Vertical Third

From sprawling top-down dungeon crawls to tight third-person shooters and side-scrolling platform arenas, setting up fundamental game logic across different genres often requires tearing down and rebuilding core engine setups. Vertical Third establishes a unified Blueprint architecture in Unreal Engine 5 that accommodates multiple camera setups and playstyles without touching C++ or relying on a source-built engine. Built to eliminate low-level boilerplate, the system operates entirely through DataTables and Actor Components, allowing creators to rapidly test gameplay mechanics, adjust balancing numbers on the fly, and structure worlds around expansive action mechanics.

Building Multi-Perspective Worlds in Unreal Engine 5

Camera viewpoint and movement often define the foundational logic of a project, forcing developers into rigid archetypes early in production. Vertical Third circumvents this limitation by natively supporting seven distinct perspectives that can be switched via default character variables or the in-game options menu: First Person, First Person Shooter, Third Person, Third Person Shooter ("True" FPS), Isometric, Side-scroller, and Top-Down. Because camera perspectives can be switched seamlessly, a single project can alternate between wide tactical overviews and close-up action sequences.

Targeting mechanics adjust automatically alongside these camera changes. Using a simple drop-down menu in the combat settings, characters can swap between traditional Click To Target, Auto-Target driven by Character Rotation, or Auto-Target aligned with Character Aim. Ground-targeting capabilities are also natively accounted for when specific actions require area-based placement, giving top-down isometric encounters and over-the-shoulder shooters access to the exact aiming paradigms they require.

Twenty-Two Modular Actor Components and Blueprint Architecture

Rather than clustering gameplay rules, animation montages, and stats into a massive, tangled character Blueprint, the entire player and non-player logic is partitioned into 22 dedicated Actor Components. This modular division significantly improves team collaboration, as developers can modify and check out individual aspects of character logic through source control without locking down the entire character file. These components include:

• Action Manager Passives, Action Manager Player, and Action Manager AI
• AI Combat, AI Logic, AI Movement, and AI Threat
• Animation, MeshVFX, Death, and Input
• Crafting, Inventory, Loot, and Questing
• Experience, GraphData, Scoreboard, and Statistics
• Targeting, Team, and User Interface

Network connectivity is equally streamlined. The architecture features an auto-detect multiplayer framework that immediately identifies whether a running client is functioning as a Dedicated Server, a Listen Server, or a Client. When launching a local singleplayer session, the system automatically runs the project in Listen Server mode, preserving complete replication parity so singleplayer projects remain multiplayer-compatible without post-launch refactoring.

KitBash Cosmetics and Nanite Skeletal Socket Assembly

Character variation and visual gear progression are handled through a dedicated KitBash Cosmetic system that bypasses the need to skin and bind dozens of individual armor models to a shared skeleton. Instead, developers can attach any number of Static Meshes directly to designated Skeletal Mesh sockets across the character rig. The entire system is fully compatible with Unreal Engine 5's Nanite geometry, enabling detailed mesh parts without manual level-of-detail creation.

Visual customization is mapped across eleven distinct character slots: Head, Neck, Shoulders, Arms/Wrists, Hands, Chest-Top, Chest-Bot, Waist, Thigh, Calf, and Foot. Symmetrical slots support asymmetric assignments, enabling mismatched shoulder pads or separate forearm armor on the left and right sides. Equipment detection automatically reads Male, Female, and Non-Binary character profiles, applying distinct mesh visual styles to the same underlying item definition. A default mannequin setup is provided for male and female body types, with non-binary models planned for future additions.

DataTable Combat Chains, Statistics, and Targeting Logic

Combat interactions for both player characters and AI units are driven entirely by DataTables, allowing developers to balance abilities, cast mechanics, and animations in real time while playing in the editor. Vertical Third utilizes an action chain framework where abilities trigger subsequent effects without limits. Attacks and abilities can be configured to spawn direct target hits, beams, cones, dashes, teleports, actor spawns, pulse or volume areas-of-effect, and diverse projectile types including bouncing, homing, bullet, and hit-trace variations. To keep performance tight, an Action Spawner leverages SceneComponents to manage cascading action chains rather than needlessly instantiating extra actors into the level.

The player character input system manages the underlying mechanics of combat execution behind the scenes:

• Evaluates key-press and key-release commands while resolving targeting criteria
• Drives dynamic cast bars, animation montage replication, action interrupts, and ability telegraphs
• Enforces strict client and server validation for line-of-sight, cooldowns, resources, ranges, and character states
• Triggers contextual camera shakes and field-of-view shifts during impacts and casts

Underpinning every swing and cast is a statistics matrix spanning nearly 100 character variables. Built-in damage formulas calculate critical hit chances, critical hit damage multipliers, block values, blocks, dodges, parries, and elemental resistances. Every stat adjustment operates across three timing models: instantaneous effects, continuous durations for buffs and debuffs, or ticking loops for damage-over-time and heal-over-time interactions, with damage and healing output rendered via integrated scrolling combat text.

Blackboard-Free AI Action Kits and World Spawners

Rather than relying on traditional Unreal Engine Behavior Trees and Blackboard assets, artificial intelligence in Vertical Third is handled through a custom Blueprint-driven Action Kit workflow. Each enemy or friendly AI profile reads its abilities from a structured DataTable separated into behavioral categories:

• Offense: Spells and strikes reserved for the hostile target currently generating the highest threat value.
• Defense: Countermeasures executed when a hostile target closes into immediate range.
• Engage: Gap-closers and mobility attacks triggered when a tracked enemy moves outside standard attack distance.
• Buff: Supportive actions cast on random friendly allies within visual range.
• Heal: Restorative abilities triggered when any nearby ally drops to or below 70 percent health.
• Debuff: Disruptive actions automatically thrown at random hostile units.
• Passives: Automated reactions including parry, dodge, block, hit counters, and resource-threshold reactions.

Populating levels with these encounters relies on visual spawners that simplify level design. An AI Spawner provides visual patrol path configurations directly within the editor viewport. Complementing it are a World Loot Spawner for static resource gathering like wood, herbs, and ore, and a Character Loot Spawner to distribute monster drops, gear, quest objects, and crafting ingredients across encounters.

Gameplay Systems Integration and Project Fit

Surrounding the core action loop is a complete suite of adventure mechanics. The template includes ten quest types, modular inventory management spanning crafting materials, equipment, and quest items, level-up progression systems, and a skill graph talent tree. Global performance is tracked through a custom scoreboard system that tallies victory states, defeats, kills, and deaths across all connected players. Multiplayer setups also benefit from an out-of-the-box chat window that automatically outputs chat histories to the server log and supports a configurable profanity filter. Game menus feature remappable keybind configurations covering movement, mouse aiming, and twelve distinct action slots, backed by StringTable localization to support future translation workflows.

Vertical Third is created by Epic Developer Community authors Christen Main and Christopher Main, recipients of two Epic MegaGrants whose architecture was showcased on Epic's weekly Inside Unreal broadcast and proven through a playable Epic Games Store tech demo. Because the architecture uses player-centric game naming conventions instead of complex technical jargon, solo creators and indie teams building action RPGs, multiplayer brawlers, or modular class-based shooters can step straight into content design without spending months writing low-level network and combat mechanics.

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