Smart Enemy AI | (Part 8: Player Attack & Enemy Block) | Tutorial in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5)

Update:
I've made some improvements to the block functionality in Part 12 • Smart Enemy AI | (Par... at 0:53, so be sure to check it out after finishing this part
Learning Goals:
1 - Attack System: Shared attack system for player and enemy
2 - Player Aim: Camera aim and shoot functionality
3 - AI Block: Having the melee enemy block incoming attacks
Link to my Patreon (Thank you for your support)
/ alizoh
Link to part 1 of the "Smart Enemy AI" tutorial:
• Smart Enemy AI | (Part...
Link to the "Damage System" tutorial:
• How to Build a Combat ...
Link to the "Projectile System" tutorial:
• How to Shoot Projectil...
Assets used:
Crosshair image: www.unrealengine.com/marketpl...
Effects: www.unrealengine.com/marketpl...
About me:
I've been learning game development for a few years now, I do have a background in software engineering, and I also have a background in education, so being able to combine my love of gaming and love of education is the best way to spend my time.
I am currently working on this 3rd person action adventure game as a hobby, but I am also trying to build a community, thus I am creating KZbin tutorials to find others who are interested in game development and design.
If you are interested in learning more or if you are interested in working together, please let me know in the comments.
Join my Discord server to chat and mingle with the community
/ discord
If you would like to support me on Patreon, you will get access to all the source code from every video I post as well as any custom assets that I create. Also I would be forever thankful to my early adopters
/ alizoh
Checkout my other tutorials on my channel:
/ @alielzoheiry
Chapters:
00:00 Outcome of This Part
01:07 Recap of What We Have So Far
01:35 Animations I'll Be Using
02:30 Player Attack Stance
12:55 Crosshair Widget
18:33 Player/Enemy Attack System
41:52 Blocking Incoming Attacks
01:00:50 Player Zoom/Aim Camera
01:05:00 Next Up in Part 9
#unrealengine #unrealengine5 #ue5 #gamedev #smart #enemy #combat #AI #blueprint #tutorial #behavior #tree #ranged #melee #damage #system #attack #block #defend

[@AliElZoheiry]

I've made some improvements to the block functionality in Part 12 (kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3qkkq2FnNyqlas) at 0:53, so be sure to check it out after finishing this part

[@crwmateanime8582]

I greatly appreciate your tutorials; they have been immensely helpful to me in various aspects. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your assistance. I apologize for any inconvenience this request may cause, but could you possibly create a tutorial on implementing a finisher system in a game? Specifically, I am interested in learning how to trigger a takedown or finisher animation when an enemy's health reaches a designated threshold. I have attempted to create such a system myself but have encountered difficulties, particularly in synchronizing the animations and accurately depleting the enemy's health to zero. I understand that you may be occupied with other commitments, so please take your time. Your guidance would be highly valued whenever you are able to assist. Thank you once again for your invaluable tutorials👍

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey@@crwmateanime8582 Really glad to hear you're enjoying the content and finding it helpful! I'll definitely consider a tutorial on finisher systems. I actually have it already in my list of future video ideas, so I'll keep it in mind now 🙏

[@crwmateanime8582]

@@AliElZoheiry thank you 🙏

[@Pastor_Bluntaround]

bro i pray that your channel booms coz you sure know how to explain💪💪no cap

[@AliElZoheiry]

I appreciate that bruv! Thank you for the support 🙏

[@Shizuma450]

3k subscriber! I'm really happy for you! As usual, thank you for this quality content, very educational, it's super well explained, it helps me better grasp certain nuances and I see lots of little mistakes I was making. And wow... You really take your time to explain things correctly without hurrying, it's great! Sorry, I really have the impression that I'm repeating myself with every comment xD, so I guess showing my gratitude for a subject that's rarely covered, and with such care and pedagogy, I guess showering you with compliments is my way of being grateful haha! Thank you @Ali Elzoheiry, sincerely.

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you so much Shizuma, I'm really happy with the progress of the channel, and I definitely appreciate your support and your comments, I can never get enough compliments ☺️ it definitely keeps me motivated seeing that this content is helping you 🙏

[@davidlindvall9599]

Once again you deliver an unbelievably good tutorial! I learn so much watching your videos! Keep it going! :)

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you David! I appreciate the support 🙏 always happy to see when these videos help people

[@Kkurox]

this series is going amazing! thank you!

