PlayMaker Core Concepts

Start Event A Start Event is sent when the FSM is enabled. The start event activates the first state, known as the Start State. State Only one State can be active at a time. The Active State executes Actions and receives Events. Transition Event Events trigger transitions to another State. Events can be sent by Unity (collisions, triggers, mouse input, animation events...) Or by Actions (distance checks, timeouts, game logic...) Transition ​The Active State is "exited" and the new state is "entered." The Graph View makes it very easy to build and debug these transitions. Global Transition A Global Transition can be triggered at any time, regardless of the currently active state. In the example above, the character can be hit at any time, so we use a global transition. Global transitions can simplify FSMs by reducing the number of explicit transitions you need to define. They are similar to the Any State transitions in Mecanim.

Finite State Machines A Finite State Machine (FSM) organizes behaviors into discrete states:  On, Off, Open, Closed, Walking, Idle, Attacking, Defending... Playmaker uses event-driven FSMs to control Unity: