Let's Build the RPG! - 26 – Creating a Blueprint-Only Gameplay Ability System in Unreal Engine 5

In this episode we begin the creation of a brand new Blueprint-only Gameplay Ability System (often abbreviated GAS) from the ground up. I considered using Unreal Engine 5's out-of-the-box Gameplay Ability System framework, which appears to be an excellent framework, but I realized if I used it I would have to learn C++. And one goal of this series is to keep gamemaking accessible to non-programmers for as long as possible, and hopefully, all the way.

And so, this episode goes through the frame work of what I'm envisioning for a Gameplay Ability System. Although this is not a 'fun' episode, it's foundational to every gameplay ability we will develop over the course of this series. We also transition the gameplay ability we created in Episode 23, the TorchLight effect, into the new framework as a starting point.

00:00 Intro
00:16 Today's Goals and Conceptualizing a Gameplay Ability System
05:00 Quick Overview of Inheritance and why it's important for our Gameplay Ability System
08:17 Key Concepts
08:34 Creating and Setting up Gameplay Ability Actors
16:51 Creating references back to ThirdPersonCharacter and Animation Blueprint
20:50 Triggering Gameplay Ability from ThirdPersonCharacter
28:30 Setting up activation of first Gameplay Ability (Torchlight Effect)
34:59 CORRECTION: Correcting the ThirdPersonCharacter reference
36:06 Conclusion and Preview of Next Episode


New episode released every Saturday morning!


Direct References

Unreal Engine's standard Gameplay Ability System documentation:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en...

Blueprint inheritance overview:
https://couchlearn.com/parent-and-chi...

Example of Blueprint Inheritance:
https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en...