Launch Pads

Stable - Can be used with minimal support by referencing documentation and examples

Launch pads in use in a Test Gym

Overview

Launch Pads launch players who enter them in a predefined direction. This provides a way for users to quickly and easily traverse the environment, and for operators to create interesting gameplay scenarios. Features include:

• Ability to launch multiple users concurrently

• Customisable destinations, including Actors and worldspace coordinates

• Adjustable launch speeds and flight arcs

Integration

To add a Launch Pad to your map, place BP_LaunchPad or BP_LaunchPad_Transparent objects in your level.

There are currently three supported modes to configure launch pads.

Basic Mode

In Basic Mode, Launch Pads will launch players towards a specified Destination position.

In the Unreal Editor you can specify the Destination position by entering coordinates in the Level Editor Details Panel in the Config > Launch Pad > Destination section.

You can also use the Move Tool to drag-and-drop the destination in the Viewport.

Basic mode configuration example

Moving the destination in editor

You can see a preview of the trajectory the player will follow in editor when you select Config > Launch Pad > Show Arc in Editor. This is enabled by default.

Basic mode trajectory preview

Actors Mode

In this mode, you can add a list of actors under Config > Launch Pad > Launch Targets, and the launch pad will choose a random actor from that list as a target to launch players towards.

Actors mode configuration example

Multiple trajectories calculated in Actors mode (in yellow)

Volume Mode

In Volume Mode, the launch pad will launch players into a specified target area.

Volume mode launch trajectories

To specify the area to launch to, the user should move and scale a TargetVolume game object under the launch pad

Target Volume actor under the Launch Pad

Additional Parameters

• Clicking on the Config > Recalculate button re-runs the trajectory projection and updates the Launch Speed property to find a different arc toward the target.

• Clicking on the Config > Snap Destination to Ground button snaps the destination to the ground under it. This only works in Basic Mode.

• To adjust Launch Speed adjust Config > Launch Pad > Launch Speed

  • Make sure you tick Config > Launch Pad > Enforce Minimum Launch Speed to ensure that players are always launched with enough speed to reach their target destination.

• Launch Pad > Favor High Arc tries to launch the player in a higher arc, this is useful for creating striking vistas for players.

• If Automatically Jump if Walking is set to false, the player only gets launched if they jump.

• Automatically Jump if Falling determines if we want the player to be launched if their vertical velocity is negative (player is falling/moving downwards).

• Must be on Ground only launches the player if they are grounded.

• HasCustomAirControl determines if we want to change the player's air control (how much the player can move while in mid-air)

• AirControlValue, if HasCustomAirControl is true, determines the air control value (default is 0.8)

To change the launch pad's visuals, you will have to modify the blueprint itself

Jump Pads

Jump Pads are similar to Launch Pads but, rather than launch players who enter them in a predefined direction, they launch players in their existing direction of travel.

To add a Jump Pad to your map, place a BP_JumpPad object in your level.