Project Eternal — Development Roadmap¶

A timeline of the major milestones shipped on Project Eternal over the past year of development. Project Eternal is a multiplayer ARPG built in Unreal Engine 5.6, with deep itemization, server-authoritative gameplay, and a distinctive painterly art direction.

Current Status¶

Phase: Parked Blocker: None Last Updated: 2026-05-22

2025 Q2 — Foundations & Cinematic Setpiece¶

Dynamic Camera & Movement Polish¶

A C++ dynamic camera component replaced the prototype Blueprint zoom logic, paired with refined movement settings, motion sensor tuning, and manual zoom. The first taste of the game's "feel" pillar.

Cultist Enemy & Boss Phase 1¶

Full animation set authored for the Cultist enemy archetype — locomotion, combos, run attacks, hit reacts, death — alongside the first Cultist boss phase 1 attack suite. Cloth physics and bird-mask retarget applied to the model.

Abyssal Creature Cinematic¶

The Abyssal Creature was modeled, rigged, animated, and integrated into a prelude sequence as the introductory setpiece. Custom hair shader support added to handle the creature's unique look.

Cultist Boss Phase 2 Transition¶

Animation-driven phase-transition replacing the placeholder overlap volume — the first proof of the multi-phase boss design.

Inventory & Equipment System (C++)¶

The original Blueprint inventory was fully rewritten in C++ with a server-authoritative UItemContainerComponent and UItemObject model. This is the backbone every later itemization system builds on. (PR #5)

2025 Q3 — Combat Identity & Itemization Depth¶

Atmospheric Rendering Stack¶

Integration of Ultra Volumetrics and a custom screen-space fog plugin gave the prelude scene its dense, painterly atmosphere — a defining visual identifier for the project.

Monologue & Cinematic AI¶

AI characters and the Cultist gained data-driven monologue playback, hooked into cinematic boundaries via OnCinematicEnd callbacks in the PlayerController.

Directional Hit Reactions¶

Hit reactions resolve direction from the impact vector, feeding the GAS-driven hit-react ability. This is the foundation for the later poise / stagger / broken state pipeline.

Tooling & Code Quality Baseline¶

Git hooks, clang-format, clang-tidy, environment scripts, and pre-push checks established the project's engineering hygiene — a non-negotiable for a multi-system codebase.

Item Modifier & Pool System¶

The core of the game's itemization shipped: data-driven modifier pools, tier-and-level-gated rolls, modifier-count rules, and the start of weapon attribute scaling. Items are now data assets, not data tables.

Combo System¶

Multi-hit weapon combos with input buffering, server-replicated combo state, montage-driven notify pipeline, and impact cue integration. The core melee loop.

Poise System¶

Per-character poise component, poise tags, and initialization rules. Plays into both the player's defensive moveset and enemy stagger/break states.

Charge Attacks¶

Charge data assets, charged attack montages, networked charge state for clients, and a dedicated charge effect. Brings weight to heavy attacks.

Modern native-Unreal tooltip pipeline replacing the legacy widget — scaling attributes, modifier ranges, and visual styling pass.

Weapon Scaling Library¶

Damage and attack speed derive from attribute scaling on the equipped weapon set (two-hand-aware), enabling stat builds.

2025 Q4 — Boss Encounters, Crafting & UI Polish¶

Camera Obstruction System¶

Unified ray-against-mesh obstruction system with a default config asset and support for hiding attached child actors. Replaces ad-hoc proximity hiding.

Multi-Phase Boss Architecture¶

Boss phases became a first-class system: data-driven phase transitions, randomized abilities, AOE attacks, projectile abilities, transition damage, and per-phase ability trees.

Projectile Ability System¶

Generic projectile spawn pipeline triggered via Gameplay Event tags — used by the Cultist's Feather Barrage, shock arc effect, and player abilities.

AOE Ability System¶

Composable AOE actor with single-frame trace detection for melee slams and cone attacks. Phase-2 boss attacks rebuilt on this foundation.

Crafting System¶

Full crafting pipeline: recipe data assets, currency/resource items, modifier filtering and weighted lists, networked operations as polymorphic classes (not enums), failure feedback, replication fixes, and an MVVM crafting window. Players can now reroll and modify items.

Equipment Visual Configuration¶

EquipmentVisualConfig data asset drives equipment visuals and VFX, with replicated socket names and an IEquipmentOwner interface separating visual concerns from inventory data.

Heart-Based Stamina Indicator¶

Custom HeartAnimInstance drives a beating-heart stamina UI tied into dodge/sprint cost and recovery-block rules. Distinctive player-feedback motif.

Glyph Wall & Compendium¶

Lore discovery UI with progressive entry reveal, empty-state messaging, and visual polish. Layered with the Martha compendium.

HUD & Skill Slot System¶

Full HUD pass: dedicated health/resonance value displays, ability slot expansion with input label refresh, weapon-specific icons, poise indicator with controller/viewmodel/widget, ToggleHUD input action, and resonance cost on tooltips.

