💡 Feature Requests – Modern Survival Horror Framework

Posted by: @idikey

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Hello. Crouch system would be awesome

Posted by: @kesotiv

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I’m not sure if something like this is already implemented, but a good quality-of-life improvement would be to automatically remove key items from the inventory after they’ve been used to unlock a door, passage, or container. Alternatively, they could be marked with a ✅ and made discardable, similar to how it works in Resident Evil 2 or Resident Evil Requiem.

@rozhkovskyproduction Thank you very much for your detailed suggestions and feedback. I really appreciate the time you took to share them. We will carefully review all your points and, after proper evaluation, consider implementing them in future updates where appropriate. Regarding the drag & drop system, I don’t recall seeing this feature in popular horror games like Resident Evil or Silent Hill, which this project is inspired by. However, it’s still an interesting idea as an optional system, and we’ll consider it during evaluation.

@asdaaaaaa First of all, welcome to the forum 😊 

Thank you for your great suggestion, it’s an interesting idea. I’ll add it to our review list. If you have more ideas in the future, please share them in this topic. We carefully review everything and evaluate all suggestions for possible implementation.

Hello, as an additional feature, please consider the Aim Assistant during aiming. In my opinion, this is a very important feature, especially when playing with a gamepad

Hi all!)
I would like to give some new suggestions on functionality.
1. Please add a menu for setting up graphics, controls and sound. I still think this taking into account how productive game projects are now.

2. I would still like to see such functionality similar to horror events
In them, you let the developer create the horror events himself.
I would add the following functionality there:
- 1. Working with streaming levels
- 2. Working with hiding and appearing objects on the level
- 3. Working with MUSIC (Atmospheric, 3d, 2d sound)
All this will make it easier to work with the project and regulate the atmosphere. After all, horror films are very dependent on sound and lighting. Combat alone is not enough; the player will simply get bored with it.
- 4. Transofrm objects (stepping on the trigger causes the objects to move)
- 5. The character looks at. (I looked and, for example, the object moved or turned off)
All this can be collected into one large complex.

3. I noticed a "slight" difficulty with the doors.
I don't know if this will help, but what if you attach the door to the actor pivot? and set it in the direction that allows the door to work correctly, no matter what direction the pivot is on the door itself, and do not constantly drag it into the blender.

4. Indeed, as has already been written here before, there is not enough jumping over obstacles and climbing in a crouching position. (for example, you need to sit down and climb while sitting through a ventilation shaft.) How is this implemented, for example, in an atomic heart.

5. Monsters are good, but what if we made it easier to regulate with a monster?
add it to the settings if possible
-1 Skeletal Mesh
-2 Attack animation
-3 Walk animation
-4 Idle animation
-5 Use Point Damage? (you need to hit certain points on the body to kill the enemy)
-6 emissive point damage
-7 change bone to deal damage
-8 Monster Health

6. Add dialogue control (during the game or while inspecting objects, the character can say something)
Add the following parameters there:
-1 Sound Dialogue
-2 Attenuation
-3 Delay after

All this, I am sure, will greatly help in the implementation of game projects.
I hope to see any of the proposed functionality in the next updates)
Thank you very much in advance for your answer) Your product is amazing!)

@gunx77 Hi, thanks for taking the time and for such useful feedback, really appreciate it 😊 

your suggestions are great, I’ll add them to the review list so they can be evaluated for potential inclusion.

While your combat system is still in its early stages, there are a few things I would like to suggest for improvement:
It would be great to make combat more cinematic. If we take Silent Hill 2 Remake as a reference, when the character strikes with a pipe, it feels like they're sticking to the enemy (there's almost no chance of missing). The strikes are more abrupt and fast-paced. If you strike with a running start (with a swing), you can immediately knock the enemy to the ground. When combined with the ability to dodge enemy attacks, it would be an amazing feature.
I would also like to mention the ability to break objects with melee weapons and break cracked walls.

@rozhkovskyproduction Thank you for your great suggestion. Yes, we plan to have both Resident Evil-style and Silent Hill-style enemies, and this system will be improved over time ... Breaking objects with a pipe is a great idea, I will add it for review, thanks for reminding us about it!

Hello guys!
It would be cool to implement the ability to move from one level to another with the ability to save progress (as it is implemented in your classic horror framework).

