Talentus - Talent/Skill Trees

Talentus is a talent/skill tree asset for Unity allowing you to create and maintain skill/talent trees the easiest way. An intuitive editor is making sure the creation of the tree is a breeze, the wizard let you design a playable UI directly based upon the design and the engine makes sure everything is tight together at runtime.

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FEATURES
Design
- Extended custom editor to design a talent/skill tree
- Support for multiple categories within one tree
- Can be used for any design
- Multiple levels possible for one skill (and cost)
- Support for multiple branches within one tree

Runtime
- Wizard to translate the design in a working UI
- Engine capable to support all possible skill trees and conditions
- Extendable engine allowing you easy integration within your own project.


Editor preview:


Runtime preview:



Not included

Skill icons, I only provide an alphabet for testing. A lot of good skill icons can be bought on the asset store. Within the promo and video I used some icons by Super Game Asset.

Note: some scripting/programming knowledge is needed to integrate it into your own project, however I provided examples and scripts to guide you. An extended manual is also provided within the package.

 

I like it so far. Was definitely looking to use something like this in my project. You don't happen to have a leveling system in there too by any chance, do ya? XD Like some fake int level, int maxLevel, int currentExp, int maxExpForCurrentLevel and increase the exp until you get a level, which in turn gives you a skill point to use.

 

Thank you for the interest, a leveling system (xp rewarding) should be that hard to code. Maybe something I consider for a future asset or add-on (will surely not be part of Talentus though, keeping the focus on talents/skills).

 

Hey,

Can this be used for a tech tree (ala civ) with time to completion instead of skill points?

Thanks in advance

 

Hi @blitzvb,
The system is just called skill points but it is actually just a number, it can be called whatever you want in the UI. The cost factor of the talents/skills are measured using the same kind of numbers. So I guess it can be done but to be sure do you have a link to a youtube video demonstrating those kinds of tech trees? So I can make sure we are talking about the same thing.

 

sure, here a screenshot:



So each tech have :

- An icon
- A Name
- A number of turn to complete
- A text Description
- Things that it unlock (could be an invisible string with ID numbers)
- researched or not yet researched.
- A connection to the next tech (Note that some have three possibilities)

Only one tech can be active at at the time.

Fo you think all those info can be configured?

thanks in advance.

 

Hi,

It will not work out of the box, as I now getting what you mean with a tech tree. You select a tech and it takes a number of turns to be researched right? Talentus does currently only support a researched or non-researched state (skill available or not), there is no concept of 'in researching state'. Can you have a tech active in multiple domains? You have agriculture in the image but I'm guessing there are others with yet another tree attached?
Nevertheless this looks like something I will be delving into and see if it would be feasible to incorporate in a future update.
No promises though, looking into it if it wouldn't break the fundamentals of Talentus.

Edit: did some research and came to a showstopper: when a tech is completely researched and has multiple next techs as children, what should happen then? Are turns lost while the gamer is deciding on the next tech? Is this somewhat automated and all children are researched? This is surely adding a lot of complexity and will not be easily done.

 

yes

no. only one at a time. it's just because it's the first node in this civ tech tree.

the user have to select a non researched tech or it cannot continue.

 

Ok, thanks. Will get further into it and see if it can be implemented in a future release.

 

I'm very interested in this. Been looking for something that would simplify the creation of such skill trees. I'm not opposed to the pricing, but was wondering if there was a "lite" version or a "non-commercial use" demo version to allow evaluation before purchase. I'd hate to spend $75 to find that I can't use it for my project for some reason.

My main area of questions are around this part "- Extendable engine allowing you easy integration within your own project."

For example, how exactly are skill nodes in the tree hooked to one's skill implementation? Are these just UI trees for the skills or does this create the scriptable objects that can be customized with one's game stats, method calls, etc.?

