Combat System Part 1

A little late however the core of my combat system prototype is now up and running, it’s been a rollercoaster! What started as a simple dodge mechanic has evolved into a directional, context-aware, stylized melee system… with a lot of Blueprint problem-solving along the way.

🌀 Directional Dodge System:
Dodge in four directions (forward, back, left, right)
Smart input fallback: uses WASD input if held, or camera direction if neutral
Dodges trigger different montages for each direction, driven by dot product logic

⚔️ Free Flow Directional Combat:
Inspired by games like The Witcher, Ghost of Tsushima, and Batman: Arkham series, this system allows the player to:

Automatically find the nearest enemy in movement input direction/camera direction
Smoothly teleport into range using a Timeline + Lerp (no harsh warping)
Rotate the character to face the enemy mid-action
All built with clean, reusable Blueprint logic (no C++)

🧠 Context-Based Attacks:
System uses distance to enemy to decide between:

Close-range attacks (quick strikes)
Long-range attacks (lunges, slides, spins)
Prevents repeated hits with a HitActors array tracked per attack window

🧍 Combat States:
Combat logic is driven by an enum: Passive, CloseCombat, RangedCombat, Stealth.
Switching to CloseCombat changes animation sets, combat stance, and input behavior
Automatically plays idle/fidget animations if the player stands still (with timer logic)
Uses separate Blendspaces for strafing and sprinting while in combat

🎭 Motion Matching: Attempted, Refined, and Ultimately Scrapped
Tried using Pose Search, Blend Stack, and Choosers to combine motion matching matching with combat state machines.
Realized that using motion matching is beyond my current abilities so we'll keep the base motion matching that came with the Game Animation Sample for exploration, and use traditional state machines for combat. Understanding your weaknesses isn’t a setback, it’s how you avoid getting stuck and keep your project moving forward.

🛠️ Cleanup and Rebuild:
Originally split into multiple AnimBPs for exploration and combat, but ran into animation evaluation crashes.
Re-merged back into a single unified AnimBP with layered blending for slot overrides.
Now supports weapon equip/unequip transitions, attack states, and idle-to-locomotion movement all in one place.

So what did I learn:
Animation is hard! But it was fun to learn the ins and outs of this area in Game Design.
Not everything you prototype has to ship, but everything you prototype teaches you something.
Knowing your limits helps you build smarter, not slower.

Next steps: polish and expand the combat state. Make turn in place smoother with correct animations, add weapons, and upgrade from collision based damage to trace damage.