Textured Line UMG Rendering¶

Custom UMG rendering for textured lines with stretch/tile/three-slice modes — used across inventory borders and grid drawing for the project's hand-drawn UI aesthetic.

Thumbnail Capture Tool¶

Editor tool for consistent item thumbnail rendering with HDRI cubemap, ambient intensity, context preview, preset persistence (direct FConfigFile I/O), and preview-material support.

Documentation Migration to GitBook¶

Project documentation migrated to GitBook with auto-update workflows, rate-limited Claude-driven doc generation, and a concept-first style guide.

Project Cleanup & New Hit Tracing¶

Major refactor pass: composite item fragment system removed, unused classes deleted, folders reorganized; new capsule-based hit trace system with default trace tag and montage-driven invocation.

2026 Q1 — UE5.6 Migration & Game Systems¶

UE5.6 Engine Migration¶

Engine upgrade, GMS plugin migration, BOM stripping, and downstream fixes across data assets, combat code, motion warp, and the Targeting component's attack rotation replication.

GMS → ALS Locomotion Switch¶

The character locomotion stack was migrated from Game Movement System to Advanced Locomotion System, with all animations retargeted. Spine yaw and aim-offset pipeline integrated for ranged combat.

Smooth Combat Movement¶

Animation-driven motion warping for attacks (PlayerAttackMotionWarp) ensures attacks slide into their target rather than overshooting or stopping short. The defining "feel" upgrade for melee.

Death System¶

GAS-integrated death ability with input blocking, hitstop cleanup, ability-block on death, and motion warping cleanup. Ends the long tail of post-death bugs.

Per-Controller Respawn¶

Restart became a per-controller pawn respawn instead of a session-wide level travel. The death broadcast is deferred one tick out of the executing gameplay effect, respawn explicitly resets death state and finite-duration effects on the persistent ability system component, and HUD/input rebind on repossession.

Hit React & Hitstop Polish¶

Hit reacts no longer block attacks or break combos; hitstop is player-only and tuned per impact intensity; new punch audio and context effects keyed by attack tags.

Critical Strike & Damage Multipliers¶

Critical strike system with attribute-driven multipliers. Resistances simplified to a cleaner type set. Damage breakdown by type exposed on weapons.

Balance System (JSON-Driven)¶

Enemy scaling driven by JSON balance configs, baked into PAK files in packaged builds, with dungeon modifiers (DebugAreaContext) applying area-level multipliers to encounters.

World Map & Domain Canvas¶

Procedural world-map node system with depth labels, player-location indicator, dungeon-modifier display, threat display, enemy-pool peek on encounter nodes (double-click to open), and a node info panel. The Domain Canvas Editor lets designers author it.

Area Title HUD & Notification Overlay¶

Cinematic area-title hook on transition + a standalone notification overlay controller, both MVVM-bound.

Cog Debug Windows¶

Twelve Cog windows shipped — audio, automap, balance, combat, combo, dungeon map, equipment, inventory, persistence, poise, quest, and spawn — speeding up multiplayer bug triage. The dungeon-map window includes a room-teleport table built from the same room enumeration the TeleportToRoom cheat uses, so the IDs shown always match the ones the console accepts.

Dynamic Modifier Effects¶

Modifier systems migrated to dynamic GameplayEffects with Flat/Increased operations, enabling clean stacking and replication of buffs/debuffs.

CI/CD & EGS Deployment Pipeline¶

Full self-hosted GitHub Actions pipeline: PR validation, dev/release branch strategy, version stamping, cook fixes, scalability defaults, and Epic Games Store binary upload via BuildPatchTool with Live/Archive labels.

Dedicated MenuGameMode and main-menu system fully on the project's MVVM framework.

2026 Q1–Q2 — Multiplayer, AI & Live Service¶

Data-Driven Combat AI¶

FCombatBehaviorConfig drives strafe / approach / chase / attack loops via blackboard pushes, with distance-scaled attack probability and inward-spiraling strafe. Generic BT tasks compose with ALS gait control.

Ranged Enemy AI¶

Ranged Cultist enemy with bow-and-arrow, burst-fire support, aim-hold, rotation-mode tasks, preferred-range chase, and proper projectile direction. Projectile flyby sound layered in for spatial feedback.

Game Room Session Management¶

Multiplayer game-room subsystem with session heartbeats, disconnect-saves, persistence restore for equipment / glyphs / compendium / quests / chants, and command-line ServerUrl override for packaged builds. Hosted behind a Cloudflare Tunnel.

Persistence Layer¶

Server-authoritative persistence across vendor, crafting quick actions, equipment, compendium, glyph wall, and quest tags. Auto-generated AccountId for all builds. PIE save/load GUID mismatches fixed.

