"The Grotto" RPG

Personal Project
Unreal Engine 5 | Blueprints

Details

I began this project to become more familiar with UE5 and to tackle my own combat system and enemy AI inspired by Final Fantasy XIV and other MMORPGs.

All models were kit-bashed from Fab assets.

For this project, I created from scratch:

Player combat and abilities
Spell casting VFX implementation
Enemy behavior
Player UI
Inventory and items
Interactable NPCs and objects

Combat

Staffs & Spells

The combat system involves equipping staffs that have their own unique spells, with the intention of each having their own unique pool of spells to choose from.

Every cast has its own status effect and either a projectile, AOE damage, or Niagara VFX for visuals.

A spell can inflict one of the following status effects:

Deterioration (depletes health over time)
Restoration (restores health over time
Protection (reduces damage taken)
Slowing (reduces movement speed)

Hotbar

Each slot has a stored spell and a timer lasting a variable duration for a spell.

For the prototype, equipping a staff equips its own set of spells.

Entities

Interactable Entities

Entities such as enemies, NPCs, and item pickups are able to be interacted with by clicking. This sets the player's current target for attacking, and displays the entity's name and health at the top of the screen.

Friendly NPCs and items can't be attacked, but still display their name and a respective green or gray target indicator.

Behavior Trees

The enemies follow one of three different behavior trees, including passive, neutral, and hostile.

Passive enemies flee when attacked, neutral enemies aggro when attacked, and hostile enemies are aggroed when within a variable player distance. Aggroed enemies have a basic attack to deal damage within a certain player distance.

Inventory & NPCs

Items

Items are dropped by enemies under a variable chance, and are able to be picked up with a circle cast on the F key.

They are stored in the inventory and can be rearranged, stacked, and certain ones can be equipped.

The purpose of items is intended to be for upgrading/crafting weapons, however their current use is to sell for higher staff tiers.

Merchant

Items can be sold and purchased at the merchant using the gold value seen on the right side of the screen.

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