Unity 3D Multiplayer Grocery Game

I’m building a cartoon-styled deception game in Unity where five online players share a single match: two play as store hunters while three pose as criminals carrying out secret missions before making a clean escape. The action unfolds inside a modern, clean supermarket with wide aisles, so visual clarity and polished 3D assets are important.

FIRST PLAYABLE MILESTONE
The very first thing I need is the grocery store map with functioning AI customers. These NPC shoppers must:
• Pick up items from shelves
• Use the checkout counters before leaving

They should wander convincingly, queue when necessary, and generally create enough foot-traffic to make spotting the three criminals difficult for the hunters. Solid path-finding, simple state machines, and lightweight animation loops will be key here.

ONWARD ROADMAP (context only)
Once the AI-rich store environment feels alive, I plan to layer in the 5-player online roles, mission logic, detection and escape mechanics, and eventually port to multiple platforms. If we collaborate well on the prototype, there’s plenty more work ahead.

Please send a brief note on your Unity multiplayer and AI experience, along with an estimated budget and timeline for delivering this first milestone. I’m ready to start as soon as we align on scope and schedule.