FOOTSTEP SYSTEM

A simple short sphere trace resolves the physical surface from the character's ground hit result, so footsteps switch naturally between concrete, metal, grass, and the rest of the surface set as the player moves. In the case of Traversal movements when no foot trace is detected, the system dynamically checks surfaces from the body allowing a vault or mantle to resolve what the hands and body actually touch. This allowed for a much tighter trace range when moving from any angle or height.

Each Foley bank lives in a Data Asset bank rather than hard-wired references. Each bank maps movement event gameplay tags to their sound sets, and a custom function handles the surface-to-bank map resolver at runtime. This is a similar workflow to using a switch or random container in Wwise, but eliminates middleware dependency and is easily extended with Blueprint or C++.

Playback runs through a single foley Event path driven by the AnimNotifies within animation sequences. Each movement sound (Walk, Run, RunBackwards, Scuffs, Pivots, Handplants, etc) flows through the notify, Foley component, trace functions, and surface bank maps to create the runtime variations. Sustained actions like slides use their own events and audio components, handling the start, loop, and stop states.