How-To: Author Motion Presets

Motion presets live in a UCrimsonCombatTextMotionSet asset as ordinary editable rows keyed by gameplay tag. Adding your own needs no C++.

One preset, many styles

Define a motion once and point many styles at it. Editing the preset updates every style using it - which is the whole reason motion is a shared asset rather than a per-style struct.

1. Create the asset

Content Browser right-click > Crimson > Combat Text > Motion Set. A new asset arrives pre-seeded with five editable built-in presets, so you are never staring at an empty map:

Preset tag	Feel
`CrimsonCombatText.Motion.FloatUp`	Gentle straight rise with a soft ease-out. The everyday damage number.
`CrimsonCombatText.Motion.ArcOut`	Rises then falls away in an arc. Classic ballistic combat text.
`CrimsonCombatText.Motion.Burst`	Wide fast scatter, short life. Multi-hit and AoE.
`CrimsonCombatText.Motion.CritPunch`	Hard scale punch, minimal drift, long hang time.
`CrimsonCombatText.Motion.Static`	No movement. Fades in place. Good for status words.

Point the registry's MotionSet at this asset, then reference presets from a style's MotionPreset tag.

2. Add your own

Add a gameplay tag under CrimsonCombatText.Motion and a matching row. Tune the amplitudes first, then shape the curves:

Motion Set asset: the Presets map with a preset row expanded, showing RiseCurve open in the curve editor.

Field	What to reach for it for
`Duration`	How long it lives
`RiseDistance`	How far it travels up over the full lifetime
`SpreadDistance`	Lateral amplitude at full fan deflection
`RiseCurve`	The shape of the rise. Empty = linear
`SpreadCurve`	The shape of the lateral travel. Empty = linear
`ScaleCurve`	Punch and settle. Empty = constant 1
`OpacityCurve`	Fade. Empty = opaque until 80%, then linear to 0

Curves are lifetime-relative, not seconds

Curves run over a normalized 0..1 lifetime alpha, not seconds - so changing Duration restretches the whole motion without redrawing anything.

3. Stop hits stacking

bUseSpreadFan deflects concurrent hits on the same target to alternating sides. Slot 0 goes straight up, then -1/N, +1/N, -2/N and so on out to FanWidth. It is deterministic, so the same burst always reads the same way; RandomJitter adds controlled wobble on top if perfect regularity looks mechanical.

SpreadDecayTime in project settings controls how long a burst keeps fanning outward before the next flurry restarts from center.

Overriding motion from a modifier

A modifier's MotionPresetOverride swaps the motion wholesale. Pointing a Crit modifier at CrimsonCombatText.Motion.CritPunch gives every critical hit the punch motion, whatever base style it resolved to - no per-damage-type rows needed.