Unreal Engine 5 Enemy AI Series #1 – Setting Up Enemy Blueprint & AI Sight Blueprint Only

Unreal Engine 5 Enemy AI Series #1 – Setting Up Enemy Blueprint & AI Sight Blueprint Only

Published: July 27, 2025 • Series: Enemy AI Series • Level: beginner

unreal ue5 enemy ai ai perception blueprints gamedev ai sight tutorial beginner

Welcome to Part 1 of the Unreal Engine 5 Enemy AI Series!
In this beginner-friendly episode, we’ll start from scratch and create our first enemy character with working AI sight, entirely in Blueprints. No C++ required.

🌟 What You’ll Learn

  • Creating a brand-new Unreal Engine 5.6 project using the Third Person template
  • Best practices for folder organization in larger projects
  • Building a custom Enemy Character Blueprint
  • Assigning a skeletal mesh and linking an animation blueprint
  • Adding the AI Perception component
  • Configuring AI Sight: radius, lose sight, peripheral vision, and debug colors
  • Placing the enemy in the level
  • Using the Perception Debug Tool to confirm detection

📝 Chapters

  • 0:00 – Introduction & What We’re Building
  • 0:12 – Step 1: Create the Project
  • 0:52 – Step 2: Create Folders for Organization
  • 1:14 – Step 3: Create the Enemy Character Blueprint
  • 1:33 – Step 4: Set Up the Enemy Mesh and Animation
  • 2:10 – Step 5: Add the AI Perception Component
  • 2:25 – Step 6: Configure AI Sight Settings
  • 3:17 – Step 7: Place the Enemy in the Level
  • 3:28 – Step 8: Test and Visualize AI Sight
  • 4:12 – Summary & Next Steps

🔨 Step 1: Create the Project

  1. Open the Unreal Project Browser.
  2. Under Games, select Third Person template.
    • Do not use variants, just the standard Third Person template.
  3. Set Project Type = Blueprint.
  4. Target platform = Desktop.
  5. Quality preset = Maximum.
  6. Name your project AIUnreal.
  7. Choose a location and click Create.

👉 This project will later be uploaded to GitHub so you can follow along.

📂 Step 2: Organize Folders

Inside the Content Drawer:

  • Right-click → New Folder → name it AI.
  • This is where all AI-related Blueprints will live.
  • You’ll also see default folders like Characters, Input, LevelPrototyping, and ThirdPerson. Keep them, but focus on AI for now.

👾 Step 3: Create Enemy Character Blueprint

  1. Inside the AI folder → Right-click → Blueprint Class.
  2. Pick Character as the parent class.
    • This gives your enemy basic movement & collision.
  3. Name it BP_EnemyGuard.

🦴 Step 4: Mesh & Animation Setup

  1. Open BP_EnemyGuard.
  2. Select the Mesh component in the Components panel.
  3. In Details → Mesh, set Skeletal Mesh to SKM_Quinn_Simple.
  4. Under Animation, set:
    • Animation Mode = Use Animation Blueprint
    • Anim Class = ABP_Unarmed
  5. Under Transform, adjust:
    • Location Z = -80
    • Rotation Yaw = -90

👉 This aligns the mesh properly with the world.

👁️ Step 5: Add AI Perception

  1. With BP_EnemyGuard still open, go to Components panel.
  2. Click Add → search AI Perception.
  3. Add it. This is Unreal’s built-in perception system.

🔧 Step 6: Configure AI Sight

  1. Select AI Perception in Components.
  2. In Details → Dominant Sense, set to AI Sense Sight.
  3. Expand Senses Config:
    • Click + → choose AI Sight Config.
  4. Adjust values:
    • Sight Radius: distance enemy can see.
    • Lose Sight Radius: how far player must go before AI loses sight.
    • Peripheral Vision Half Angle: set to 90 (for full 180° forward vision).
    • Debug Color: set to Green for visibility.
  5. Expand Detection by Affiliation:
    • Check Detect Neutrals.
    • By default, the player counts as neutral. Without this, AI won’t see you.

Click Compile & Save.

🏹 Step 7: Place Enemy in Level

  • Drag BP_EnemyGuard from Content Drawer into your main level.
  • Position it anywhere you want testing.

🔍 Step 8: Test & Visualize

  1. Click Play.
  2. While the game is running:
    • Press the apostrophe (') key.
    • Then on numpad, press 4.
    • This opens the Perception Debug View.
  3. You’ll see:
    • Green lines & a sphere = Sight range.
    • If player enters range → debug shows “Sight”.
    • Age counter starts when AI loses sight of player.

👉 This confirms your AI sees the player with Blueprint-only AI Sight.

🎥 Subtitle (Narration Flow)

“This is Rambod. In this first video, we’ll set up our UE5 project for the Enemy AI Series. Step 1: Create a Third Person project named AIUnreal. Step 2: Organize folders, add an AI folder. Step 3: Create BP_EnemyGuard based on Character. Step 4: Assign SKM Quinn Simple mesh, use ABP Unarmed animation, fix Z offset and yaw. Step 5: Add AI Perception component. Step 6: Configure Sight radius, lose sight radius, peripheral vision, and detection affiliation—tick Detect Neutrals. Step 7: Place BP_EnemyGuard in level. Step 8: Play, press apostrophe + numpad 4 to visualize AI sight. You’ll see green debug lines and detection info. Now your enemy has working AI sight, 100% in Blueprints. Next video, we’ll expand logic for patrol and detection responses.”

✅ Summary

By now you have:

  • A clean UE5 project with organized folders
  • A BP_EnemyGuard with mesh, animation, and AI Perception
  • Configured AI Sight with radius, vision cone, and debug tools
  • An enemy placed in the world that can visually detect the player

📦 Project files: GitHub Repo
👉 Watch the full tutorial: YouTube Link 👉 Subscribe for more: Rambod Dev Channel

💬 Questions? Drop them in comments, I answer every one.
🔔 Subscribe for Part 2: Enemy Patrol & Basic Detection Logic