Devlog 2: Sean Jeffries: Animation Issues

The Problem

This week, while working on SpellStorm, I encountered an issue related to the attack animation for the turtle enemy. Despite setting up the animation within Unreal Engine 5, it wasn't triggering when the enemy's attack event occurred. This issue was hindering the overall gameplay experience since combat against the turtle enemies felt unresponsive and incomplete without the appropriate animation feedback.

The problem was particularly concerning because animations are crucial in making enemy interactions feel dynamic and engaging. If the turtle's attack animation doesn’t play, the player may not realize they are being attacked, leading to unfair or frustrating gameplay moments.

Solution

Upon diagnosing the issue, I identified that the animation wasn’t playing because the animation montage was being set to play in a specific slot, but the animation montage was setup to play in the default slot. The event was firing correctly, but no animation occurred.

I eventually found out about the mismatch of slot names, and for our current iteration the turtle enemy itself is playing the animation during its attack instead of triggering an event in the animation blueprint.

By making these changes, the attack animation for the turtle enemy began playing correctly during combat. This resolved the issue and enhanced the overall player experience, ensuring that enemy attacks were visually signaled, making combat more intuitive and responsive.