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Bolt Visual Scripting

Bolt in Unity empowers creators to develop gameplay mechanics or interaction logic with a visual, graph-based system, instead of writing traditional lines of code.

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Want to get started with Bolt visual scripting as quickly as possible? This 20 minute quick start tutorial introduces the basics of Bolt visual scripting to help you make your own games by creating your own node-based logic.

Scripting for non-programmers

Visual scripting in Unity, powered by Bolt, helps all team members create scripting logic with visual, drag-and-drop graphs instead of hand-writing code. Artists and designers can get more done in the editor without requiring help from programmers, and it can help programmers quickly implement ideas for faster prototyping and iteration.

Scripting for designers and artists

It’s a great choice for designers and artists who want to test ideas, make changes, or maintain more direct control over their work in Unity. Non-programmers can also make use of node graphs created by more technical team members.

Programmers can work faster

Using a visual scripting system can increase the speed of prototyping and testing for developers, avoiding wasted effort on hand written code for ideas that might not be viable. Visual scripting is also a great way to make existing scripts more accessible or create tools for use by other members of a development team.

Key benefits

Flow Graphs

Flow Graphs are the main tool for creating interactions in your projects. Using node-based actions and values, these graphs let you execute logic in any order you specify, be it at every frame or when an event occurs.

State Graphs

State Graphs allow you to create self-contained behaviors that tell objects what actions to execute when they are in a particular state. They are suited for high-level logic such as AI behaviors, scene or level structure, or any aspect of a scene that requires behaviors that transition between states.

Live Editing

Make changes to graphs while in Play Mode to see Bolt visual scripting updates in real-time. This offers a much faster way to iterate and test ideas without the need to recompile project changes.

Predictive debugging and analysis

Bolt visual scripting can predict and indicate nodes that will crash before you even press play, as well as analyze your graphs to anticipate missing components or null references. If an error occurs at runtime, Bolt will pin-point its source by highlighting it in the graph.

Designed for ease of use

Bolt visual scripting is designed to be friendly for less technical creators through user-friendly naming conventions, commenting and grouping features that keep graphs simple to read, and the Fuzzy Finder to make it easy to search for what you need.

Codebase compatibility

Use any method, field, property or event from Unity, any third-party plugin, or even custom scripts within your graphs. Bolt visual scripting directly accesses your codebase via reflection and is always up to date.

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Bolt Platformer Game Tutorial

Full Unity Learn course and project files for creating a Bolt-based platformer game.

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Documentation

Read the Bolt visual scripting documentation to learn more about visual scripting in Unity.

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Community

Join the forums to get help from the community and hear the latest about visual scripting in Unity.

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Frequently asked questions

What is visual scripting?

Visual Scripting is a graphical way to manipulate objects and behaviors in Unity without hand writing code. The logic is built by connecting visual nodes together, empowering artists, designers, and programmers to create gameplay and interactive systems in a simple way.

How can I get access to Bolt visual scripting?

Bolt visual scripting can be downloaded from the Unity Asset Store.

What is the Unity Asset Store?

The Unity Asset Store is a marketplace with thousands of free or affordably priced assets that save critical time and effort for Unity creators. It is a powerful resource for successful Unity developers, with over 60,000 packs featuring tools and editor extensions, 3D and 2D art, cinematic quality music and sound effects, and more.

What versions of Unity does Bolt visual scripting support?

Users who expect to ship projects on Unity 2018, 2019, and 2020 will be supported throughout their LTS lifecycles.

How will visual scripting evolve, in Unity?

In 2021, Unity will provide Bolt visual scripting as a core feature, built directly into Unity. As we do this, we will bring consistency across all our node-based development tools. We know it is key for a great user experience to unify the workflows of visual scripting with other node-based solutions.

What about DOTS based visual scripting?

Unity is in the process of evaluating the future of visual scripting in consideration of Bolt, Bolt 2, and our DOTS based visual scripting solution. Our goal is to create a single, cohesive solution that does not result in broken features or fractured communities, and that meets user expectations around production-readiness. For more information on the evolution of visual scripting, please join us in the forums.