random inclusive count in [Min, Max] is chosen when the wave runs.

  • spawnCountMin is clamped to ≥ 1.

  • spawnCountMax is clamped to ≥ spawnCountMin.

Loop Policy (per wave)

Defined by LoopPolicy:

• Type (LoopType)

  • None – Run the wave once (legacy behavior).

  • Duration – Repeat the wave until durationSeconds have elapsed.

  • MaxLoops – Repeat the wave up to maxLoops times.

    • 0 means unlimited (no cap).

  • UntilSignal – Repeat until a signal with id untilSignal is received.

• durationSeconds (float ≥ 0) Used when Type = Duration.

• maxLoops (int ≥ 0) Used when Type = MaxLoops (0 = unlimited).

• untilSignal (string) Used when Type = UntilSignal; integrates with your signal bus.

• restSeconds (float ≥ 0) Optional pause between loop iterations (applies to all loop types except None since it doesn’t loop).

• shuffleOnLoop (bool) When true, each loop iteration shuffles the wave’s valid spawn entries and then cycles through that shuffled order without immediate repeats.

Loop execution specifics (from WaveTableRunner + WaveSpawnLoop)

• Table-level Spawn Delay runs once before the first wave.

• For each wave:

  • If Type = None: wave runs once.

  • Otherwise: the runner calls the wave executor repeatedly, enforcing:

    • Duration: stop when elapsed time ≥ durationSeconds.

    • MaxLoops: stop when loops ≥ maxLoops (unless 0 = unlimited).

    • UntilSignal: stop when the signal bus reports the untilSignal was fired.

  • restSeconds is inserted between iterations of the same wave.

• After a wave (and its loops) finishes, table-level Wave Interval is applied before the next wave.

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Wave Spawners

• Spawners (List<SpawnEntry>) The spawn configurations used by this wave. See Spawn Entry docs for fields.

Runtime behavior notes

• Validation of entries: entries that are null or missing a prefab are skipped with a warning and won’t be selected.

• Spawn count selection: the chosen count respects inclusive Max (internally handled with the exclusive Random.Range overload).

• Entry selection within a run:

  • With shuffleOnLoop = true: the executor Fisher–Yates shuffles the local list and then walks it in order (spawned % count), preventing immediate repeats until the list cycles.

  • With shuffleOnLoop = false: each spawn picks a random valid entry.

• Spawn points: if the initiating WaveTrigger provides WaveSpawnPoints, those are preferred; otherwise, the spawner uses the trigger (or owner) transform with a default range. (See WaveTrigger docs for configuring explicit wave spawn points.)

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Editor Validation (OnValidate)

For each wave:

• Auto‑names if blank (Wave {index+1}).

• Clamps counts to valid ranges (Min ≥ 1, Max ≥ Min).

Signal Bus Integration

The Loop Policy UntilSignal mode relies on a lightweight static SignalBus system. This allows a wave to repeat until a specific string signal is fired by your game logic.

How it works

• Signals are string IDs.

• Once a signal is fired, it stays latched until it is consumed or explicitly cleared.

• The WaveTableRunner checks SignalBus.WasFired(untilSignal) each loop.

  • If the signal has been fired, the wave loop ends.

  • By default, WasFired consumes the signal (removes it from the fired set).

API Summary

• SignalBus.Fire(string id) Latches a signal by ID. No-op if id is null/empty.

• SignalBus.WasFired(string id, bool consume = true) Returns true if the signal was previously fired. If consume = true (default), the signal is cleared after the check.

• SignalBus.Clear(string id) Clears the fired state of a specific signal.

• SignalBus.ClearAll() Clears all fired signals.

Usage Example

// Somewhere in your gameplay logic:
if (bossDefeated)
    SignalBus.Fire("BossDefeated");

// In a wave config:
loopPolicy.type = LoopType.UntilSignal;
loopPolicy.untilSignal = "BossDefeated";

In this example, the wave will keep repeating until your game logic fires the "BossDefeated" signal.