In this section, you’ll add footstep sounds to the player character to add to the realism of running around the level. You will use Sound Cues to create different sounds based on the type of surface that the player walks on.
You’ll create Physical Materials to represent the surface types. For instance, walking on metal should sound different from walking on stone. You will also create a custom Data Asset that holds the surface and sound information. Using a Data Asset makes it easier to add more surface types and sounds in the future, without modifying the Blueprint code.
Lastly, you’ll create a Function in the Blueprint Function Library that you already have in the game – BPL_FPGame. This function will, in turn, call a function inside the Data Asset that returns the correct sound effect based on the surface type detected.
Before You Begin
Make sure you understand these topics covered in the previous sections of the Art Pass for a Puzzle Adventure Game and Unreal Engine for New Users:
Creating Sound Cue and Sound Attenuation assets.
Blueprint basics, including creating variables and functions, and creating and connecting nodes.
You’ll work with the following assets in the sample project and content pack:
S_Metal-1 Sound Wave
S_Metal-2 Sound Wave
S_Metal-3 Sound Wave
S_Stone-1 Sound Wave
S_Stone-2 Sound Wave
S_Stone-3 Sound Wave
S_DefaultStep-1 Sound Wave
S_DefaultStep-2 Sound Wave
S_DefaultStep-3 Sound Wave
BPL_FPGame Blueprint Function Library
BP_AdventureCharacter Blueprint
ABP_Unarmed Animation Blueprint
Create Sound Cues with Footstep Sounds
First, you’ll create two Sound Cues, one for footsteps on metal and one for footsteps on stone.
To create a Sound Cue, follow these steps:
Go to the Content Browser and navigate to the AdventureGame > Artist > Audio.
Right-click in the Audio folder, select New Folder, and name it Footsteps.
In the Footsteps folder, right-click and go to Audio > Sound Cue. Name this SC_Footsteps_Metal and open it. There is already an Output node in this asset, which plays the sound based on the nodes that are connected to it.
Right-click anywhere in the graph and add a Wave Player node.
Select the Wave Player node and use the panel on the left side to change the Sound Wave to S_Metal-1.
Add two more Wave Player nodes and repeat the steps for them to select the S_Metal-2 and S_Metal-3 Sound Wave files you imported in Set Up Your Project and Import Content.
Right-click in the graph and add a Random node. Click Add input in the Random node once to add a third input.
Connect each Wave Player node to a pin on the Random node.
Connect the Random node to the Output node.
Save the Sound Cue.
Next, create two Sound Cue assets, one that randomizes the stone footstep sounds, and one for the default footstep sounds:
Create a Sound Cue asset named SC_Footsteps_Stone.
For the Wave Player nodes, use the S_Stone-1 , S_Stone-2, and S_Stone-3 audio assets you imported in Set Up Your Project and Import Content.
Create a Sound Cue asset named SC_Footsteps_Default.
For the Wave Player nodes, use the S_Default-1, S_Default-2, and S_Default-3 audio assets.
Create Physical Materials
Now that you have created your Sound Cues, you will create two Physical Materials to represent each surface type. You’ll later match the footstep sounds to these physical materials.
A Physical Material is used to define the response of a physical object when interacting dynamically with the world. These material can also be used to identify different types of surfaces during gameplay.
For example, in this tutorial, you’ll create Physical Materials named PM_Metal and PM_Stone to represent metal and stone surfaces. You’ll then check which surface the player is walking on, and play a Sound Cue based on that information.
To create a Physical Material, follow these steps:
Go to the Content Browser and navigate to the AdventureGame > Artist > Materials folder.
In the Materials folder, right-click, go to Physics, and select Physical Material.
In the Pick Physical Material Class window, select PhysicalMaterial, and click Select.
Name this asset PM_Metal.
Create one more Physical Material named PM_Stone.
A Physical Material is a data asset that you can use to change various settings for a surface, like friction. For these Physical Materials, you don’t have to edit the properties in the assets themselves. Instead, you’ll assign these assets to different materials to change their individual surface types.
Assign Footstep Sounds With a Data Asset Blueprint Class
Next, you’ll create a new Blueprint Data Asset class to hold the footstep sounds and create a function that returns the correct footstep sound based on the Physical Material assigned to the material of an object.
To set up a Blueprint Data Asset to control your footstep sounds, follow these steps:
In the Content Browser, navigate to the AdventureGame > Artist > Audio > Footsteps folder.
Right-click and create a Blueprint Class.
In the Pick Parent Class window, expand the All Classes dropdown and search for, then select PrimaryDataAsset.
Name this asset BP_DA_FootSteps and open it.
In the My Blueprint panel, add a new variable:
Name it FootStepSounds.
Select it, and in the Details panel:
Change the Variable Type to Physical Material (Object Reference).
Change the Container to Map.
Change the Map Value Type to Sound Cue (Object Reference).
