Question How to rotate an AI to the Player with planet like gravity

Hey guys, recently I have been working on a game that requires Mario Galaxy like enemy AI, meaning the enemy must be able to orbit around a sphere while following the player and rotating towards the player. We were able to figure out everything but the rotation towards the player, although I believe we are close, there are a few issues with the current code, such as the potato seeming to be constantly rotated upwards a slight bit, along with the speed at which the rotation occurs. Below I have included a video of the issue that will hopefully help to lead to a solution.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2. using System.Collections;
3. using System.Collections.Generic;
4. using UnityEngine;
5.  
6. public class PotatoAI : MonoBehaviour
7. {
8.     public GameObject ground, follow;
9.     public float GravityForce = 50;
10.  
11.     public float speed = 5;
12.     private bool isFlat = false;
13.     public bool followObj = true;
14.     private Vector3 playerPos = new Vector3(0,0,0);
15.  
16.  
17.  
18.  
19.     void Update()
20.     {
21.         if (followObj)
22.         {
23.             transform.position = Vector3.MoveTowards(transform.position, follow.GetComponent<Transform>().position, speed * Time.deltaTime);
24.            
25.             playerPos = follow.transform.position;
26.  
27.         }
28.         if (!isFlat) {
29.  
30.             //Force down, calculated using the upwards force of the Ai and the gravity force
31.             gameObject.GetComponent<Rigidbody>().AddForce((ground.transform.position - transform.position).normalized * GravityForce);
32.             //Long equation that basically determains the way the Ai needs to turn and turns the AI
33.  
34.             //gameObject.transform.localRotation = Quaternion.Euler(0,follow.transform.rotation.y,0);
35.  
36.             // Rotation needed to stay on the ground
37.             Vector3 groundRot = Quaternion.FromToRotation(transform.up, (transform.position + ground.transform.position).normalized) * transform.forward;
38.            
39.             //Finds the rotation needed to look at the player
40.             Vector3 playerLook = (transform.position + playerPos).normalized + transform.forward;
41.  
42.             gameObject.GetComponent<Rigidbody>().MoveRotation(Quaternion.LookRotation(
43.             /*Forward Vector*/ groundRot + playerLook
44.             ,
45.             /*Upwards position*/ (transform.position - ground.transform.position).normalized
46.             ));
47.         }
48. }
49.  
50.  
51.    
52.     private void OnCollisionEnter(Collision collision)
53.     {
54.         if (collision.gameObject.CompareTag("Planet") && collision.gameObject != ground)
55.         {
56.             ground = collision.gameObject;
57.         }
58.         if (collision.gameObject.CompareTag("Platform") && collision.gameObject != ground)
59.         {
60.             isFlat = true;
61.             ground = collision.gameObject;
62.  
63.         }
64.     }
65.     private void OnTriggerEnter(Collider other)
66.     {
67.         if (other.gameObject == follow)
68.         {
69.             followObj = true;
70.         }
71.        
72.        
73.        
74.  
75.     }
76.  
77.     private void OnTriggerExit(Collider other)
78.     {
79.         if (other.gameObject == follow)
80.         {
81.             followObj = false;
82.         }
83.  
84.     }
85. }
86.  
87.  

 

I didnt understood your problem, you need that only the local rotation of the enemy rotates at the player, at the same time that it keeps withing it's orbit? If so, you can just use transform.LookAt(trasnform that should be looking at), it will make the enemy always look directly to the player.

 

Yeah we tried using the .LookAt method but the enemy flips upside down when on the underside of the planet, ill see if I can post a video later today to clarify the issue as well

 

I was able to update the post with some additional details and a video to hopefully clear up the confusion

 

I see, I still think that transform.LookAt is your best option, as you said when the player is under the enemy it will make strange rotations, but what behaviour do you expect when the player is underneath the enemy? you can readjust the rotation after the lookat or something like that