Description
Vertical Third is a recipient of TWO Epic MegaGrants and was featured on Inside Unreal, Epic's weekly livestream every Thursday:
Playable Vertical Third Tech Demo on the Epic Game Store:
https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/vertical-third-tech-demo-ccfff7
*The tech demo has been modified with a Patcher, Launcher and Cloud Integration.*
Vertical Third is the ultimate iteration engine for UE5! Through DataTable driven systems you can easily change content through drag-and-drop, menus, checkboxes and simple number changes. Inside our Example Game, explore 100s of pre-defined DataTables for Loot, Quests, Actions, Crafting & more.
More details and tutorials on www.VerticalThird.com! Vertical Third is in continued development and will receive ongoing updates. Join our Discord community here: https://discord.gg/sXpU5V4uPT.
Quickly iterate through ideas when utilizing Vertical Third's key features:
Fully Blueprint Code:
No C++ Required
Does not require a source built version of Unreal Engine
Auto-Detect Multiplayer
Vertical Third's systems has been designed to automatically detect if your client is a Dedicated Server, Listen Server or Client. When choosing Singleplayer, Vertical Third utilizes the Listen Server mode.
KitBash Cosmetics
Combine any number of Static Mesh together to create new characters or gear sets. Nanite compatible!
Attaches each Static Mesh to specific Skeletal Mesh sockets
KitBash Cosmetic level with instructions on how to use
Slots that have a visual appearance are: Head, Neck, Shoulders, Arms/Wrists, Hands, Chest-Top, Chest-Bot, Waist, Thigh, Calf, Foot. Where left/right is capable you can mix asymmetric options. Such as different Left and Right Shoulders.
Equipment will detect Male, Female and Non-Binary character settings. A different look can be created for each option for the same item.
*A default Mannequin is available for Male/Female currently with a Non-Binary model being planned for the future*
DataTable Based Systems
Combat, Loot, Recipes, Quests and Scoreboard are all DataTable based and can be quickly edited, even during play-in-editor, to make changes in real time. DataTable information is organized in categories throughout each system.
Multi-Perspective Project
You can set your perspective through the in Game Options menu or by setting a default character variable.
Vertical Third has the following perspective options: First Person, First Person Shooter, Third Person, Third Person Shooter ("True" FPS), Isometric, Side-scroller and Top-Down. With the Data Table based Combat System, you can change targeting with a simple drop-down menu.
Character Components
Vertical Third's character code and systems are broken down into 22 different Actor Components: Action Manager Passives, Action Manager Player, Action Manager AI, AI Combat, AI Logic, AI Movement, AI Threat, Animation, Crafting, Death, Experience, GraphData, Input, Inventory, Loot, MeshVFX, Questing, Scoreboard, Statistics, Targeting, Team, User Interface
Enables better team collaboration when multiple parts of the character can be checked-out through source control.
Combat System
Vertical Third has a unique DataTable based combat system for both AI and Players. With an unlimited chain system, there are endless possibilities you can create. Through a myriad of options you can spawn combinations of Direct Target, Projectile (Standard/Homing/Bouncing/Bullet/HitTrace), Beam, Cone, Mobility (Dash/Teleport), Area-of-Effect (Standard/Pulse/Volume) and Actor Spawns.
Passive Actions for Parry, Dodge, Block, Hit, Critical Hit, Resource Percent
Talent System / Skill Graph
Input System (Combat)
The Player Character Input system handles a myriad of combat functionality such as:
Key-press & Key-release
Targeting Detection
Initiate Cast Bar
Client & Server Checks for Action Resources/Cooldowns/Range/Position/LineOfSight/CharacterStates
Field of View Changes
Camera Shake
Replicates the Start/End Animation Montage
Telegraphs
Initiates Cooldowns
Spawns the Action
Interrupt System
Statistics
A full statistics systems with nearly 100 variables
Full damage calculations for Critical Hit, Critical Hit Damage, Parry, Dodge, Block, Block Value, Resistances, & More
Statistic timing changes for Instant, Duration (Buff/Debuff) or Tick (Damage Over Time / Heal Over Time)
Scrolling Combat Text
Targeting
Tracks the current Enemy, Ally and Interact targets
Can be set to Click To Target, Auto-Target: Character Rotation and Auto-Target: Character Aim
Handles Ground Targeting when enabled on an Action
AI
Vertical Third has a unique blueprint based AI system that does NOT use the traditional Unreal Engine Blackboard system. An AI Action Kit is created through a DataTable with Action slots for the the following categories:
Defense: Actions used when a target is in range of the Action
Engage: Actions used only when chasing a target that is out-of-range
Buff: Target a random ally and use an Action on them.
Heal: Detect if an ally is at 70% or less health and use an Action on them.
Debuff: Target a random enemy and use an Action on them.
Offense: Actions used on the current enemy target with the highest threat.
Passives: In addition to the above, AI can utilize all passive actions (Hit/Crit/Block/Parry/Dodge/Resource%)
Adventure Systems
Loot
Inventory for Loot, Quests and Crafting
Equipment
Experience/Levels
Crafting
Questing (10 Types)
Pre-Defined Database - 100s of Quests, Equipment, Loot and Recipes to modify.
Scoreboard
Quickly setup Victory, Defeat and Other scores to track for all players. Such as Kills or Deaths.
Spawners
AI Spawner with Patrol Options that can be visualized in the editor.
World Loot Spawner for items, such as Ore, Wood and Herbs.
Character Loot Spawner for loot drops such as equipment, weapons, quest items and crafting materials.
Action Spawner to handle Vertical Third's unique action chain system. Utilizes SceneComponents and avoids spawning additional Actors where possible.
All Experience Levels
Designed for new Unreal Engine users with nearly no acronyms or technical jargon. Naming conventions and terminology are what you would have seen in games as a player.
Through DataTables you can set up AI, Combat, Loot, Recipes, Quests and Scoreboard through drag-and-drop, menus and simple number changes.
Advanced users can extend Vertical Third's functionality through Blueprint code.
Chat
A chat system ready to go for multiplayer use. Records to the server log file with a bad-word filter that can be setup.
Keybinds & Game Options
A Game Menu has been setup to enable keybinds to be remapped. Default is WASD with the mouse.
Movement: MoveForward, MoveBackward, MoveLeft, MoveRight, MoveUp, MoveDown, Look, Turn, Jump, ClickToMove
Action: AutoAction, Slot01, Slot02, Slot03, Slot04, Slot05, Slot06, Slot07, Slot08, Slot09, Slot10, Slot11, Slot12, Interact
User Interface: Profile (Quest/Crafting/Loot/Statistic), Show Mouse, Scoreboard
Camera: Zoom In, Zoom Out
Localization
Initial localization efforts have been implemented with the use of StringTables.
The creators, Christen Main and Christopher Main, are Epic Developer Community Authors for the UEFN Boba Shop Course with an introduction to 3D modeling using the Unreal Editor modeling tools:https://dev.epicgames.com/community/learning/tutorials/WWbK/fortnite-uefn-boba-shop
Included formats
- versions