The default Variable Type is boolean. Since you can’t map booleans, the Map container will not be available if you don't change the Variable Type first.
Add another variable:
Name it DefaultFootSteps.
Change its type to Sound Cue.
Since there is only one Sound Cue for the default footstep sound, and it’ll only play if there is no Physical Material assigned to the object's material, you can change its container type to a single variable.
A map variable is a data-pair list that links one type of asset to another. The FootStepSounds variable maps each Physical Material to its corresponding Sound Cue.
To set up FootStepSounds to link materials with sounds, follow these steps:
Compile the blueprint so you can edit your variables’ default values.
Select the FootStepSounds variable. In the Details panel, under Default Value, add a new element.
In the Physical Material field, select the PM_Stone asset.
In the Sound Cue field, select the SC_Footsteps_Default asset.
Repeat the steps above to add an element with PM_Metal and SC_Footsteps_Metal assigned.
Select the FootStepSounds variable. In the Details panel, under Default Value, add SC_Footsteps_Default.
To build the blueprint logic, follow these steps:
In the My Blueprint panel, add a new Function named fnGetFootStepSounds. It opens in a new tab with its own graph.
Select the function and, using the Details panel, do the following:
Add a new Input named PhysicalMaterial with the type Physical Material.
Add a new Output named SoundCue with the type set to Sound Cue.
In the graph, disconnect the wire between the function entry node (fnGetFootStepSounds) and Return Node.
In the function graph, drag the FootStepSounds variable into the function graph and select Get.
Drag the Foot Step Sounds node’s pin and add a Find node.
From the Find node, connect the second input pin to the fnGetFootStepSounds node’s Physical Material pin. This is the parameter for the input you added earlier.
On the fnGetFootStepSounds node, drag its exec pin and add a Branch node. Connect the Condition pin to the Find node’s bottom (red) output pin.
From the Branch node, connect the True pin to the Return Node.
From the Return node, drag the Sound Cue pin and connect it to the Find node’s top (blue) output pin.
From the Branch node, drag the False pin and add another Return Node.
On the new Return Node, drag off the Sound Cue pin and add a Get Default Foot Steps node.
Compile and Save the blueprint.
This function checks if a Physical Material (function input) is found in the FootStepSounds Map. If the Physical Material is found, it returns the Sound Cue associated with that Physical Material as the function's output variable.
If no Physical Material is found, the DefautlFootSteps Sound Cue is returned instead.
Set the Default Footstep Sounds
Next, you’ll create a Data Asset to manage the values used by your Blueprint. This asset acts as a configuration layer, allowing you to add, remove, or update the Physical Materials and Sound Cues without modifying or recompiling the Blueprint. Follow these steps:
In the Content Browser, navigate to the AdventureGame > Artist > Audio > Footsteps folder.
Right-click and go to Miscellaneous > Data Asset. (Select the Data Asset type with a circular icon.)
Select the BP_DA_FootSteps data class as the data asset instance.
Name this asset DA_FootSteps and open it.
For Default Foot Steps, select SC_Footsteps_Default.
Expand Foot Step Sounds and ensure the list is populated with both FootStepSounds map elements.
Save the Data Asset.
Build a Function to Play Footstep Sounds
Next, you’ll create a function in the function library to play the footstep sound. Any blueprint class in your project can use functions in a blueprint function library.
To create and set up a new function, follow these steps:
In the Content Browser, go to AdventureGame > Designer > Blueprints > Core, and open the BPL_FPGame blueprint function library.
In the My Blueprint panel, add a new function and name it fnBPLPlayFootStepSound.
Select the new function and in the Details panel, add a new Input named PlayerReference of the type Pawn.
To set up a line trace between the player and the ground, follow these steps:
Drag off the fnBPLPlayFootStepSound node’s exec pin and add a Line Trace By Channel node.
From the Line Trace By Channel node, drag the Start pin and add a Get Actor Location node.
In the Node Actions list, remember to disable Context Sensitive if you have trouble finding a node.
Drag the Get Actor Location node’s Target pin and add a Get Player Reference node.
Drag the Get Player Reference node’s output pin and add a Make Array node.
Connect the Make Array node’s array output pin to the Line Trace By Channel node’s Actors to Ignore pin.
From the Get Actor Location node, drag the Return Value pin and add a Subtract node.
Connect the Subtract node’s output pin to the Line Trace By Channel node’s End pin.
In the Subtract node, set the Z value to 500.
This traces a line starting from the player’s position downwards by 500 units, ignoring the player character. In the next part, you will assign the correct footstep sound based on the surface type reported by the line trace.
Follow these steps to use the Data Asset you created earlier to assign the right footstep sound:
From the Line Trace By Channel node, drag the Out Hit pin and select Break Hit Results.
Create a local variable, name it FootStepsAsset and set its type to BP_DA_FootSteps (Object Reference). Set its Default Value to DA_FootSteps.