[@AliElZoheiry]

You're so welcome! Glad you're finding it useful

[@electronicinfection]

You'll have like 100k subs and more in the not so distant future. Keep rocking Ali!

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you so much for your kind words and support! I'm glad you're enjoying the content and it means a lot to me 🙏 Keep rocking too!

[@brianmayer8320]

hello, how are you?, I'm learning a lot from you, you explain very well, thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'm learning about AI behavior, and your series is helping me a lot. I'm trying to create a horror game and you're opening my mind. About the debate, I wanted to learn about boss fights, like picking up the other and throwing it at the wall, dodging a blow, or taking possession of the player, like picking him up and taking him to play somewhere fatal. lol. Intelligence would also be very interesting 🤔.

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you Brian! I think that's a really interesting topic as well, I'll definitely consider it!

[@ND-oe1ow]

This series is great, thanks! In the first episode you showed how to make the enemy dodge left or right when the player shot an arrow, I would like to see how you do that.

[@AliElZoheiry]

You're very welcome 🤗 For the dodging from arrow, I did it the same way as I did the block functionality (A decorator that continuously checks if the player fired an arrow, and if that arrow is going to collide with them, and if that is true then I just call a dodge function which simply teleports the enemy to a location a few meters away, using an EQS to get that location) If I do a mage enemy AI, I will go through this behaviour as well in a tutorial

[@thedifferencestudios]

Amazing series, I learn a lot, thank you 😁 I think a lot of people and I will be interested if you create a bosses AI, like with different types of attack and different stages

[@AliElZoheiry]

You're very welcome, thank you for watching 🤗 I'm definitely considering a boss fight, it just needs a lot of animations and states to be setup correctly, so I'm thinking how to approach that now

[@Xsabino1]

I already click on liked without even watching, but I know that you are very good. I finish a tutorial wanting more. God bless you. thanks bro

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you so much bro 🙏 really glad you liked it

[@patricktoussaint6038]

Another Great video! loving this series! Do you have any future plans to make a inventory system tutorial? :)

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you for your comment! I'm glad you're enjoying the series. An inventory system tutorial is definitely on my list for future videos, so stay tuned for that!

[@yingmo8041]

非常棒的教程，提升了我对AI的理解

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you 🙏 glad you enjoyed it

[@jesusforever444]

Best Tutorial ever !!

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you so much 🙏 I'm happy you found it helpful

[@jarofpickles1246]

You would love the gameplay ability system. It's a lot to take in but saves so much time and is very efficient.

[@AliElZoheiry]

I've used it before, it is indeed very powerful, but it's only useful for a game with a loot of abilities, like an RPG with a skill tree, or a MOBA game with different abilities per character, but for a simple game with only a handful of abilities for a single character, then it's over engineering to use the GAS

[@roydash5657]

It's sooooo amazing! You really saves my life

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you Roy! Really happy to hear that you find this useful 🙏

[@roydash5657]

@@AliElZoheiry really I am searching this. Please give me time I need complete my game after I give you credit. You awesome person

[@AliElZoheiry]

@@roydash5657 Thank you Roy, take your time and good luck with your game 💪

[@roydash5657]

@@AliElZoheiry Awwwww Thank you so much for your kind words. I am wishing you GOOD LUCK for all jobs

[@roydash5657]

@@AliElZoheiry My friend I have one question about AI. You are the best in this business. You can make Enemies look like a bomb. I mean Enemies run to the player and explode. I have seen them in some games and really liked them. I also wanted to create these Enemies for my game. If you have time you can make a tutorial about it. If you not please don't worry. Everything OK. Anyway you amazing teacher & developer 😊

[@stephenhidalgo7608]

love it!!

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you ❤️

[@1tapeoka1]

Great Ai system, best one ive come across by far.. I do have a question how would you implement the blocking for a player?

[@AliElZoheiry]

Glad you enjoy it 🙏 I actually covered the block and parry the player in part 19

[@user-pn3ut7rw6c]

Best Tutorial ! Like.