 

Hi @DragonFist22,

Thank you for your interest in Talentus Pro, I know the price is rather steep and because of the full source code policy I can't provide any demo version without fully exposing the product. After debating a lite (closed source) version didn't make sense as it would limit the extensibility of the framework to much.
But to come to your question: The editor and engine does provide the minimal amount of data structures needed to have a functional skill tree. The wizard does generate a template with UI elements and example scripts attached to each of them (currently working on extending this to connections as well). The heart of the system is the evaluator which does lift the hard work in validating each talent if they can be bought or not. As their is full source code and Talentus is a framework it's completely open to extend towards your own needs, see it as a starting point or use the generated UI depending on your needs.
If you like and it would help making your decision, I can make the documentation public on my website.

if you have specific questions please let me know.

 

Thanks for the fast response.

Definitely, the documentation would probably help in determining what fits my needs. At this point in my project, the UI aspects are of less importance (though that will eventually be needed). What I've be looking for is something that eases the creation of the skills/talents themselves within a tree. I can easily see from the video that it handles the tree building side of that fairly well.

The part that isn't clear to me is whether it would help with the attached data and method calls. Like if I create an abstract class from which talents derive with things like float mana/stamina cost, cool down time, damage modifier, animation clip etc. and methods such as Use(), and have a talent class created off of this and be editable in the editor, etc.

Another asset ( https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/visual-scripting/the-skill-112242 ) has similar functionality, but unfortunately doesn't work (has various null references and invalid input from popup errors). This looks a lot more polished and I have no issue with the pricing. I'm just making sure it is what I think it is.

Thanks again.

 

Hi @DragonFist22,

Ah, now I completely understand your use case. Not at my office right now but I'll see if it's possible to do what your are trying to achieve and get back to you (could be this evening or during the course of this week though).

 

@DragonFist22 and others,
The latest documentation is downloadable from within the 'Need to know more' section of the Talentus webpage.
http://www.cygnusprojects.com/assets/talentus

 

Thanks on both counts. I'll look over the documentation and look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

Hi @DragonFist22,
Sorry you did have to wait before I could give you a reply, but as promised here we go.
Talentus has 2 possible solutions for coping with your use case:
1. Alter the code of the TalentTreeNodeBase to add you custom fields, adapt the editor code for that object type. This however will pose issues if you will update the Talentus Pro asset as your code would be overwritten.
2. A more eligant and easier way is to create a monobehaviour script with you fields and attach it to the Talent UI Prefab. Using the TreeEvaluated event (available as of 1.1.0, currently in testing) you can check if you should alter the state of a talent.
Looking at your use case (the properties and methods you described) I would personnaly go for seperate skill objects global to your game, and keep a list of those enabled by hooking in a script of the actual tree. In such a case you keep the skill tree evaluation seperate from the actual skill gameobjects (specific date, particle systems etc).

Hope this answer is to your satisfaction and allows you to make a decision on which asset to buy from the store.

 

Version 1.1.0 is now available:

- Added support for optional connections
- Rewritten the Talentus Tree Evaluator to support AND and OR connections
- Connections in the UI do have a reference to the connection, from and to talent objects
- Connections in the UI can now be colored according to their type (Required, Optional)
- Connections in the UI can be gameobject prefabs (through the UI wizard).
- Extra talent and connection script can be added using the UI wizard.
- Connections do get a proper naming when generated with the UI wizard.
- Added an event when the tree has been evaluated.

Read more about it on the manual.

 

Version 1.2.0 is now available:

- Fix bug where the color of a circular connection wasn’t set properly.
- Added the ability to have a respec on talent/skill base.

 

Hi all,

will be enjoying some time off as of today till August 10th, so support can be very slow or non existant during that period. Will be getting back to you as of August 11th.

 

@cygnusprojects ,

Looking at buying this Asset...

Any chance of some support in later release (or is support already in place!) for:-

1) different description per 'level' of Skill?;

2) text of what is required for next 'level' of Skill?

