Small steps for a better game: How I'm trying to create good gunplay and AI?

Actually I'm almost done with the first weapon in the NeonCode sequel. Now I'm making smaller steps as I done with the first episode. So, thats why I'm working on the gunplay for weeks now and I'm really far from the end. 

What I've done to make this pistol feels good when you click with LMB?

• Very important to use proper animations. I made all of them myself, and these can be improved in the future, but I think this will be fine, for this stage of the development
• Beside the recoil animation, when the character pulls back and up the pistol, I also use a small camera shake effect. It makes it more immersed.
• The sound effects are really important. First I used a real like pistol sound for shooting, but this energy weapon like was far-far better, this was the point, when it started to feel like a game :)
• Also important to show some feedback on the impact point. Now I'm putting a bullet hole there, and some blue light particle effects, as sparks or kinda
• last but not least, never forget to tweak your particle effects before the pistol. I'm using two particles here. One particle system for the muzzle flash and one small slow flying sparks around it.

We need some eneimes sir!

The actual part I'm working on nowdays is the AI. I think this is one of the most difficult part of making an action-adventure game. It's just feel lame, when all the enemies are just coming straigth forward to you. 

Yesterday I finally made my AIs to use cover to reload, patrol, and alert the others in the some room if geting a hit. Most of these are working, but far not perfect. For example the alerting part not working in the video, or sometimes before the enemy search a cover, he run near to the player, shoot a few and just after that search cover. 

Today I'll try to completly change my AI state system to Unity state machine. Mine worked fine too, but it reached it's limits and now If I want to fix something or add a new feature, I have to search and read the code lot to understand where I have to change the actual state. And yeah, the state machine is visual and much-much easier to read. Sooo AI scripts rewrite round 3. START! :)

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