Operating Envelope & Limits
Clear Engineering Boundaries & Operating Constraints
Professional game development requires clear boundaries. This document outlines exactly what PERCH does—and what lies outside its designed operational envelope.
What PERCH Is vs What It Is Not
| Capability | Supported by PERCH | Outside Designed Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Local Approach & Landing | YES | Global 3D maze pathfinding |
| Exclusive Slot Reservations | YES | Multi-server network replication |
| Moving Platform Compensation | YES | Deforming skeletal mesh perches |
| Generic Rig Two-Bone IK | YES | Universal auto-retargeting across arbitrary rigs |
| Perched Dwell & Takeoff | YES | Ground walking locomotion |
| Zero-GC Simulation Tick | YES | Unity DOTS / ECS architecture |
Core Operational Constraints
1. Local Bounded Flight vs Global Pathfinding
PERCH specializes in local landing approaches, obstacle sweeps, spatial reservations, and smooth touchdowns. It is not a global volumetric 3D navigation mesh solver. For navigating complex indoor labyrinths, integrate an external navigation system via IPerchFlightProvider.
2. Uniform Root Transform Scale
The creature root GameObject must maintain uniform positive scale (1, 1, 1). If imported models require scaling, place the mesh inside a child VisualWrapper GameObject. Non-uniform or negative root scales are rejected with UnsupportedScale.
3. Moving Support Constraints
Moving perches must be rigid transforms. The supported baseline envelope is:
- Linear speed $\le 2.0\text{ m/s}$
- Angular speed $\le 30^\circ/\text{s}$
- Linear acceleration $\le 3.0\text{ m/s}^2$ Platforms that teleport ($>0.5\text{m}$ or $>30^\circ$ in one tick) will cause approaching agents to abort with
TargetTeleported. Deforming skinned meshes (e.g. landing on a walking giant’s shoulder) are not supported as rigid perch supports.
4. Physical Geometry Requires Colliders
PERCH’s swept obstacle detection relies on standard Unity physics. Visual-only vegetation or alpha-card leaves without colliders cannot be detected by collision sweeps.
5. Qualified Baseline
PERCH is officially qualified on Unity 6000.5.4f1 LTS, URP 17.5.0, and Windows x64. While the core C# runtime is pipeline-independent, other operating systems and Unity releases have not undergone formal automated verification suites.