GASPALS 1.2 is out: Production Ready 🤞, Cover system, a new First-Person system and fixes across the board | Unreal Engine 5.8 (Patreon)

GASPALS 1.2 is the biggest update since the first release. The Game Animation Sample with ALS-style layering is now a set of modular systems that work the same way on both pawns, the Mover pawn and the Character Movement (CMC) pawn. This update brings Epic's new ragdoll and takedown features from the 5.8 sample, a full cover system, a first-person system rebuilt from scratch, a lot of new settings for the existing systems, and a long list of fixes. Every system was tested on both pawns, in multiplayer and in a packaged build.

Documentation: docs.polygonhive.com/gaspalsFull release notes: What changed in 1.2

1. A production-ready template

The main goal of 1.2 was to turn the sample into something you can build a game on. Every system was tested, polished and documented.

Turn any system on or off

One switch per system: Camera, First Person, Cover, Traversal, Equipment, Overlay, Ragdoll and Debug Tools each have an Enable setting on the pawn. Turn off what your game doesn't need.

Remove what you don't use: the equipment, overlay, first-person, ragdoll and debug tools components can be deleted from a pawn without breaking it.

Clean connections between systems: every system talks to the others through its own interface (Camera, First Person, Cover, Traversal, Equipment, Overlay, Ragdoll), so you can replace one system without touching the rest.

Settings instead of hard-coded values

Perspectives, crosshair, camera offsets, trace channels, input contexts, menus and widgets are all settings now.

Hold or toggle per action: crouch, walk, sprint, aim and strafe.

Movement tuning that used to be fixed in the graphs (acceleration, friction, braking, slide speeds and cooldown, landing and in-air turning) is exposed on both pawns.

Safe and easy to set up

On-screen warnings when something is missing or misconfigured: a missing setup, an empty input context, undeclared console variables, a perspective that isn't allowed.

The plugin declares every engine plugin it needs, the collision channels moved to the last slots so they don't clash with your own, and packaging works out of the box.

Every Blueprint has categories, descriptions and commented, cleanly laid out graphs.

Full gamepad support for gameplay: cover, takedowns, the equipment menu, the overlay menu and the camera perspective are all on the controller now.

New documentation site

The docs were rewritten from the ground up: installation, a quick start, how each system works, step-by-step tutorials (add a character, an item, an overlay state, set up cover in a level, use GASPALS in your own project or on your own pawn), and a full Blueprint reference with every setting and its default.

2. Ragdoll and takedowns from Epic's 5.8 update

The 5.8 version of Epic's Game Animation Sample added a physics-driven ragdoll and character interactions on a separate demo pawn. GASPALS 1.2 brings all of it into the main Mover pawn, so it works in every level and game mode, next to cover, first person, equipment and overlays.

What Epic added

A ragdoll movement mode for Mover: the character falls as a full physics body, rolls down slopes on its own, and gets back up with a get-up animation picked for how it landed (face up or face down).

Physics Control profiles that blend between animation and physics, so the body reacts to the world instead of snapping between the two.

Takedowns and tackles: run up to another character and take them down; the victim's animation hands over to the ragdoll.

Shoves, hit reactions and injury states, with the injured pose carried into the get-up.

Obstacles that knock you over when you run into them, and characters without a player that get back up by themselves.

Multiplayer: ragdolls, takedowns and shoves replicate, with the bodies kept in sync across machines.

What GASPALS adds on top

On one pawn: the ragdoll, takedowns, shoves and hit reactions live on the Mover pawn itself instead of a separate demo pawn, in every game mode.

The CMC pawn ragdolls too, with the same keys, the running momentum kept on the way down, legs that collide with each other, and NPCs that get back up on their own.

Same controls everywhere: X to ragdoll, X or Space to get up (only once the body rests on the floor), left click for a takedown, E for a shove. On the gamepad: D-pad right, right trigger and the top face button.

Calmer bodies: a ragdoll lying still no longer shakes its hands, and outside ragdoll the body is kinematic by default, so hands no longer catch on walls (the physical animation profile is one setting away).

Works in a packaged game: the ragdoll physics no longer stop working about a minute after start.

A ragdoll interface so your own code can start a ragdoll, push the body or ask it to get up on either pawn, plus settings for the settle, the obstacle hits, the get-up and the ragdoll camera.

Debug tools to try it out: aim and click to shoot a character into ragdoll, spawn or turn targets, teleport and fly.

3. The cover system

A complete cover system, on both pawns and in multiplayer, on by default.

Soft and sticky cover: walk into a wall to take cover automatically, or press the cover button to stick to the wall in front of you or under the crosshair.

High and low cover: the character crouches behind low walls on its own and lowers its pelvis to stay hidden.