 

@Duffer123, thanks for your interest in Talentus Pro. If it are only text fields you are requiring to be implement for such case that can easily be done (target is the end of August/ begin September for the next update roll out).
You also asked through mail to have different screens for one tree. This will not work as their is a clear dependency between the skills/talents. However if you have for instance 3 independent skill trees you can create 3 trees and generate the UI for all those. It's up to you to adapt the UI to get those in tabs though (shouldn't be that hard). Note that Talentus Pro is requiring some programming skills if you want to use it at the fullest possibilities. I'm providing a framework (with full source) as stated in the description of the asset.
In case of any further questions please shoot, I'll try to answer them asap (when wifi/network allows during my out of office).

 

@cygnusprojects ,

Excellent - so you can implement different text for each level of a talent (but up to us to define what that text is at runtime or in editor)? Is that with next update?

 

Hi @Duffer123, I'll foresee your request in the framework myself and release it by end August/begin September (so indeed the next update). So there will be a possibility to fill in those fields in the editor. It will be up to you to get those values in you UI using the API, I'll make sure a sample will be provided on how to do that.

 

Ok. Can code but may need to change text fields by level by talent in runtime?

 

That's also possible, like with all fields within Talentus.

 

Excellent thx again

 

@cygnusprojects ,

A couple more questions:

1) can you create separate talent trees for say 4 different characters - each character has their own talent trees?;

2) could you put various parts of any talent tree on different tabbed panels on a canvas?; and

3) can you save out and load in current talent trees for a party of characters with some coding?

 

1) Yes, you can - you'll need to code which tree to show for which character though.
2) No, due to the fact that connections between talents do set their availability. If the parts of the tree don't need any connection/condition you can create separate trees though and put those in tabbed panels (something you will have to manage).
3) Yes, loading and saving trees is demonstrated in an included example.

 

Version 1.3.0 is now available.

This version contains:
- Fixed focus bug when switching to another skill while editing a field in the inspector.
- Added an explanation field to the talents. Can be used to store anything as text.
- Added a description field to all the cost levels.
- Added an overload on the CanbeUnbought method so all bought skills can be passed along iso fetched on every call, see the Tree Respec Example scene to find out the usage. This will lead to performance gains when you respec skills in big trees.
- Fixed a bug on the CanBeUnbought event capturing leading to performance gain.

 

Hey, just bought the asset and I'm having a couple of issues. The biggest issue is that buying talents while running the game in the Unity IDE permanently marks the talent level in the database as "bought." This means that every time I run the game now, the node is always marked as bought until I open the database file and uncheck the box on every single cost layer. It works fine if I compile the project and run it separately, but hitting the run button at the top of the IDE immediately loads my talents from a save file and marks them all as bought again.

The other issue is that the editor seems to be trying to save to the database on every single edit. This includes saving every single time I press a key while adding descriptions and examples. You should consider adding a save button instead of saving on every single edit, since my computer lags really badly while I try to build trees.

Are you still supporting this asset? It looks like the last update was quite a while ago. Either way it seems to work well for the most part.

 

Hi @TempestMK4,

Thanks for buying Talentus Pro. It's still in development and a small update will be released during the course of January (some reworked examples).
To get to your issue(s): Unity is indeed keeping the state of the talents between sessions (resets on actual exit of Unity). This is expected behavior as they are scriptable objects in the end. You can however press 'R' in the example (please check the code) to reset all object to their initial state. However as you are indicating 'bought' iso 'isbuying' I guess you do call the Apply() somewhere on every UI interaction, or maybe you just mean clicked for buying. Reading your last line 'since my computer lags really badly while I try to build trees.' I don't see the link though (guess you mean designing?). Are you talking about the editor saving? This is indeed the case, the editor isn't able to 'save' on demand because of the scriptable objects (so it happens on the fly). The lag can occur because of the grid down (you can disable the grid in the settings, see the manual). Let me know if fiddling with the setting is fixing the lag.

Kind regards,

Wim

 

Hey,

My issue is that if I run the game in the Unity IDE, and I buy a talent, that talent has now been permanently marked as bought within the Unity project itself. This means that I have to go through and un-buy my talents after I am done testing before I release since those purchased talents get compiled into my release build. I added a simple method that marks all of the talents in my tree as unbought if no save file exists, which gets me around the issue for now.

