About
An upgraded version of the 2025 Unity Cliimbing System, powered by Unreal Engine 5 that supports dynamic ledge detection, designer-authored ledge spline tool, and a full set of traversal mechanics.
The system is built around two components:
✦ Climbing Component – Actor Component that handles ledge detection and player traversal
✦ Ledge Component – Level Designer tool for authoring climbable geometry
✦ Ledge Component – Level Designer tool for authoring climbable geometry
The goal of the project was to not only recreate the climbing system of Uncharted 4, but to further explore how as a technical designer, I can streamline the prototyping workflow of level designers, by empowering them with an easy to use custom spline tool.
Demo Levels
Ledge Component
Component overview
The Ledge Component is a custom custom editor tool, and a child class of Spline Component, aimed to help level designer create and define climable ledges faster and easier with following features:
✦ Tool Visualization - Describe ledge's shape, volume and orientation as preview meshes, for a more readable interface.
✦ Ledge Validation - Detects invalid ledge placement, and turns red if the angle, space, or surface is not supported.
✦ Procedual Carving - Allows level designers to freely carve or extrude a mesh, modifying its geometry in real time as a dynamic mesh. Additional ultility blueprint and python script helps export the mesh as a static mesh asset.
Utility Blueprint + Python Script to carve and export mesh
Geometry based ledge detection
Aside from ledges defined by the spline tool, the system also supports dectection of ledges purely by scanning the mesh's geometry. While this can be expensive and less reliable for the final product, it could be helpful in the blockout phase or during rapid prototype, as it saves a level designer the time to configure a ledge component for every climable object.
Geometry based detection, no spline used here
Player traversal
Reach hand based on Analog input
Shimmy when braced and freehang
braced Climb
braced Jump
Foot placement and full body ik, freehang detection
Scripted event on climb
Vault and jump backwards
drop grab, corner move and climb up
Braced & Freehang transition climb
Braced & Freehang transition jump
