How-to recipes¶
Designer and Programmer
Each recipe does one task from start to finish. It lists what you need, gives one action per step, and ends with Test it (what to press in Play and what you should see) and If it doesn't work (the symptom and the fix, including the failures that happen without any error).
Find your task in the tables below. What you get is what you will see in Play when you finish. Code says whether you need anything beyond the editor: No means the Details panel, Data Assets, Data Tables and, at most, a few simple Blueprint nodes. C++ means a programmer.
New to the template? Do the Getting Started tutorials first: Your first change, Your first art and Your first enemy. They cover the most common tasks with more explanation than a recipe gives. Unfamiliar words are in the Glossary.
Work in your own folder
Every recipe puts new assets under Content/MyGame/… and duplicates shipped assets rather than
editing them. Where a recipe has to edit a shipped asset, it says so; note those changes so you
can reapply them after a template update.
Times are for a first attempt with the editor already open.
Most common tasks¶
- New character: Add a party member, then Set the starting party.
- New attack: Create an attack art.
- New enemy in the world: Add an enemy type, then Place enemies.
- New item: Add a weapon, Add an armour piece or Add a consumable item.
- New NPC: Write an NPC conversation, then Create a collection quest.
Characters and party¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add a party member | A new character with their own name, portrait, look, stats, gear and Arts | No | 30 min |
| Add a VRoid party member | A character made in VRoid Studio, playable and fighting like the rest | No | 2 h |
| Set the starting party | A new game starts with the characters you choose | No | 15 min |
| Author a character statline | A character's own HP, Strength, Ether and Agility from level 1 to 99 | No | 30 min |
| Bake a HUD portrait | A cut-out portrait for the HUD and menus | No | 30 min |
| Choose an animation style | A character moves with the masculine or feminine set, or your own | No | 20 min–1 h |
| Give a character its own combat animations | Its own topple, flinch, block, dodge, death and victory clips | No | 20 min |
| Give a character its own idle breaks and faces | A companion that fidgets and pulls faces in its own way at rest | No | 20 min |
| Add a skill or a skill tree | A skill tree whose branches the player learns with SP | No | 45 min |
| Tune progression | The party levels at the pace you want | No | 20 min |
| Tune revive and defeat | Revive cost and health, out-of-battle recovery, and how a lost battle looks | No | 15 min |
Arts and combat¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create an attack art | A new attack on the palette, with its own animation, damage and cooldown | No | 40 min |
| Create a healing or support art | A heal on one ally you pick, and a whole-party Strength buff with Regenerate | No | 30 min |
| Create a Talent Art | A weapon-granted art paid for with the Talent Gauge | No | 40 min |
| Palette slots | How many Art slots each level has, and which Arts each character learns | No | 20 min |
| Make an art inflict reactions | A Break → Topple → Daze combo across three Arts | No | 30 min |
| Add a status effect | A debuff that lowers a stat and deals damage over time | No | 30 min |
| Tune auto-attack | The auto-attack swings at the speed, reach and rhythm you want, with your own clips | No | 20 min |
| Tune targeting | Lock-on reaches as far as you want and faces the target when close | No | 30 min |
| Tune companion AI | A companion that heals early, saves an art for the Break, or acts less often | No | 20 min |
| Add hit feedback | Camera shake and pad rumble on a landed hit, tuned your way | No | 20 min |
| Add a stat to the damage formula | A new character stat that changes damage | C++ | 1 h |
Items and equipment¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add a weapon | A new weapon with its own look and stats, equippable from the menu | No | 45 min |
| Add an armour piece | A new armour piece with defence, weight and its own look | No | 20 min |
| Add an equipment stat | A weapon or armour piece that grants a stat it did not before | No | 15 min |
| Add a consumable item | An item the party uses from the bag, spending one each time | No | 45 min |
| Author a drop table | Enemies leave chests with the tier odds and contents you chose | No | 20 min |
| Set and style item rarity | Item names in their rarity colour, with pips, in every menu | No | 10 min |
| Add Y-to-sort to an item list | Pressing Y on your screen cycles how its item list is ordered | No | 10 min |
| Add a gem | A new gem the party can socket into weapons and armour | No | 10 min |
Enemies¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add an enemy type | A new enemy with its own body, animations, abilities, stats and loot | No | 90 min |
| Give an enemy arts and AI | Your enemy uses its own Arts and chains them | No | 40 min |
| Author an enemy statline | Your enemy's HP, Strength, Ether, Agility and defences at every level | No | 30 min |
| Place enemies | A squad that wanders, fights together and respawns; a patrolling enemy; a unique monster | No | 20 min |
NPCs, quests and commerce¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Write an NPC conversation | A townsperson with a name plate who talks when you press Talk | No | 15 min |
| Branch a conversation | An NPC who says different things depending on quest and party state | No | 40 min |
| Create a collection quest | An NPC who asks for items and pays you when you hand them in | No | 30 min |
| Create a kill, talk or location quest | Quests to defeat enemies, speak to someone or reach a place | No | 30 min |
| Open a shop | An NPC who talks first, then sells your own stock | No | 20 min |
| Set up a trade | An NPC who swaps your collectables for their goods | No | 20 min |
| Recruit a party member by talking to them | A character who joins the party when you talk to them | No | 10 min |
| Add an interactable object | A lever or other object with a button prompt that does something | No | 30 min |
Menus, HUD and input¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restyle the menus | The menus in your own colours and font | No | 45 min |
| Add a menu screen | A new main-menu entry that opens your own screen | No | 45 min |
| Add a confirmation popup | A Yes/No question drawn over your own screen | No (C++ optional) | 20 min |
| Add an input action with a prompt | A new button that runs an ability, with its glyph on screen | No | 40 min |
| Add a HUD element | Your own widget on the in-game HUD | No | 20 min |
| Add a tutorial card | A card that pauses the game the first time the player meets something | No | 15 min |
Maps, world and camera¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build a world-partition map | A large map that streams in pieces as the party travels | No | 2 h |
| Give a map its music | A field track that crossfades to a battle track and back | No | 20 min |
| Give a map its time of day and weather | A sun that follows the clock, a night sky, and weather rolled for your map | No | 20 min |
| Give a map its minimap | Your map's own image on the minimap, lined up with the world | No | 30 min |
| Show something on the minimap | Your own actor drawn as a marker on the minimap | No | 15 min |
| Footsteps by surface | A new ground type with its own step sound and effect | No | 30 min |
| Megascans at shipping size | Pack assets you placed, at a shipping size, with nothing missing on a fresh copy | No | 1 h |
| Swap the camera feel | The exploration camera further, closer, higher or lower | No | 30 min |
Saving, extending and shipping¶
| Recipe | What you get | Code | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Make a system save | Your own state written into the save file and restored on load | No (C++ optional) | 30 min |
| Replace the sample content | Your own characters, gear, enemies and map; the samples removed | No | 2–4 h |
| Turn on NVIDIA DLSS and Frame Generation | DLSS options in the game's Video settings | No | 15 min |
| Package a build | A Windows build that boots and plays | No (programmer task) | 1–2 h |
| Add a mechanic by subclassing | Your own C++ module building on XenoCore's classes | C++ | 1–2 h |
Can't find your task?¶
- The Concepts page for the system explains its settings and where to extend it.
- Troubleshooting is organised by symptom.