My issue with the editor is that it lags really badly since it is trying to save on every single edit, whether this is a frame of movement on the talent objects or every single keystroke in the text fields of the talent assets. Everything just kind of grinds to a halt while I type or try to move stuff. I only use the editor to create the talents and connections now, and I edit the assets manually to fill in the text and icons and reposition the talents in the tree. I feel like there has to be some way to fix this, but I've never tried to create a custom Unity editor.

I also have issues with how talents are saved and loaded on the back end. Every talent seems to be keyed off of its name when loading a talent tree from strings using the LoadFromString method, so multiple talents with the same name collide. There needs to be a separate ID field that does not affect the displayed name field, so that multiple talents can have the same name. This also allows the user the change the talent names and not have to also change all of the code that looks up the status of those talents.

I've managed to work around all of the issues for now, but it's taken some time. Building out talent trees takes a long time. I would like to see a way to copy and paste several talents at a time, either to the same tree or to a different tree. The engine portion of the asset seems to work well, and the UI generator that adds the talent trees to the game scenes is easy to use.

 

Hi, does the asset support saving via easysave format i.e. encrypted ?

 

You can use any kind of saving/loading with Talentus. I provided a pure text based example but as long you can save string variables you're good to go. Note though this is something you will have to write, Talentus is a framework so some developer experience is required (as stated in the asset store page).

 

Nice to hear you are somewhat out of the woods, although not satisfied with the editor performance. I would like to get deeper into this as you are the first person reporting this (the others get away with it by setting the editor grid off). I used all common/best practices to design the custom editor though so I would expect nothing serious is causing the performance drop. How many talents/skills are in your tree? I had a customer with more than 100 and improved the asset to make sure it was running fine. Make sure you are at least using version 1.3.0 as serious performance gains were implemented going forward.
If you are willing you can send me your tree (and invoice id) to the support mail address (in the documentation) and I can have a look.
Anyway I myself am not that happy with the UI and I've put a complete redesign on the roadmap (especially now that Unity will overhaul their UI anyway in 2019 versions).
I'll check the loading with talents having the same name, not though saving/loading is only an example as such and should be replaced by your own logic or external asset.

 

Pleased to announce the latest version of Talentus is available on the asset store:

Version 1.3.1 (January 2019)
- Fixed the cached tree example to make sure when loading a saved tree is properly populating the cache.
- Added a EvaluateAllRespecConditions() example to show how you can trigger an UI update for all the bought talents.

 

Talentus Pro - 40% off during Cyber Week Sale.

In case you were on the fence buying Talentus, now is the time as Talentus is part of the Cyber Week Sale.

 

Cyber Week Sale will be over on Friday 13th so if you doubt ... there is still a little time left.

 

Hello, I'm interested in using your asset for a stand alone tech tree project I'm working on and had a couple of questions... Is there a max number of skills/techs that is feasible in a single tree? Is there a max number of prerequisites that can be assigned? Can AND/OR functions be mixed? (for example, skill "C" requires "A" and "B", but also either "D" or "E") Would it be possible to implement a function that would preclude a skill based on what has been selected?

Maybe most importantly to me... I'm a very novice programmer. Do you offer any additional support that can be purchased to get me up and running?

Thanks!

 

Hey @Ilomax83,

Thank you for your interest in Talentus Pro. To answer your questions: there is no max on skills in a single tree, note though that how bigger the tree becomes there will be an impact on the performance.
No max on prerequisites either and AND/OR can be mixed. Precluding skills based upon previous selections isn't something I thought of during the design and thus not available.
Also note that Talentus currently doesn't support timed skills, meaning skills that take a duration to complete (if I'm not mistaking this is what you mean with a tech tree?).

Unfortunately, I can only give a small portion of additional support as a skill tree can be very specific for a game and does require some custom game-specific implementation. fi I can give pointers on how to best implement something specific but the implementation has to be done by yourself in the end.

