Overview
The Action System is a simple plugin that allows you to create and control Actions; predefined chunks of replicated logic akin to the Abilities found in the Gameplay Ability System.
Although entirely standalone, the Action System Plugin is a core component of the Shooter Sandbox, where it’s used to drive anything and everything the player can do, from crouching and jumping to the firing of weapons.
Fires Farther Afield
The Action System features in my new first-person shooter, Fires Farther Afield. This project is a vehicle through which the plugin, alongside the other components of the Shooter Sandbox, will be thoroughly battle tested.
Utilising Gameplay Tags, any Actor with the BPI_ActionSystem Interface can access and control another Actor’s Action System Component. You can find some example use cases on the plugin’s documentation page.
The configuration settings for the Crouch Action in the Shooter Sandbox
Comparisons to the Gameplay Ability System
I’ve made it no secret that this plugin was directly inspired by my work with Epic’s Gameplay Ability System, and it’s my hope that it’s embraced as a more accessible (but less powerful) alternative for those who want to stick with Blueprint. With one small but very important exception the entire system has been created using Blueprint, and it is entirely modifiable within the Editor.
The Gameplay Ability System has a well-deserved reputation for having a significant barrier of entry, and it should be treated as an all-encompassing system. On the other side of the complexity spectrum, the Action System is a standalone plugin that simply adds replicated actions (or abilities, if you prefer) to your game. There are no black boxes and nothing special or sneaky is going on under the hood, for both better and worse.
I acknowledge that when compared to GAS the Action System plugin will appear a little threadbare. It is my hope that as I use and expand these systems in my own personal projects both here on techarthub and elsewhere that we’ll all benefit from the regular updates. If you’re looking for a specific feature, please reach out!
A note on C++ usage
It’s always been one of my primary goals to keep the amount of C++ code in my Shooter Sandbox project to an absolute minimum, and to allow for as much development to happen within the editor as possible. Unfortunately this doesn’t always work out, and in this case it was the inability for the Action System plugin to be able to automatically add Gameplay Tags to your project.
This is because plugin configuration files are not automatically read by Unreal, as the documentation makes clear.
As a workaround, each of the Shooter Sandbox plugins has a class called [PluginName]GameplayTags that will add the default Gameplay Tags used by the system for you. You can read more about this class in the Action System documentation.
Features
- Fully accessible in-editor with Blueprints
- A modular approach makes the system very easy to adapt and extend
- Fully replicated and designed with multiplayer in mind
Includes
- 2 Blueprint Actor Components (The Action System and base Action class)
- 1 Blueprint Interface
Version History
| Version | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | 2025-07-15 | Adding Action interrupts |
| 1.0 | 2024-11-18 | Initial UE5.4 release |
