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NavGrid Tile Cost Profile

Create → PlayMaker → NavGrid → Tile Cost Profile

A NavGrid Tile Cost Profile is a ScriptableObject that assigns movement costs to tiles on a Tilemap.

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NavGridAgents use these costs when pathfinding:

  • Low cost = preferred
  • High cost = avoided if possible

This lets you make things like roads, slow tiles, dangerous tiles, and “soft” obstacles without changing walkability.

What Is a Tile Cost Profile?

A Tile Cost Profile answers:

“If this tile is here, how expensive is it to walk on that cell?”

It can assign costs in three ways:

  1. Direct Tile Mappings – match a specific Tile asset
  2. Name Rules – match tiles by their name using patterns
  3. Default Cost – a fallback cost for any tile not covered above

You usually use this profile with the Apply Tile Cost Profile action when building or baking a NavGrid.

Direct Tile Mappings

These are the most precise rules.

Direct Tile Mappings let you say:

  • “This exact Tile asset = cost 50”
  • “This specific ‘LavaTile’ = cost 200”
  • “This ‘RoadTile’ = cost 5”

Use this when:

  • You have a fixed set of important tiles
  • You want fast, unambiguous matching

Name Rules

Name Rules look at tile.name and apply a cost when the name matches a pattern.

Each rule has:

  • Mode – Exact, StartsWith, EndsWith, Contains, Regex
  • Pattern – the text or regex to match
  • Ignore Case
  • Cost – 0–255

Rules are evaluated in order:

  • “First matching rule wins”
  • Applied only if no direct tile match exists

Great for large tilesets or organized naming schemes.

Default Cost (Fallback)

  • Apply Default For Unmapped
    If enabled, any tile not matched earlier gets the Default Cost.

Useful when:

  • You want everything to have some cost
  • You want a baseline cost for generic tiles

Typical Workflow

  1. Create a Tile Cost Profile asset
  2. Add Direct Tile Mappings for important tiles
  3. Add Name Rules for grouped tile names
  4. Set Default Cost (optional)
  5. Apply using the NavGrid Apply Tile Cost Profile action while building a NavGrid
  6. Let NavGridAgents naturally prefer low-cost paths

Design Tips

  • Use small costs (5–20) for preferred paths
  • Use high costs (150–255) for hazards
  • Combine with NavGrid pruning if you also block locations
  • Avoid overusing Regex unless necessary