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thank you! Glad you liked it

[@InnerspaceX]

Hi, maybe later can add AI, who can fire from cover?

[@AliElZoheiry]

As in hide then come out, fire then hide again; or more like hiding, and shooting while half their body is behind a wall?

[@InnerspaceX]

@@AliElZoheiry The second one. Firifing from half cover, maybe behind a barrel, or firing from a wall corner.

[@AliElZoheiry]

@@InnerspaceX Hmmm.. I'll consider it, but it's going to be more animations and traces rather than AI functionality

[@Atl3m]

​@@AliElZoheirythe Ai feature in you intro video is almost like this. Peek a boo attack . I'd love to have this. Find cover-->move to closest location Frome the AI where can see the attack target -> go back to last POI . Also a crouch peek a boo can be cool

[@Atl3m]

I didn't know you can call reverse that way, learned new stuff :) btw is it not better to have a pure Alpha having the duration time also at 0-1 and call playrate and change the speed on that or is that the same thing

[@AliElZoheiry]

Indeed you can do a lot with the reference to the timeline. Regarding the alternative approach, I'm not sure what you mean, I haven't used it like that before, but the main benefit of the timeline is being able to play with the curve of the timeline to have things move non-linearly if needed

[@Jamik742]

Im having a small issue with the blocking. my melee enemy blocks the projectiles as he should but the animation often turns him sideways or completely turns his back towards me when the blocking happens (still blocks the hit) but i cant find the problem at the moment. could it be the projectile hitbox thats wrong or is it the block function. very thankful for any help. other than that , another great tutorial as usual

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey there. It's either the animation itself is imported incorrectly, thus when played it turns the enemy. Or the block functionality itself causes the enemy to look somewhere else. To narrow down the issue, try removing the animation and seeing if the enemy still turns, and then also try playing the animation in isolation. This will help narrow down where the problem is

[@unreal_metronomus678]

Hey Ali. Thanks for your great video series. I have a question about the blocking state. You tell the ai to check if the target is in the attacking state and then the ai should react and block. But what if you have multiple enemies which are located in different positions ( for example north, east, west) and they have caught sight of the player. If the payer shoots at north enemy wouldn’t all enemies enter blocking state, right? It would be better to find out which enemy is currently under attack and only he reacts.

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey there, indeed that was an issue I realized and fixed in a later video. Check the pinned comment on the video where I describe where I did that

[@unreal_metronomus678]

@@AliElZoheiry Thanks, Ali! Awesome AI series, well presented and great content. Thumbs up for your hard work!

[@PPPike]

Even though I'm a non-native English speaker, I keep watching and learning , because your tutorials are so amazing dude！！！！！！ But I have A qs fot this part 8 and the projectile system , and The qs is that my projectile cant follow my direction it spawn at the right location like the scene you create , But its direction is always towards the front of the world, no matter whether the mesh/camera turns the direction or not It took me a little while to find the qs is , finally I find its because the velocity in the projectilemovement component is always X=1,Y=0,Z=0 First I goto the BP projectBase 1.create A variables named 'Direction'（same editable and expose on spawn） 2.set velocity in the projectilemovement component is the value that variable'Direction' multiply the variable'Speed' we create before Then I go to the attacksystem component , get the magicspell custom event , get the spawn transform pin's rotation , and get this rotation X vector value , set this value to the 'Direction' pin that exposed on the SpawnActor node Finally my projectile is achieved the right direction（like the mesh foward direction ,not always the world foward direction） But I noticed that you didn't do any special settings in your vedios , even though I watch projectile tutorial many times and I think I fix this problem in a dirty way I dnot know why cause this problem , it confused me a lot But thanks for these tutorials, they're really really really great

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey there, really glad you enjoyed the video! Regarding the velocity issue you mentioned, I always calculate the velocity when spawning the base projectile, thats why you won't see this issue happening here, and the velocity is always calculated as "direction x speed" and the direction is calculated based on where the character is facing and where the target location is

[@PPPike]

@@AliElZoheiry Got it bro , really appreciate it🙏

[@Dord1999]

Hi, great tutorial, one question I have with the blocking, my enemy gets stuck in the block state after it blocks and doesn’t go back to attacking

[@Dord1999]

Fixed it! Was a node plugged in wrong place

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey there! Glad you fixed the issue. Keep up the great work

[@deanoxford9835]

thanks for the video. I wanted to learn how to make the sniper character shoot in different places on his enemy, like instead of shooting only in the chest by default, whatever he has vision he hits, being in a higher or lower place of the enemy, and how can I do it he move his arms aiming up and down according to his target. I've always tried to do that but it always doesn't work. I have a million questions 😁.