Dungeon Completion System¶

End-of-dungeon flow tied into the world map state, with completion modifiers and rewards. (PR #27)

Encounter Gate¶

Shroud-wall encounter gates with replicated open/close timeline that lock players into the fight area until cleared. (PR #28)

Block System¶

Hold-to-block defensive ability with stamina drain, chip damage, and poise reduction. Shield overlay support and weapon-set–aware block resolution. (PR #29)

MovementSpeed Attribute → ALS¶

The GAS MovementSpeed attribute now drives ALS desired speed, so all movement buffs/debuffs / modifiers Just Work.

On-Hit Effect System¶

Status ailments — Bleed, Ignite, Poison, Shock — with PoE-style resistance inheritance (e.g. Bleed scales off Physical/Armor). (PR #41)

Ground Hazard System¶

Persistent overlap zones with periodic GE application, replicated visuals via OnRep_Config, damage snapshots taken at init so hazards stay lethal after their instigator dies, and a fade-out lifecycle. Spawned by projectiles, boss abilities, or placed in levels.

World Hint Tutorial System¶

Lightweight passive tutorial prompts (e.g. crouch hint) layered into the world without modal interruptions. (PR #42)

Replication Test Suite¶

Automated multiplayer replication tests covering equipment, inventory, vendor, crafting, and quick actions. (PR #40)

Enemy Resource Drop¶

Configurable per-enemy resource drops integrated with the loot table & guaranteed-drop modes per container. (PR #33/#34)

2026 Q1–Q2 — Editor Tools & Authoring Pipelines¶

Crafting Recipe Editor¶

Custom Unreal editor tool for authoring crafting recipes against the modifier library, with a refactored Crafting Manager and split architecture.

Ability Workshop Editor Tab¶

Editor workflow for authoring and testing abilities, with reorderable toolbar and a workshop-specific icon dropdown.

Editor dropdown for inspecting and resolving persistence-identity issues during development.

USD Pipeline¶

USD-stage import pipeline with persistent asset caching and cook configuration — bridges DCC content (Houdini / Blender) into Unreal via a stable round-trip.

Animation Mirror Tool¶

Editor plugin (AnimMirrorTool) bakes mirrored animation assets with profile-driven bone/notify remapping and montage sequence swapping — mirrors using exact engine MirrorPose math. Supports the off-hand weapon system.

WeaponSet & WeaponHand System¶

Centralized overlay-mode resolution and TMap-based montage selection per weapon set. Off-hand and main-hand montages handled symmetrically. Attack motion-warp wired through the weapon fragment.

Codebase Review Pass¶

Authority audit, dead-code removal, and component reorganization across the codebase. (PR #45)

2026 Q2 — Painterly Art Direction & Environment Pipeline¶

Painted Decal Pipeline¶

Full author-to-engine pipeline for hand-painted decals: capture in-editor, export PSD to Photoshop, re-import with edge-fringe dilation, roughness binding, RT lifecycle management, Sobel auto-bump, and "Bake + Import" toolbar action. The defining tool for the project's painterly look.

Remnant Realm Darkness¶

Spline-bounded wispy darkness variant with 3D FBM brush and domain-warped edges — establishes the visual identity of the Remnant alternate dimension.

Factory Environment & Cloud Shadows¶

Factory environment art pass with panning cloud-shadow light function on the directional light, interactable door BPs, and reworked smoke materials.

Painted UI Reveal Materials¶

Paint-stroke reveal materials for the interact widget — UI feels hand-drawn rather than digital.

Foliage Authoring Pipeline¶

Custom per-blade pivot bake tool, per-blade root-pin wind, Factory-specific foliage material instances, PCG-driven layered ground scatter, and foliage trample/sound feedback.

Layered Landscape Materials¶

M_Ground_Layered master material with per-layer height bias, height contrast, UV warp, ORM/noise masks, and a Factory material instance tuned against it.

Local Ground Fog System¶

Wispy panning-card ground-fog system tunable per area, replacing global volumetrics in default lighting setups for performance.

Sand Surface Toolkit¶

New sand surface type with foley footstep sounds, sand impact effects, and matching environment elements.

Desert RVT Integration¶

Rocks blend into the landscape via Runtime Virtual Texture sampling — eliminates the floating-prop look in open environments.

Remnant Items & Echo Mods¶

Persistence-layer Remnant Items MVP with state-module persistence (PR #48), Echo Mod system with detailed tooltips, Pressure Release echo mod scaffolding, and a Pressure-stack consolidation pass. (PR #49, #50)

What This Demonstrates¶

Depth of systems: GAS-driven combat, multi-phase bosses, server-authoritative inventory & crafting, on-hit ailments, ground hazards, world map with domain canvas, persistence backend.
Multiplayer readiness: Session management, persistence, automated replication tests, CI/CD, EGS deployment.
Distinct art direction: A complete painterly pipeline — decals, foliage, landscape, fog, UI — built bespoke for the project.
Production tooling: Editor plugins for crafting recipes, animation mirroring, ability authoring, thumbnail capture, and the painted-decal bake-and-import pipeline.
Engineering hygiene: Style guide, clang-format/tidy, git hooks, replication test suite, structured documentation, and an MVVM-disciplined UI layer.