Hollow Throne is a C++ gameplay programming project developed in Unreal Engine 5, based on Tom Looman's Action Roguelike course. The project will eventually evolve into a third-person Soulslike action game, consisting of melee combat and challenging encounters with an ability-driven gameplay system inspired by games such as Marvel Rivals.
The project builds upon a custom Gameplay Ability System, designed to support a variety of character abilities with reusable behaviours and configurable functionality. My aim is to create a flexible combat architecture that allows different abilities to interact within a shared gameplay framework.
A major focus of development is understanding and adapting gameplay architecture rather than simply following tutorial implementations. I've made independent architectural decisions and adapted elements of the original course material to better suit the direction of the project.
You can follow development, explore technical decisions and see these changes documented on my LinkedIn profile.
Current Development
Custom Gameplay Ability System: A foundation for implementing reusable player abilities with configurable behaviours and cooldowns.
Ability-Based Combat: Implemented projectile-based attacks, with repeatable attacks governed by cooldowns.
C++ and Blueprints: Developing core gameplay functionality in C++, with systems designed to expose functionality to Blueprints. This allows designers to configure existing systems and develop additional content, such as new abilities, without requiring changes to the underlying C++ implementation.
Planned Development
The next stage of development focuses on expanding the combat experience and establishing the core mechanics of the action RPG. Planned features include:
Weapon Systems: Implementing melee weapons, attack functionality and associated animations.
Character Abilities: Expanding the ability system to support a wider variety of offensive, defensive and utility abilities.
Boss Encounter: Developing a challenging boss with dedicated AI behaviour.
Bonfire and Progression System: Implementing save functionality and enemy resets.
The project is an ongoing exploration of Unreal Engine C++ development, gameplay programming, ability-driven combat design, and reusable gameplay architecture.