[@AliElZoheiry]

You're welcome. To get the character to move their torso to where they are aiming you should use something called "Aim Offsets" you'll find a ton of tutorials on that here in YT. Once implemented correctly, you can have your enemy Focus on a specific location (instead of a specific actor) then they will aim where they are looking

[@Leonardo-zb6ho]

Hello, as always nice explanation, but I have an issue with the projectile system, even tough I followed the tutorial. I can't get "Target" as an input for the "SpawnActor" function. I already set target as editable, but can't figure how to show it in the SpawnActor function

[@Leonardo-zb6ho]

I forgot to check "Expose on spawn", I always come up with the solution right after posting the comments =/

[@AliElZoheiry]

Glad you figured it out! That's the best way of learning ;)

[@haythembenhaddada9988]

brother good work just if you can, the magic go directly to enemy can you make it go curved

[@AliElZoheiry]

Thanks Haythem. The projectile system supports homing projectiles (that can curve and follow a target wherever they are) you just need to add a "target" and set "IsHoming" to true when spawning the Projectile (in the BPC_Attacks component). But if you mean that the projectile should curve instead of choosing the shortest path to the enemy, that I didn't implement but you can modify the system easily

[@gamersantai7796]

is there a plan to combine player attack with a weapon system, example like Player can't enter attack stance before picking up a weapon or can't shoot if there is no ammo?

[@AliElZoheiry]

I haven't planned on adding that, as it's not really related to the AI, but all it takes is a simple if condition to check if the player has a weapon equipped before doing something

[@TheFalcoGamingDK]

Hi Ali! Great Video as Always! However I am in a bit of a pickle. I tried to follow the video. However since I don't need the player to be able to use magic. I instead did the blueprints inside of a "BP_Enemy_Base_Mage". And so far it work, However at 40:40 when you add the "Ignore actor when moving node". To fix the self damage / collision. It does not fix the problem. I also triple checked that it was setup as you have it. Could it be that it is not "Get owner component" if it is not inside of the BP_Player but inside of and BP Using AI for execution? Hope That you can help! Anyways Love your tutorial! Really the best out there!

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey there. I replied to your discord question, hope it helps

[@demonics7549]

when I hit my enemy the cooldown makes it so after he blocks he waits 2 seconds then blocks again rather than waiting for me to attack next to then block

[@AliElZoheiry]

The way the Cooldown decorator works is that it blocks the execution of a branch in the tree for a duration right after that branch was executed, if that is not the behavior you want for your game, then you can make a custom decorator to achieve your desired functionality

[@FajrulFnf]

Hi Ali! Great tutorial series you got there. Been following it for a week now, it makes my game project so much better & flexible. Anyway i'm having this minor problem since part 7 of this tutorial series, everything works out well except when the enemy attacks the player somehow the player doesn't recieved any Damage Response. i've tried debugging the Take Damage interface function and it recieve the Take Damage message from the attacker but the print string always said "100" everytime the enemy attacks. It looks like there's aproblem in "DamageResponse" event between the enemy to the player. Any help will be much appreciated. Once again Thank you!