Drag the FootStepsAsset variable to the Event Graph and selected Get FootStepAsset.
Drag from the FootStepsAsset node and search for then select fnGetFootStepSounds.
Connect the Exec pin of the LineTraceByChannel node to the FnGetFootStepSounds node. Expand the Break Hit Results node and connect the Phys Mat pin to the Physical Material pin of the FnGetFootStepSounds node.
Drag from the FnGetFootStepSounds node and search for then select Play Sound At Location.
Connect the PlaySoundAtLocation node’s Sound pin to the Sound Cue pin of the FnGetFootStepSounds node.
Drag the Location pin of the PlaySoundAtLocation node and search for then select Get Actor Location. Drag its Target pin and add a Get Player Reference node.
Save and Compile the function.
This uses the Data Asset function fnGetFootStepSounds to pass in a Physical Material and get a Sound Cue to play.
Update the Animation Blueprint with Step Sounds
The next step is to modify your player character’s Animation Blueprint to call the FnBPLPlayFootStepSound function when each foot of the character touches on the ground.
Most Manny characters, like the one used in this project, use animations that include Notifications by default. Animation Notifications (also known as Animation Notifies or just Notifies) provide a way for you to create repeatable events synchronized with Animation Sequences. These events can be sounds (such as footsteps for walk or run animations), spawning particles, and more.
While Notifies can be added to an Animation Sequence, most locomotion animations that comes with the Unreal Engine templates, come with default Animation Notifies that match when the character's feet touch the ground (FootPlant).
Follow these steps to see the default Animation Notifies:
In the Content Browser, open the animation blueprint that your player character uses. For BP_AdventureCharacter in the sample project, go to Content > Characters > Mannequins > Anims > Unarmed, and open ABP_Unarmed.
In the top-right corner, click the Animation button (green running human icon). This opens one of the blueprint’s animations in a new tab in Unreal Editor.
To change the animation that’s playing, click the three dots next to the Animation button, and select any walk or run animation. For example, MF_Unarmed_Jog_Fwd.
Tip: You can also open the jog animation directly from the Content Browser.
In the timeline, you’ll see the footplant Notifies:
You can add new Notifies and change existing ones to craft your own system where you would like to execute a chain of events. For this tutorial, you’ll use the default Notifies that come with the character’s animations. They are called AN_FootPlant_Right and AN_FootPlant_Left.
To add the animation’s Notifies to the blueprint and play the footstep sounds, follow these steps:
Go back to ABP_Unarmed.
Right-click in the Event Graph and add an AnimNotify_AN_FootPlant_Left node.
Drag from the Notify node’s pin and search for then select FnBPLPlayFootStepSound.
Add an AnimNotify_AN_FootPlant_Right node and connect it to the FnBPLPlayFootStepSound node’s exec input pin.
From the FnBPLPlayFootStepSound node, drag the Player Reference pin and add a Get Player Pawn node.
Compile and Save the animation blueprint.
This will play the footstep sound each time the foot plant notify triggers from the animation blueprint.
If your character uses additional animation blueprints, then you have to add the code to those animation BPs as well.
Update the Player Character Blueprint to Play Footstep Sounds
Next, you’ll modify the player blueprint and add logic to play the sound when the player lands on the ground, such as landing after falling or jumping. Since you created the FnBPLPlayFootStepSound function in the blueprint function library, you can reuse that function in the player character’s blueprint.
To modify the player blueprint, follow these steps:
Open the Content Browser and navigate to the AdventureGame > Designer > Blueprints > Characters folder.
Open the BP_AdventureCharacter blueprint and go to the EventGraph tab.
Right-click an empty area of the graph and add an Event On Landed node.
Drag the EventOnLanded node’s exec pin and search for then select FnBPLPlayFootStepSound.
From the FnBPLPla FootStepSound node, drag the Player Reference pin and add a Self node.
Compile and Save the blueprint.
Assign Floors a Physical Material
Next, you’ll assign a Physical Material to multiple surfaces. Follow these steps:
Select a surface in the level, like a Floor object.
In the Details panel, under the Collision section, change the Phys Material Override to one of the Physical Materials that you created earlier.
Repeat these steps to add both Physical Material types to some of your level’s floors.
Alternatively, you can add a Physical Material to a Material Instance by doing the following:
Open the Material Instance and go to the Details panel.
Scroll down to the General section, click the Phys Material dropdown and select your desired Physical Material.
Save your Material Instance.
Test Your Footsteps
Play the game and walk over the surfaces with physical materials and jump to hear the correct footstep sounds.
If the surface has a Physical Material assigned, you will hear the corresponding foot step sound. If no Physical Material is found, you will hear the default foot step sound.
Next Up
In the next module you will learn how to create a fire effect visual effect and apply it to your fire traps by using the Niagara VFX system.
