What I Learned in My First Year with Unreal and GAS

Intro

It’s been a while since I updated this blog (literally years!), but I figured it’s about time I post something — for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I want to use this space to keep the momentum going with my game project, Forge. Secondly, I’d like to turn this into a devlog of sorts — a way to solidify what I’ve been learning and reflect on what I plan to build next.

What is Forge?

Forge is an RPG I’ve been slowly building in Unreal Engine 5 — a passion project inspired by classics like Diablo II and Path of Exile, with a mix of modern survival elements from games like Valheim and Rust. My goal is to blend loot-driven progression with fast-paced combat in an online multiplayer world.

I’ve tried (and failed) at hobby game projects before — in fact, game dev is what got me started as a developer years ago — but this time has been different.

In the past, I’d usually abandon projects before they got off the ground. Sometimes I’d get distracted; other times I’d chase the next shiny idea. But with Forge, I’ve stuck with it for nearly a year now — slowly chipping away at it. A big part of that is thanks to the amazing Unreal Engine 5 course by Stephen Ulibarri: Unreal Engine 5 — Gameplay Ability System — Top Down RPG

Stephen’s course is hands-down the best resource I’ve found for understanding the Gameplay Ability System (GAS). It’s not just about following along and building features — it dives deep into how GAS works under the hood: replication, prediction, effect specs, ability activation, and more. If you’re serious about learning Unreal’s systems in a real project context, I highly recommend it.

Why Unreal? Why GAS?

Before this, I’d tinkered with Unity for a few years. I always shied away from Unreal — mostly because of the learning curve with Blueprints, and my comfort zone being in C# rather than C++.

And yeah… the learning curve is real. But when Unreal clicks, it really clicks. The workflow of building C++ base classes and extending them in Blueprints gave me a better understanding of how game logic and gameplay systems mesh together. It’s more structured, and I’ve come to appreciate that.

What really drew me in, though, is Unreal’s out-of-the-box support for networking and multiplayer. Back when I was using Unity (5+ years ago), networking felt like a bolt-on — relying on third-party tools. In contrast, Unreal’s client/server architecture and built-in replication give you multiplayer support from the start, with tools for simulating clients, running dedicated servers, and debugging replication flow. It felt like the right engine for what I want Forge to become.

Things I Love About Unreal (So Far)

Metahuman

Building characters for Forge was one of the first big decisions I had to make. I’m not a 3D modeler by any stretch — my strengths lie in designing systems and UI, like I do in my day job. When I started this project a year ago, Metahuman was already on my radar, but most people online warned that it wasn’t “game-ready” — too high-poly, better suited for cinematics or cutscenes.

Fast forward to 2025, and Unreal Engine 5.6 introduced low-poly game-ready Metahumans. That changed everything. Now I can use these incredible character tools to create dynamic, realistic NPCs and players — without needing an art pipeline.

Animation Retargeting

Like modeling, animation isn’t one of my strong suits either. But Unreal’s animation retargeting tools made it surprisingly approachable. After a few (hilarious) failed attempts, I figured out how to match bone chains and skeletons to reuse animations from one character on another. It opened up a ton of possibilities — now I can bring in third-party animation packs and reuse them across all my characters.

User Interface Development

The GAS course also covers a robust UI system that ties directly into your character’s abilities and attributes. It introduces a pattern called the Widget Controller, which acts as the glue between your gameplay systems and the front-end interface. As someone with a React/TypeScript background, it reminded me a lot of higher-order components or prop injection — you define what data the widget needs, and the controller handles how to pass it in.

It has been incredibly satisfying to build things like health bars, ability icons, and stat panels that respond to gameplay state in real-time.

What I'm Working on Next

I feel like I’m only just scratching the surface of what’s possible with Unreal and the Gameplay Ability System. There’s still so much to explore — from advanced abilities to AI behaviors, networking, and world-building.

Next up, I’ll be diving into melee combat and adding more abilities to the player. I’m aiming to prototype a full action loop — something that feels fast, responsive, and layered with depth.

My next devlog will likely focus on that process: implementing melee attacks, animation syncing, and how I’m expanding the ability system to support it. Until then, thanks for reading — and if you're building something similar (or just curious about GAS), feel free to reach out!