Procedural Spider Locomotion System 🕷️
My first fully C++-driven gameplay system in Unreal—handling surface-aligned movement across floors, walls, & ceilings + procedural leg animation.
Focused on stability, responsiveness, and modular design.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI-g...
#gamedev #cpp
I started with C# scripting in Unity, then switched to Blueprints in college. I love Blueprint for prototyping and visualization, but C++ gives me custom Blueprint nodes and cleaner OOP architecture to scale systems. It’s not one vs the other. IMO the power is leveraging both systems.
Spider locomotion driven by UE5 Control Rig. A delta-time cycle drives the animation by offsetting each leg’s end position into the future (t + offset), projecting where the foot should land and moving legs sequentially for smooth procedural motion.
#indiegame #UE5 #ControlRig #animation #devlog
New phase begins: enemy AI. Our first creature is a spider-inspired enemy designed for the Mayan ruins. Focusing on traversal, detection, and combat behaviors.
youtu.be/pIPg9a4mCeU
tutorial and model by: Lincoln Margison
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E23z...
#gamedev #indiegame #UE5 #devlog
Hey yall Quick update!
I finished adding multiplayer replication to my building system. Item data is driven by a DataTable, placement is server-authoritative, and clients sync via RepNotify using only item IDs and transforms, keeping everything efficient and in sync.
Here is the first complete iteration of the build system.
It's a fully modular, data-driven system that uses a single Blueprint to spawn instances at runtime. It supports grid-snapped and freeform placement, along with an edit mode for modifying objects without respawning.
youtu.be/-3vrsUvIXhs?...
Forward declarations are a way to tell the compiler that a type exists without including its full definition.
headers only need this “promise” when storing pointers or references, while the .cpp includes the full header so the compiler knows the class details when compiling function logic.
Day 3: The Pawn Class
Concepts covered:
Enhanced Input for movement
Forward declarations
Components
Today’s toughest concept was forward declarations.
I’ve shared my current understanding in the reply below.
I created a Sin and Cos pure function and exposed it to Blueprints. Variables such as Amplitude and Time Constant are also exposed to the Editor and to object instances for further customization within the engine.
Day 2: Actor Class and Moving object with code
Concepts covered:
Overloading Variables and Functions
Templated Functions
Exposing Variables and Functions to Blueprint
Custom Header Files
DefaultSubObjects
UPROPERY Specifiers
Today was an overview of how C++ works in UE5.
Concepts covered:
Basic Unreal setup: UCLASS(), UPROPERTY(), UFUNCTION(), GENERATED_BODY().
-Module macros (MYGAME_API).
-Header vs. C++ files.
-Virtual functions, overrides (polymorphism).
-Scope resolution operators.
-Pointers and null pointers.
Today is the day I start learning C++ for Unreal Engine. I intend to share daily updates on my progress.
After establishing the initial building system, I developed an inventory that lets players choose which objects to place. This entire system is managed through a data table, enabling designers to easily add or remove objects without modifying the widget blueprint or the underlying code.
Haha yeah...
We want players to find cosmetic items, such as furniture, while exploring the mines. So I developed a first-person building system inspired by No Man's Sky, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Valheim. We wanted to feature object clipping so players could create new items from existing parts.
Once multiplayer was functional, I focused on replicating our digging system on both the client and server sides. For this digging system, we are utilizing the Voxel Plugin.
After completing the jam, we transitioned the project to Unreal Engine 5.6. I began by incorporating multiplayer functionality using the Steam SDK and the Advanced Sessions plugin. This is my first experience with a multiplayer project, so I was very pleased with the outcome of the server hosting.
Hello everyone, as we begin the new year, I want to catch you up on what I've been up to. I participated in Unity's official game jam and, with 6 others, created a project called On the Nose. We placed 69th overall and decided to continue the project in Unreal.
justice-shultz.itch.io/on-the-nose
Here is my first pass at the final render for my epic door cinematic. I am happy with how it's progressing so far; all that is left is a few insert shots of the mechanism and to animate the tenacles receding when the door begins to open.
youtu.be/nYGnKgdpPJM
Updated Textures for the door Model.
Set Dressed Environment and created a rough cinematic.
Epic Door Opening First Test. I am happy with the first test. I want to work more with sound design and accentuate the vines and overgrown nature of the door.
Epic door. After extensive research and experimentation, I finally have a door design that I am happy with. All that is left is to finish the animation, which I will do this afternoon.
The Epic door project: I aiming for a simple and clean door design while enhancing the cinematic elements in the second part. Attached is the initial construction stage and my reference sheet, with a focus on fitting the design within the Alien franchise.
I decided to scrap the replay system for the time being until I can get it to function more consistently but I did continue with the idea that the toy had to activated in a sequence and added the ability to fly around as the bird once activated. Here is the final results.
youtu.be/AsvLT8R5gO0?...
Here is how the toy is currently shaping out, aesthetically. I like how the camera moves, and I think the final product will be fun to play with, even without the replay system at the current time.
The replay system is where I am currently struggling because, essentially, I have to create another structure for the ghost that stores the location and click data, and I am starting to lose track of data at this point. I want to revisit this with a more straightforward solution.
Here is my WIP systmem.Basicly it creates a session structure to store click events and mouse paths, allowing each session to have unique position and click data. However, there were some issues with the structures that prevented it from functioning as intended.
Dev Log Week 5:
I set up the gameplay recording and playback systems, but integrating multiple ghost clones proved more difficult than expected. I underestimated the complexity of storing ghost data, making my system convoluted. I plan to revisit this at a later date
