A Unity DOTS project demonstrating dynamic swarm avoidance behavior with 10,000 agents.

CrowdEvade is a small learning project built with Unity DOTS, showcasing basic ECS-driven swarm avoidance mechanics.
The goal is to experiment with Unity's ECS (Entity Component System), Job System, and Burst Compiler in a simple but meaningful scenario.

This project is ideal for developers who have a basic understanding of DOTS and are looking for a clear example of combining ECS with MonoBehaviour in a hybrid workflow.

This project was inspired by the swarm mechanics seen in A Plague Tale games, focusing on creating a lightweight, high-performance version using Unity DOTS.
It simulates large numbers of rats dynamically surrounding a player, showcasing swarm behavior and avoidance logic in a DOTS-friendly way.

• ✅ Hybrid character controller (Entity + GameObject)
• ✅ Swarm behavior with 10,000 agents
• ✅ Dynamic avoidance around a moving player
• ✅ Efficient multithreaded performance using Jobs and Burst (including Parallel Jobs)
• ✅ Clear separation of MonoBehaviour input and ECS logic

• Implemented with a hybrid model (both GameObject and Entity).
• The GameObject handles:
  • Player input (via MonoBehaviour)
  • Animation updates
  • Position synchronization with the Entity in the ECS world

• Each Wander Target is an Entity that maintains a desired distance from the player.

  • If the player gets too close, the Wander Target moves away.
  • When the player moves far enough, the Wander Target returns to its original position while it keeps its distance from the player.

• Each Agent (Rat):

  • Follows its assigned Wander Target.
  • Wanders around the target by periodically selecting random positions nearby.
  • Does not directly respond to the player — only to its Wander Target.

A visual example:

• The sphere represents a Wander Target.
• The rat (agent) moves around the target, choosing new random positions over time.

Requirements:

• Unity 6.0 or newer (with Entities 1.3.14 package installed)
• Basic familiarity with Unity DOTS (Entities, Jobs, Burst)

Clone the repository and open it in Unity.
The main scene is ready to run — make sure the MainSubScene is active and simply press Play to see the system in action! You can modify the agent behavior settings under the WanderingConfigAuthoring component, located on the AgentsSpawner GameObject in the subscene.

The code in this repository is shared for educational purposes.
You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code for non-commercial or personal projects.

This project includes third-party assets under their respective licenses:

• Character model and animations: From Mixamo — free to use with an Adobe account, subject to Mixamo licensing.
• Torch model and VFX: From Campfires & Torches Models and FX — free on Unity Asset Store.
• Rat model:
  Mouse by Poly by Google CC-BY 3.0 License, via Poly Pizza.

⚠️ Important:
Third-party assets are subject to their own licenses and terms of use.
Please review each asset’s license if you plan to use it in your own projects, especially for commercial purposes.