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey FajrulFnf, glad you've been enjoying the series and finding it helpful so far. Unfortunately I can't tell what the issue is that you're facing just off of this description. I recommend joining the Discord server (link in the description) and ask there with more details and screenshots/videos

[@FajrulFnf]

Hi @@AliElZoheiry Thank you for the reply. I just found the solution. Turns out i just mistakenly called "Take Damage" on BP_Player from "BPI Damageable" instead of "BPC Damage System", now it works well. Thank you again for your great tutorials. Have a good day brother 🙌

[@TolisPiperas82]

PLEASE HELP I HAVE A PROBLEM. WHEN I M IN PASSIVE STATE PRESS W THE PLAYER MOVES CORRECT FORWARD. I PRESS TO GO LEFT OR RIGHT OR BACK.DO THE ANIMATION BUT NOT TURNS TO THE DIRECTION.WHAT I DO WRONG?THE MAGE STANCE WORKS CORRECTLY

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hey there, I believe your Caps lock is on 😅 Not sure what could be the cause of your problem, but if you still can't figure it out, I suggest joining the Discord server and asking your question in the help channel there, provide more information please, e.g screnshots/videos etc.. (Link in the description)

[@WiseThoughts3]

When i shoot the spell it lags the caharacter and still can deal a damage to me , i made the ignore actor when moving for both projectile base and the bpc attacks

[@AliElZoheiry]

You need to make sure that the projectile ignores the actor that spawned it, and at the same time, the capsule component of the capsule that spawned it, ignores the actor, so you need to do it in both actors

[@Goatman480]

I was having this issue as well. What I did was I gave my player blueprint a tag called `Player`. If you click your self actor in your player blueprint and search for tags, you can add it under the Actor tags array. Then in your projectile base blueprint, pull off of the` other actor` pin of the `On Component Hit` event , get the `actor has tag` node, put the tag `Player`, and then use a `NOT Boolean` and a branch. If true, then call on projectile impact like it is set up in this tutorial. This makes it so it will ignore only the player, but collide and damage everything else.

[@user-oe4vo8iv9b]

Great tutorial! But I don't know how, when I finished the blocking incoming attacks section, my enemies became invulnerables to all damage, I can't find the bug, but I think it started when I modify the BPI_Damageable interface and all of that. Also, I disconnect the BT related to block to discard, so I'm a little bit trap here... Probably tomorrow I will keep searching what is going on

[@AliElZoheiry]

If the enemy is always blocking, check the blockChance to make sure it's not 100%

[@user-oe4vo8iv9b]

@@AliElZoheiry I check that for some reason, the melee and ranged AI aren't calling the parent interface for takeDamage, they pass directly by the child. I define the call on beginPlay to pass throguh the parent previously, but I don't know. I still haven't discovered what I broke or what I was missing, since before it did they were receiving and calulating the damage correctly. Regardless, I'm sure that is my fault. Finishing my work day I'll probably check it again. Thanks for your response!

[@user-oe4vo8iv9b]

Okay, I finally discovered what happened, I created a new function TakeDamage on melee and ranged, and this was overriding the parent class of takeDamage, I deleted that and all works fine

[@AliElZoheiry]

Ahh yeah, that can happen by accident if you double click an interface function name in a child class, it automatically creates an override of the parent function. Glad you found the issue 💪@@user-oe4vo8iv9b

[@BooneyianLogic]

My projectile spawns but it seems to push my character back, unless its the animation not being a root animation.

[@AliElZoheiry]

It's possible that it's still colliding with your character and pushing it back, did you add the "Ignore Actor When Moving" node? I explain this issue at 39:50

[@occy999]

my enemy is a 2d character and when he blocks, it starts the animation then half way through before it changes to visual block, it rotates to the player pawn and i have no bloody clue why

[@occy999]

So I gave up and moved onto the bugfixes and the stop movement immediately on block fixed it... for some reason

[@AliElZoheiry]

Hmm.. that's strange 😅 don't see why they are related, but 2D in unreal isn't really my specialty

[@occy999]

I think it might be a velocity thing

[@mikelkram]

Hadouken!

[@ihalojuryi9642]

Hmm, the melee enemy keeps blocking even when the ranged enemy isn't attacking for me...

[@AliElZoheiry]

I've made some improvements to the block functionality in Part 12 (kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3qkkq2FnNyqlas) at 0:53, so be sure to check it out, might fix your issue

[@ihalojuryi9642]

Thanks! I'll check it out after part 10 and 11!@@AliElZoheiry

[@OzarkDev]

For some reason my projectile is not spawning

[@AliElZoheiry]

Could you give some more info?

[@neoxhdp_iguana2727]

42:13 defense IA