Interactive distributed tile network needs to detect player

Hi all,

I'm working on developing a example of a distributed network that displays emergent behavior for designers to play around with to see its potential in interaction designs.

I currently have set up a generic grid creator that sets up a tile network based on some general settings. After that, the wanted number of players are initiated (now still the regular character controller).

The cubes find their neighbors to set up a distributed network. After that, the tiles need to check whether they are activated by the player (through a collision or trigger) and if not, adjust their state in a gradient according to the states of their neighboring tiles.

I have this all working using a collider block as it has a collider attached. However, the cubes in the grid will need to detect the collision on their own using the character that doesn't have a collider attached.

I'm looking for a way to attach a sort of proximity sensor in these tiles using either a collider of a trigger. However when I use a collider, the character cannot walk of falls through the grid (even when using a plane) and when I use triggers, the system stops working and Unity crashes (probably because there are too many triggers).

Can anyone please help? Any tips are greatly appreciated :).

Here is a preview of what I want and have:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 
 public class caCube : MonoBehaviour {
 
     public int minGradient = 0;
     public int maxGradient = 4;
     public int steps = 4;            // should only be the distance, nothing else
 
     public Color minColor;
     public Color maxColor;
 
     public float radiN = 1.3f;
 
     // hide everything under this---------------------------------------------
     [HideInInspector]
     // will determine the color of the object
     public int gradient = 0;
     [HideInInspector]
     public int futureGradient = 0;
     [HideInInspector]
     public bool collide = false;
 
     // list to keep gameobject neighbors in
     List<GameObject> neighborList;
     // public int neighborCount = 0;
 
     //------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     // Use this for initialization
     void Start () 
     {
         // Wait untill the grid is created and all nodes are initialized
         GameObject g = GameObject.Find("caGrid");
         neighborList = new List<GameObject>();
         while (g.GetComponent<CA>().gridCreated != true) {
             // do nothing
         }
 
         // set the variables 
         gradient = maxGradient;
         futureGradient = maxGradient;
 
         // find the surrounding neighbors
         FindNeighbors ();
     }
 
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update () 
     {
         // if collide, set to 0, else check neighboring states
         if (collide) {
             gradient = minGradient;
             collide = false;
         } 
         else {
             // find the smallest neighbor
             int minNeighborGradient = FindSmallestNeighbor();
 
             // increase the gradient bij one step
             futureGradient = minNeighborGradient + ((maxGradient - minGradient) / steps);
             // constrain gradient values
             if (futureGradient <= maxGradient)
             {
                 gradient = futureGradient;
             }
             else 
             {
                 gradient = maxGradient;
             }
         }
 
         // update the gradient appaerance
         UpdateColor ();
     }
 
     // will run this from the grid creator after it is done creating
     public void FindNeighbors()
     {
         Collider[] hitColliders = Physics.OverlapSphere(transform.position, radiN);
         //Debug.Log ("I am: " + name + " at position: " + transform.position);
 
         foreach (Collider col in hitColliders) 
         {
             //Debug.Log("I hit: " + col.gameObject.name + " at position: "  + col.transform.position);
 
             // if it is a node and not directing towards itself
             if (col.name == "caCube(Clone)" && col.transform.position != transform.position)
             {
                 neighborList.Add(col.gameObject);
             }
             // col.SendMessage("message", value, SendMessageOptions.DontRequireReceiver);
         }
         /*
         foreach (GameObject neighbor in neighborList) 
         {
             neighborCount++;
             //Debug.Log("I am neighbor " + neighbor.name + " at position: " + neighbor.transform.position);
             Debug.DrawLine(transform.position, neighbor.transform.position, Color.magenta, 100f);
         }
         Debug.Log (neighborCount);
         */
     }
 
     int FindSmallestNeighbor()
     {
         // TODO this should still be done using messages and not 
         // check for smallest neighboring value;
         int smallestN = maxGradient;
         foreach (GameObject neighbor in neighborList) 
         {
             if (neighbor.GetComponent<caCube> ().gradient < smallestN)
                 smallestN = neighbor.GetComponent<caCube> ().gradient;
         }
         return smallestN;
     }
 
     // OnTriggerStay is way to processing intensive
     void OnTriggerStay(Collider other)
     {
         Debug.Log ("test collision" + other.gameObject.name);
         if (other.gameObject.name != name && other.gameObject.name != "Plane") {
             Debug.Log (other.gameObject.name);
             collide = true;
         }
     }
 
     // to set a collide bool when a collided when reached the cube
     void Collide(bool colBool)
     {
         collide = colBool; 
     }
 
     void UpdateColor()
     {
         Color col = Color.Lerp(minColor, maxColor, (float)(gradient - minGradient)/(maxGradient - minGradient));
         if (gradient == maxGradient)
             renderer.material.color = Color.gray;
         else
             renderer.material.color = col;
     }
 }
 

and the current collider script

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class caCollide : MonoBehaviour {
 
     public GameObject cube;
 
     public float speed = 1f;
     bool moving = false;
     public Collider coll;
 
     // Use this for initialization
     void Start () {
         coll = GetComponent<Collider>();
     }
     
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update () {
         //Debug.Log (moving);
         if (Input.GetMouseButtonDown (0)) 
         {
             Ray ray = Camera.main.ScreenPointToRay (Input.mousePosition);
             RaycastHit hit;
             if (coll.Raycast(ray, out hit, 100.0F))
             {
                 this.moving = true;
             }
             else{ 
                 this.moving = false;
             }
         }
 
         if (this.moving == true)
         {
             Vector3 move = new Vector3 (Input.GetAxis ("Horizontal"), 0, Input.GetAxis ("Vertical"));
             transform.position += move * speed * Time.deltaTime;
         }
     }
     
     void OnTriggerStay(Collider other) 
     {
         if (other.gameObject.name == "caCube(Clone)") {
             other.SendMessage("Collide", true);
             //other.gameObject.GetComponent<caCube> ().collide = true;
         }
     }
 }