Dev Log 4 - A GRAPPLE A DAY

Today, we’ve got some new updates we personally find very interesting and hopefully you will too, so let’s jump right into it!

[h2]Jump Compression[/h2]

Up first there was some weirdness happening anytime characters jumped, their feet would go through the floor, which was giving Anthony some headaches.

We figured we could tackle this in a procedural way. We’re already using an IK Control Rig to adjust the characters' feet so they don’t clip through the environment, so instead of what we were doing (applying an additive compression animation) we figured we could just push up and down on their pelvis control which should mimic a little bounce from landing.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

So, after setting up a little event detection in the animation blueprint, we can control how much each character recovers from a landing whether they’re walking, jogging, or sprinting.

So, after setting up a little event detection in the animation blueprint, we can control how much each character recovers from a landing whether they’re walking, jogging, or sprinting.



[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Grappling[/h2]

Now for the main event, grappling.
In our last public build, we had quite a few networking issues with Dawksin’s grappling hook, and this was the time to address them.

The ability logic was supposed to keep track of:

• Launching the hook
  
• Detect the hook landing
  
• Reeling you in
  
• Allow detaching mid-air
  
• Allow some control while moving

And the movement logic itself was also handling keeping track of:

• Your location
  
• Where the hook location was
  
• How much control you get while moving
  
• Self-Canceling when you let go

It was fairly complex and not easy to debug.

So this time, we started fresh and said, ok, let’s revisit what tools the engine has to do this. Turns out that if we flip a few flags with our movement component and tweak some of their movement tasks, we could make the hook a little easier to debug and perform better under bad network conditions.

This is the big ol’ task we ended up repurposing. It looks a little imposing, but it has all the knobs and levers we need to adjust the hook.



If we take a look here, you can see the positions being calculated and interpolated to get you the control you want, while still moving towards the hook.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The nice thing about this is we should be able to hook onto moving targets! But that’s for later...
And that about wraps up this week.

See y’all in the next one!