Here's an example:
In my project, the levels are divided into sub-levels. So, when I leave a building, I unload the building level and load the street level using the fade in/fade out effect.
After walking on the street, I can also return to the building.
I need to store information about enemies and collected and uncollected items on each sub-level separately. How difficult do you think this is, and is it possible to support your framework in this regard?

@rozhkovskyproduction Yes, this is a very useful feature, thanks for pointing it out so we can have it noted and review it in the future. There’s a good chance we’ll add it to the project in the future updates 😊 

It’s not too difficult to implement, and if you understand the save/load method used in the framework and how it works, you can also implement it yourself.

As a suggestion, you can define a dedicated slot for autosave that triggers on level transitions.

Here are my suggestions for expanding the enemy AI. If these ideas are considered, I’d recommend implementing them gradually over time or releasing them as part of a major update focused entirely on AI improvements.

1. When a zombie detects the player, it should keep its head oriented toward them, as if it’s focused on its prey. This would add a lot of immersion. It would also be great if combat music tied to area or enemy type started playing upon detection.

2. Turn in place system and hearing system would greatly improve transitions from idle to movement. For example, if a zombie is standing with its back turned and hears player running, it could play a turn in place animation before slowly moving toward the player.

3. If the zombie gets close enough, it should attempt to grab the player and slightly increase its movement speed during the chase.

4. After grabbing the player from the front, trigger a quick time event where the player must press the correct button or use a defensive item such as a knife. If the player fails to react, a bite sequence plays and damage player. However, if the zombie grabs player from behind, player should always take damage without the possibility of escaping through a QTE. This would encourage more careful positioning and movement.

5. A stagger/stun system. Critical hits could have a chance to trigger if the player waits for the crosshair to fully tighten before shooting a zombie in the head, arm, or leg. This would briefly stun enemy and trigger a hit reaction animation. Additionally, it could allow for a melee follow up attack against stunned zombies, similar to Resident Evil 4 or Resident Evil Requiem, although that leans more toward action horror.

6. I haven’t tested this yet, but it could be useful if the enemy spawner allowed selecting different zombie variants, such as civilians or police officers.

7. Boss fights and stalker type enemies similar to Mr. X or Nemesis.

8. An optional Crimson Head system inspired by classic Resident Evil games could also be interesting.

9. Exploding zombies could be another enemy variant. Zombie would explode either after being shot or after getting close enough to player, triggering a short explosion timer. An animation could telegraph explosion before it detonates, damaging nearby enemies and player.

@kesotiv These are really interesting suggestions for AI enemies, we’ll definitely take a closer look at them. Thanks for taking the time to write them down.

I'd appreciate the addition of an additional, simple AI without unnecessary frills. This would streamline prototyping and enable faster implementation of new enemy types. Ideally, the AI ​​would be modular in the future, allowing users to simply add their chosen components to the AI ​​blueprint and it would allow us to continue building on a solid, simple foundation. Modern survival horror isn't just about zombies. 

I also agree with Kesotiv that the current zombie AI is, well, a bit odd and unaggressive, and rather fits the classic template. The worst part is that to improve it, the easiest solution would probably be to delete everything and create everything from scratch, which clashes somewhat with the concept of using templates, as creating a new behavioral tree entails many other changes across various blueprints. 

The logic has a whole bunch of 'stop movement' and 'delay' and honestly I don't have much experience with AI programming, so I'm forced to use trial and error to make it a bit more aggressive.

I also think there's a flaw in the logic, as the zombie shakes (especially its head) when turning during a chase, or when the distance between the player and the zombie changes during the chase.

I suggest testing this: create a new, empty level, add a zombie spawn, skip all unnecessary montages, enable FPS mode, and simply run backwards with the zombie around the level to observe this strange warping effect. I'm not sure where this comes from—whether it's the animation blending method or the AI ​​constantly calculating something, but it looks even more disastrous if we change the mannequin's mesh to something else, especially a non-standard one. It's just not as noticeable in the 'breakdancing' style animations your zombie has, but try using this behavior tree on any 'normal' animations and something just feels off.

Another problem with the AI ​​is that if we increase the distance between the player pawn and the zombie enough that the zombie stops chasing, it becomes even more passive and then you practically have to get very, very close to initiate another chase. Sorry if I'm writing this in the wrong thread, but it would be great if you could look into this in future patches.