Unreal Engine 5: Blueprint Melee Combat AI from Scratch - Build an Epic Game with Fire-Spreading Dragon and More
Unreal Engine 5: How to Create Blueprint Melee Combat AI from Scratch
Unreal Engine 5 is a powerful tool for creating realistic and immersive games, but it can also be used for other types of projects, such as product design, architecture, and more. In this tutorial, we will learn how to use Unreal Engine 5's blueprint visual scripting system to create a melee combat AI from scratch. We will cover the basics of setting up the project, importing the assets, creating the character and AI blueprints, setting up the animations and behavior tree, adding combat logic and damage system, and testing and debugging the AI. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a working melee combat AI that can attack, dodge, block, stun, jump, and die.
Introduction
What is Unreal Engine 5 and why use it for melee combat AI?
Unreal Engine 5 is a real-time 3D creation tool that can be used for game development, product design, architecture, and more. It has many features that enable photorealistic worlds, such as nanite (a virtualized micropolygon geometry system that allows for billions of triangles) and lumen (a fully dynamic global illumination solution that reacts to scene changes). It also has a rich asset store where you can find and import resources for your project.
unreal engine 5 blueprint melee combat ai from scratch free download
One of the advantages of using Unreal Engine 5 for melee combat AI is that it has a powerful visual scripting tool called blueprint. Blueprint allows you to create logic without writing code, by using nodes that represent functions, variables, events, etc. You can easily create complex behaviors by connecting nodes in a graph. Blueprint also has a built-in debugger that lets you see what is happening in your script at runtime.
What are the benefits and features of blueprint visual scripting?
Blueprint visual scripting has many benefits and features that make it ideal for creating melee combat AI. Some of them are:
It is easy to learn and use. You don't need any prior programming knowledge or experience. You can simply drag-and-drop nodes from the palette or context menu, set their properties in the details panel, and connect them in the graph.
It is fast and efficient. You can see the results of your script immediately in the viewport or the game mode. You can also use hot-reload and live-edit features to make changes without restarting the game.
It is flexible and modular. You can create reusable functions, macros, and variables that can be shared across different blueprints. You can also use inheritance and interfaces to create hierarchies and interactions between blueprints.
It is integrated and compatible. You can use blueprint to access and manipulate any aspect of the Unreal Engine 5 framework, such as physics, audio, animation, UI, etc. You can also use blueprint to call C++ functions or vice versa, if you need more control or performance.
What are the best practices and examples of melee combat AI design?
Melee combat AI design is a challenging and rewarding task that requires careful planning and testing. Some of the best practices and examples of melee combat AI design are:
Define the goals and personality of your AI. What is the motivation and behavior of your AI? Is it aggressive, defensive, stealthy, or something else? How does it react to different situations and stimuli? How does it communicate with other AI or the player?
Use a finite state machine or a behavior tree to model your AI logic. A finite state machine is a system that has a set of states and transitions between them based on conditions. A behavior tree is a hierarchical structure that has a set of nodes that represent tasks, services, and decorators. Both systems can help you create clear and modular AI logic that can be easily modified and debugged.
Use perception and decision systems to make your AI aware and adaptive. Perception systems are used to detect stimuli from the environment, such as sight, sound, touch, etc. Decision systems are used to evaluate the stimuli and choose the best action based on some criteria, such as distance, health, priority, etc.
Use animation blending and montages to make your AI smooth and responsive. Animation blending is used to transition between different animations seamlessly, such as idle, walk, run, etc. Animation montages are used to play specific animations for certain actions, such as attack, dodge, block, etc.
Use collision detection and damage system to make your AI realistic and interactive. Collision detection is used to determine if two objects are overlapping or touching each other, such as a sword and a body. Damage system is used to calculate the amount of damage inflicted by an attack and apply the effects, such as hit reaction, health reduction, stun, etc.
Some examples of melee combat AI design in games are:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - The game features a variety of enemies with different abilities and behaviors that require different strategies to defeat. The enemies can also cooperate with each other or flee from danger.
God of War - The game features a dynamic combat system that allows the player to use different weapons, skills, and environmental objects to fight against enemies. The enemies can also react to the player's actions and change their tactics accordingly.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla - The game features a visceral combat system that allows the player to use different weapons, shields, axes, bows, etc. to fight against enemies. The enemies can also use different weapons, formations, and abilities to challenge the player.
Step 1: Setting up the project and importing the assets
How to download and install Unreal Engine 5
To download and install Unreal Engine 5, you need to follow these steps:
Create an Epic Games account or sign in with an existing one on .
Download and install the Epic Games Launcher from .
Open the Epic Games Launcher and go to the Unreal Engine tab.
Select Library from the left menu and click on the + button next to Engine Versions.
Select Unreal Engine 5 Early Access from the list and click on Install.
Wait for the installation process to complete.
How to create a new project and choose a template
To create a new project and choose a template, you need to follow these steps:
Open the Epic Games Launcher and go to the Unreal Engine tab.
Select Launch from the Unreal Engine 5 Early Access section.
Select Games from the New Project Category window and click on Next.
Select Third Person from the Choose Your Project Template window and click on Next.
Enter a name for your project, such as MeleeCombatAI, and choose a location to save it.
Click on Create Project and wait for the project to load.
How to import the character model and animations
To import the character model and animations, you need to have some assets ready. For this tutorial, we will use a free asset pack from the Unreal Engine Marketplace called Paragon: Wukong. You can download it from . To import the character model and animations, you need to follow these steps:
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