Edges and corners: stops at wall ends, follows gentle bends and turns chained corners.

Cover runs: hold the button to sprint to the cover you are aiming at, following the navmesh around obstacles.

Vault from cover over low walls, and aim from cover with the least exposed pose that can still hit the target.

Cover camera: camera offsets for low cover and wall edges, and an automatic shoulder switch.

Cover marker showing where you can take cover, with your own widget if you want.

First-person cover: choose what happens in first person (stay in first person, switch to third person, or no cover).

Dozens of settings for distances, facing, re-entry, run timing and engage rules, plus a debug view of the cover traces.

4. The first-person system

First person was rebuilt from scratch around one component on the pawn and one data asset per character.

Automatic first-person meshes: the pawn generates the first-person version of its body, of the active character and of the held item. No more hand-made first-person meshes or tags.

One setup data asset per character (meshes, retargeter, camera bone, eye offset). The mannequin, Manny, Quinn and Kellan (MetaHuman) are set up, and MetaHuman clothing works.

Three modes: full-body overlay (default), split arms and body, and true first person.

Aim down sights per item, with its own sockets, speeds and hand offset.

Procedural motion: look and move sway, walk bob, breathing, jump and landing kicks, all fading out while aiming. The camera never moves. Each item can have its own profile (unarmed, pistol, rifle, bow, heavy), with a global intensity setting.

Tools for your own characters: a mesh splitting tool, a template Anim Blueprint for other skeletons, and on-screen setup warnings.

5. Updates to the existing systems

Pawns and movement

One Mover pawn now has everything: ragdoll, physics control, takedowns, shoves, hit reactions, injury states and the debug tools, in every game mode.

The CMC pawn caught up: auto-strafe, target lock and the same movement tuning settings as the Mover pawn.

A slide cooldown (no more slide spam), slide speed settings, landing braking, and in-air turning settings.

Camera

Allowed perspectives: first person only, third person only, or any mix of third person, top-down, side-scroller and first person.

A crosshair dot at the aim point in every perspective, with your own widget if you like.

Camera offsets per situation: crouch, shoulder, cover, in the air, sliding, traversing and ragdoll, each one easy to change or turn off.

The ragdoll camera works on both pawns and switches to third person while you're down.

Equipment

Per-item settings for aim down sights, hand IK, first-person motion and the first-person copy.

Hand bones, the menu widget and the menu slow motion are settings, and you can hide items from the menu.

A one-handed revolver is included but hidden from the menu while it gets more polish; you can turn it back on with one setting.

Overlays and animation

New stances and body styles are added with one row in a map, with a warning when one is missing.

Ready-pose and aim timings per overlay, and aim smoothing settings for the local player and other players.

Traversal, characters and debug tools

Traversal: configurable trace channels and check ranges per pawn, vaulting from cover, and turning in first person.

Characters: each pawn can have its own default character, or follow the sandbox selection.

Debug tools as their own component: demo shot, spawn or rotate characters, teleport and debug flying.

6. Fixes across the board

Overlays and legs

The legs layer is on: overlay stances now show in the legs and pelvis, not just the upper body.

Knees no longer bend or twist under overlay leg poses (foot placement measures the real leg lengths).

Overlay changes are instant, a stance set on the pawn shows at spawn and comes back after unequipping, and Injured and HandsTied are real overlays.

Your own weapon aim follows the camera in the same frame: no lag and no stepping when turning.

Ragdoll

Same ragdoll and get-up keys on both pawns, and you only get up once the body rests on a floor.

Characters without a player get back up on their own, on both pawns.

A ragdoll lying still no longer shakes its hands, a running character keeps its momentum, and the legs no longer pass through each other.

Collision is restored correctly after a ragdoll, and the ragdoll physics no longer stop working after a minute in a packaged game.

Hands no longer catch on walls outside ragdoll.

Multiplayer

Camera, traversal and character changes replicate on both pawns, and a client's character change reaches everyone.

Ragdoll impulses push the body on every machine, and cover lowering looks the same everywhere.

Traversal no longer starts twice on a listen-server host, and the 2 m mantle no longer ends inside the ledge.

Everything else

The equipment menu opens for the right player and cleans up properly when the pawn is destroyed.

Kellan loads without errors, placed CMC characters no longer run their own camera every frame, and no asset references missing content.

Upgrading from 1.0

1.2 changes a lot under the hood (cover, first person, the Mover pawn, collision channels). If you built on 1.0/1.1, follow the upgrade guide step by step before moving your project over.

Though it should be possible to upgrade from previous GASPALS version. I still recommend rebuilding on top of 1.2 directly.

Thank you for supporting GASPALS. If you run into anything or have ideas for the next update, come say hi on Discord.