Procedural Character Interactions

Role: Lead Developer | Procedural Animation Specialist

Tools Used: Unreal Engine 5, Control Rig, IK Controls, Custom Scripting

Company: Subliminal

Overview

For the Subliminal project, I developed procedural character interactions that allowed characters to respond naturally to their environment. By layering procedural animations on top of hand-made animations, the characters dynamically reacted to environmental factors like walls and terrain, enhancing realism in the game.

My Contributions

• Procedural Animation & Control Rig:

  • Used Unreal Engine 5’s Control Rig to create complex procedural animation systems, layering them seamlessly over pre-made animations.

  • Developed custom IK (Inverse Kinematics) controls to allow for more precise and responsive limb movement based on environmental interactions.

• Environmental Interactions:

  • Integrated wall and ground detection to ensure natural reactions between the character and the environment, such as adjusting foot placement or hand movements when interacting with surfaces.

  • Designed character animations that adapt to obstacles, ensuring the character reacts realistically when interacting with walls, uneven ground, or other environmental features.

• Programming & Scripting:

  • Wrote custom scripts to integrate the procedural animation system with the game’s physics, ensuring smooth and natural transitions between different animation states based on real-time feedback from the environment.

Key Features & Achievements

✅ Dynamic Environmental Interactions: Characters respond to walls, ground, and other elements in a natural, believable way.

✅ Seamless Layering of Animations: Procedural animation is layered over hand-made animations, allowing for smoother and more adaptive character behavior.

✅ Precise Control Rig Implementation: Custom IK controls ensure accurate limb movement and positioning, especially during complex actions.

✅ Real-Time Environmental Detection: Foot placement and hand movements adjust dynamically based on detected surfaces.

Results & Impact

🌍 Enhanced immersion by enabling characters to interact more naturally with their surroundings.

🎮 Improved animation flexibility, allowing characters to react to the environment without requiring reanimation.

⚡ Optimized real-time character response to environmental feedback, resulting in smoother and more believable gameplay interactions.

The procedural interaction system in Subliminal set a new standard for dynamic character responses, merging pre-existing animations with real-time environmental feedback for more natural, engaging gameplay.

https://www.subliminalgame.com/