 

Hi,
Talentus is not very user-friendly.
- With TalentusEditor, I can drag many overlapped nodes at once. (2 nodes at the same place cannot be separated without deleting one).
- I can drag a node overlapped with a connection and move the node and scroll the screen at the same time.
- Keyboard arrows left-right change the length of the panel even when I try to move the cursor in a description.
- With the Mouse3 button, I can drag a selected node "off the limit" on the left. This node cannot be selected anymore.

- With TalentusUITemplate, Connection Settings without prefab creates connections with Talent UI Line Renderer but without CanvasRenderer. (I need to add one to display connections).
- The node generated use scale values of UI parents to set XYZ but not their own scales. With A rootUI with scale 0.1, all nodes overlaps.

Can you help me ?

Thanks in advance

 

Hi there,
Thanks for getting in touch! I do have a complete Editor UI overhaul on the roadmap but holding it off until Unity got their API's streamlined. Which version of Unity are you using?
Give me some time to delve into your feedback and get back to you.

Kind regards,

Wim

 

Hi @ScorpusGD,

currently fixing the items you mentioned, fixes will be available within the 1.5.0 update (no ETA yet). Note that the minimal required version for the asset will be 2018 LTS.

Kind regards,

Wim

 

thanks for your reactivity ^^

ps : unity version 2020.1.0f1

 

Hi @ScorpusGD,

Went through all the items you listed and will submit the 1.5.0 version this week to the asset store.

- With TalentusEditor, I can drag many overlapped nodes at once. (2 nodes at the same place cannot be separated without deleting one). Bug and fixed in 1.5.0
- I can drag a node overlapped with a connection and move the node and scroll the screen at the same time. Bug and fixed in 1.5.0
- Keyboard arrows left-right change the length of the panel even when I try to move the cursor in a description. Bug and fixed in 1.5.0
- With the Mouse3 button, I can drag a selected node "off the limit" on the left. This node cannot be selected anymore. Not reproducable on my end (maybe because of previous fixes).

- With TalentusUITemplate, Connection Settings without prefab creates connections with Talent UI Line Renderer but without CanvasRenderer. (I need to add one to display connections). Use the 'Empty Example' as template for your UI or make sure a Panel UI component is used as an UI Root.
- The node generated use scale values of UI parents to set XYZ but not their own scales. With A rootUI with scale 0.1, all nodes overlaps. By design, make sure your scale remains 1.0 while generating the UI to match the editor. You can scale the Root UI afterwards to match your needs.

 

hi
thanks for corrections

Select a node, put the mouse cursor somewhere on the right empty working space, press mouse3 and you can send the selected node out of space in the left.

I load the Empty example scene
I set :
Talent tree > Tutorial (Talent Tree Graph)
Talentus Engine > Talentus 5talentus Engine Extended)
UI Root > Panel(Rect Transform)
UI Talent Prefab > TalentUI

I press Build UI and none of the connections have the Canvas Renderer component and are not displayed (in editor and game).

I make some suggestions :
- It's nice to set my own Template for nodes. It would be better to have my own Template in the editor.
- a "Snap To Grid" will help to build a clean skill tree
- a confirmation window for unloading Tree or putting away Unload from Add Talent(skill). ^^'

Best Regards

 

Hi @ScorpusGD,

Will look into your comments, and get back to you.
Regarding the creation/usage of your own nodes as template within the editor, this is already possible but you'll have to program those yourself (use the current one as a guideline). Editor is mainly used to design a draft of the trees though and the generate to prepare those for runtime.

 

Hi @ScorpusGD,

I'm in the dark about your issue with the Line renderers not being displayed. I tried it over and over and it always seems to work for me. Would it be possible to share a video recording showing me step by step what you are doing?
That would be most helpfull.

Kind regards,

Wim

 

Hi
I tested Talentus in a new clean Unity Project. It worked : connections displayed...
A installed package must interact with Talentus in my other project -_-'
I will try to find it.

 

Is it feasible to modify the costing system such that multiple currencies can be used? Eg Skill A costs 10 "red points" and 5 "green points" together, while Skill B costs 10 "green points" and 3 "blue points."
How big a task would this modification to source code be?