Combat Prototype
ROLE
ENGINE
Combat Designer
Unreal Engine 5
DESCRIPTION
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
A prototype made to familiarize myself with implementing a combat system. The prototype contains a 3-hit basic attack combo, a chargeable special attack, a dash, and a lock-on.
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Designed modular combat abilities component
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Set up animation montages with VFX & Combat notifies
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Implemented smooth camera & Lock-on system
Designed modular combat abilities component
I designed the combat system to be modular enough to support a wide variety of different types of attacks and for it to be used by both player characters as well as enemies.
To accomplish this, I decided to use Unreal Engine's Data Assets to store all the data necessary for each combat action. This made it easy to create variants, as well as quickly adjust and iterate on the data.
Set up animation montages with VFX & Combat notifies
I implemented animation montages for each unique attack, which are referenced in their respective characters' data assets.
Each animation montage contains notifies to provide feedback to the player, but also to specify during which part of the animation damage should be enabled.
When the attack section of the montage is finished, a notify is called that starts the player's 'combo timer'. Attacking during this timer activates the next attack in the chain, if there is one.
Implemented smooth camera & lock-on system
To make combat feel better to use, I implemented a lock-on system. Locking on to a target focuses the camera onto a point in between the player and their target.
Moving far enough away from a locked on target will cancel the lockon and the camera will focus back on the player character.
The speed the camera moves at is based on the distance to its focus target. This makes its movement feel smoother and less jarring.
