I added Bots to Squad (and they just got better)

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-09

[00:00:03]Oh, these guys? They're bots. My bots.

[00:00:07]Squid bots.

[00:00:08]But why? Why would I make bots if Squad is all about communicating with real players? Well, to be honest, I didn't really mean to make bots. I was just making tools for my own videos. The bots that are shipped today in Squad were genuinely developed for a cinematic about killing emus.

[00:00:25]Would you believe me if I said the emus were also squid bots? Well, the classic way of making Squad videos is you rent a server and convince a bunch of people to spend 2 hours standing in an empty map acting stuff out.

[00:00:37]But I didn't want to have to direct an entire cast of players every time I made a video. So, I downloaded the Squad Mod SDK to try making a cinematic.

[00:00:46]I actually ended up building a whole character system where you could keyframe every single thing they do, from how their eyes blink to how they aim and should fire their weapons. I'm one of those characters right now. It actually works pretty well.

[00:00:59]But I'm lazy. Why can't these characters just have a brain of their own? I didn't want to have to manually keyframe everything the characters ever did.

[00:01:08]So, I created the Squid Bots mod, which added bots that could battle it out over an objective. Genuinely, it was all so I can make this scene, where I just get to walk through a battle while the bots comically ignore me. I I've wanted to do this for like 6 years.

[00:01:22]Well, it turns out these squid bots are really useful for seeding empty Squad servers, so you'd always have something to fight while waiting for players to join. And guess what? I got hired by Offworld, and in 2024, squid bots were officially added to Squad.

[00:01:37]So, now you know where I've been for the last couple of years, lurking in the shadows working on the game that started this all. But I always knew that these bots could do so much more than just seeding. So, I created the Squid Bot Zeus mod to let a player be the puppet master of the bots. And with a server and a couple of friends, you could create any co-op mission you wanted. Our death run was definitely a highlight.

[00:01:59]You have bad intentions for a very very good reason.

[00:02:02]OH MY GOD.

[00:02:05]HOLY [ __ ] I'M MAKING IT. I WAS ACTUALLY MAKING IT.

[00:02:17]HOLY [ __ ] HOLY [ __ ] I'M STILL DYING.

[00:02:23]HOLY [ __ ] NOW, WHAT IF YOU COULD HAVE THE experience of a good Zeus mission without needing to rent your own server or have someone play the puppet master?

[00:02:32]Well, that's what we pitched during the Offworld Summit. And a year later, Squad Fire Team launched. And there you go.

[00:02:39]That's the massively oversimplified story of how we inadvertently added PvE to Squad. And now we're a couple months after launch, Fire Team has an active dedicated player base. It's really cool.

[00:02:49]They've got like tons of modded missions to try out. And the big request I get from people, make the squid bots better.

[00:02:56]Okay, what does that mean? What makes a good bot?

[00:03:00]So, let's look at an example of the current bots.

[00:03:08]The squid bots are killing machines.

[00:03:11]That's all they do. They see something and then focus on killing, like a machine.

[00:03:17]They wouldn't care if they lived or died, so long as they killed their enemy. So, to make them better, these squid bots need to have something more human, fear.

[00:03:25]Basically, every player's strategy is built on trying to kill without dying themselves. These bots shouldn't be standing there. They should be rushing back into cover trying to protect themselves.

[00:03:37]This is what a bot sees. They have no graphics. Genuinely, they just bump around the world hitting into stuff.

[00:03:45]Soldier.

[00:03:46]If you think your GTX 1070 can handle rendering the game for you and every bot in your lobby, I've got bad news for you.

[00:03:54]So, how can bots work out where they are?

[00:04:00]Well, a bot can shoot a line trace into the world and see if that hits something.

[00:04:04]Now, with enough line traces, you can kind of form an image of the world and navigate with it. And fun fact, unlike most games, squid bots actually respect smoke and foliage. So, you won't have a bot wall hacking you through your favorite shrubbery.

[00:04:17]But line traces aren't free. If you had to do a thousand of these per frame per bot, so instead, use a nav mesh. If you leave your PC running overnight, you can simulate all the places the bots could bump into. And using this information, you can make a mesh of all the walkable areas of the map.

[00:04:36]Using this nav mesh, an anti-tank squid bot knows how to run all the way across the map to steal from your ammo bag.

[00:04:43]But if this was all the information you had, what route would you choose to walk over there?

[00:04:50]Oh, looks like you just walked into an empty muddy field instead of the nice paved road next to it. So, here, let's bake some terrain information into the nav mesh. Now the bot can take a smart route.

[00:05:01]As for how the squid bots decide what to actually do, that often comes down to a set of rules. If the bot sees an enemy, shoot.

[00:05:10]If the bot hears a tank coming, switch to the RPG.

[00:05:14]If the bot is shot at, hide.

[00:05:17]So, if we want the bot to have fear, the bot is going to need to know how to hide. If you were a bot and something in that direction was scary, where would you hide?

[00:05:27]Clearly, we need more information. And this is the big thing that changed about the new squid bots. We now bake good cover locations directly into the nav mesh. If I'm here and the scary thing is there, any of these red positions are good to hide behind. And we bake for four different directions, so they can react to threats in any direction.

[00:05:45]With this information, the bots can use their environment as part of their decision-making. Now they can do bounding maneuvers from tree to tree, peek out from windows, take their shots and hide back into safety.

[00:05:58]And this genuinely changes everything about how the bots feel. Behind.

[00:06:03]Through.

[00:06:08]Behind again.

[00:06:12]We actually ended up rebalancing all the Fire Team missions for this, because one squid bot can now pin down an entire squad instead of needing a whole horde of bots.

[00:06:25]And on that bombshell, let's go back to the studio.

[00:06:29]>> [cheering] >> Huh. Hmm. Wow, he really put that into perspective for me. [cheering] Yeah, it was moving. Anyway, that was Squidders on an excellent field report. Those squid bots really are something, huh?

[00:06:40]Now I know what it feels like to be in a bot's shoes.

[00:06:43]Great one, Jerry. Thanks, Jim. And now to end our broadcast, let's take a look at some Squid Bots clips sent in from you, the viewers. Here we have a clip sent in from one of our viewers in Fallujah showing a local traffic enforcement officer's technique to tackling illegal parking with an explosive outcome.

[00:07:00]Ooh, he's hiding behind the cover. The Humvee doesn't know he's coming.

[00:07:05]LADDER.

[00:07:06]WOAH. OH, [laughter] MAN, that must have been a full tank of gas. A reminder, there's no parking outside of Soma's compound from now p.m. till ever a.m.

[00:07:16]Let's see another. And here we seem to have a three-on-one man versus machine.

[00:07:21]Man, he's really pinning him down.

[00:07:26]And now it looks like it's creeping into a close-quarter situation.

[00:07:29]But from the looks of it, the lights are on, but nobody's home.

[00:07:38]Man, we might have to run that one back there. I can't tell who's the bot, who's the player. And now for our final clip of the night, straight from downtown Yuha Rivka.

[00:07:47]Rounds are bouncing all around this player. And he's unfazed. This man is a gifted soldier. He is the epitome of light work. No reaction. Grenade at the ready.

[00:07:58]HALF COURT, LEBRON.

[00:08:03]>> [laughter] >> AND ON THAT NOTE, THIS IS SQUAD News signing off. I'm Jim. And I'm Jerry. And we'll see you next time. Maybe.

[00:08:11]>> [cheering] >> Don't count on it.