These docs describe 1.3, which is in testing. The version on Fab is 1.1: read its docs.

Sword fights, brawls and boss battles: the player locks onto an enemy, the camera keeps the two of them in shot, and the framing changes with the fight. A one-on-one, a boss three storeys tall and a finishing move each want a different shot, and each is a Lock-On Preset you swap in from gameplay.

The camera and the lock#

• 1

  Add the camera.

  A Blendable Follow Camera with the Third Person or Action RPG preset, and a Blendable Shake beside it.

• 2

  Add the lock-on.

  A Blendable Lock On on the same character. Set its Base Preset to the lock most of your fights want: Duel keeps both of you whole on the thirds, Soulslike sits straight behind you with a flick of the stick to switch target.

• 3

  Bind the buttons.

  Toggle Lock on the lock-on button, and Cycle Target on a flick of the stick or the shoulder buttons: negative for left, positive for right.

• 4

  Mark the enemies.

  A Blendable Lock-On Target on each enemy. Its Lock Points are where the lock aims, a head, a weak spot, in order; Cycle Lock Point moves along them.

In the Game Animation Sample, the lock also fills the pawn's TargetedActor, which turns the character to face the target and strafe. Any pawn with an actor variable of that name gets the same.

Bosses#

Give a boss its own lock. On its Blendable Lock-On Target, set Preset to Giant: a low hero shot where the boss looms past the edges and you're small beneath it. A target's preset outranks the Base Preset, so locking onto the boss changes the shot and locking onto anything else changes it back, with no Blueprint at all.

Height on the Lock-On Target tells the framing how tall the boss is, if its collision doesn't. A boss that changes shape between phases can swap preset with Push Lock-On Preset under a name, and Pop Lock-On Preset with the same name lets it go.

Finishers#

LockOn_Finisher is made to be pushed for the length of a move: a long lens, the target out at the edge of the frame, a dolly zoom as it takes hold, and letterbox bars. Put a Blendable Lock-On Preset Window notify over the kill animation and pick Finisher. The lock is framed with it for exactly as long as the move plays, and lets go however the animation stops.

Hits you can feel#

Put the impact on the montage, at the frame the blow lands:

• 1

  Mark the contact.

  Add a Blendable Camera Event notify on the attack's montage, set to Named event, with a name like Hit.

• 2

  Answer it.

  On the player's Blendable Shake, add an Event Shakes entry: When set to Named event, Event Name Hit, and the shake Shake_Impact_LightHit.

• 3

  Hit harder.

  A second notify named HeavyHit on the big swings, answered by Shake_Impact_HeavyHit.

The same name can play a lock-on effect too, under On Named Events in the Lock-On Preset's Effects: a look laid over the picture, letterbox bars, or the target highlighted. Moves, effects and focus has the rest.

For the player being hit, play Shake_Impact_LightHit with Play Shake and the blow's direction, so the camera is shoved away from the attacker.

Arenas and crowds#

• An arena. Place a Blendable Lock-On Volume with Arena: high over the fight, the whole group in view. Auto Lock While Inside locks on for the player as they walk in.
• A crowd. Frame The Group on a preset frames everyone near the fight once enough of them close in, pulling back or widening the lens to fit. Groups, giants and dynamics has the settings.
• A brawl you steer. Skirmish is a soft lock: the camera stays the player's, and the framing only pulls back to keep the fight in.

Going further#

• Markers. Each preset decides the marks over targets, the locked one, the one a lock would take and the rest, under Markers. Moves, effects and focus has the looks and moves.
• Fights that start by themselves. Start Auto Lock locks onto the nearest enemy, and the next whenever that one falls, until Stop Auto Lock.
• A parry. Push Duel or a preset of your own for a moment, then pop it, and the shot crosses over and back on the presets' own blend times.