Key & Combo

The Key & Combo configuration is where you define which trigger will activate the ability. You can also select for the ability to be set as a combo attack or select for the ability to become enabled for x duration after a specific event (like another attack hitting an enemy).

There is also options to link together trigger inputs with other abilities and add some breathing space before any other ability can be activated to allow for attack recovery frames (for example when swinging a big slow weapon).

ABC is compatible with both the old and new Unity input systems. Change the Trigger type to 'Button' to set the correct mapping for both systems or select 'Input' to define a specific key to trigger.

Trigger Types

This dropdown setting allows for either 'Input' or 'Input Combo' to be selected. For each trigger type you can configure if the user has to press the input to activate or if holding down the input will keep activating the ability (for more rapid firing abilities like a machine gun).

Depending on the selection the ability can trigger from one or two ways

Input

If Input is selected the ability will trigger from a single key press. once selected additional fields will be displayed to allow for you to select the 'Key' or 'Button' required to trigger the ability.

The Key option will allow you to select a specific key from the dropdown to activate the ability.

The Button option will allow you to enter a string which should match the same button name setup in the Unity Input Manager (both old and new). This method allows the end user to configure inputs which map to the button name added in this text box.

Input Combo

If selected then a combination of keys can be setup to trigger the ability. For example you can setup an ability to only activate when the user presses F > F > B to trigger a special attack.

Although not the official way to setup combos, you can create combo attacks using the 'Input Combo' functionality by incrementing the input combo required for each ability.

For example to combo 3 abilities you can set the first to activate with the input combo of F. The second ability can be set to activate which requires an input combo of F > F, then a third ability can be set to activate which requires an input combo of F > F > B.

It's important when doing combo's in this fashion that the ordering is back to front in the Ability List, so the last ability in the combo is placed above the second to last ability in the combo followed by the first ability in the combo. More information on the Ability List and how activation ordering is checked can be found here: Ability List

Ability Combos

If 'Ability Combo' is ticked then the ability will be marked as a combo ability. Combo abilities are grouped by the same key/button input trigger and ordered by the position that they appear in the entities Ability List.

The abilities will activate one after another in the Ability List order as long as the user keeps pressing the key/button trigger before the “Combo Next Time” duration is up. If the duration is up then the combo chain will restart, starting with the first ability combo in the Ability List order. If the last ability in the combo list is activated then the list will restart from the beginning after it’s “Combo Next Time” duration is up.

It is recommend you make use of the 'Enable Ability Trigger Links' on the first ability in the combo chain and then select every other ability in the combo chain. As shown in the first picture in 'Setting Up a Combo'

Doing so will make sure what ever input trigger the first ability has will also be applied to any 'Trigger Links' added. So if the input is changed in real time the ability combo will not be affected as every ability linked will always have the same trigger.

Setting up a Combo

To set up a combo simply tick 'Ability Combo' on 2 abilities with the same activation key/button trigger. The position they appear in the Ability List is the order of the combo.

In the below setup the user has 2 seconds (Combo Next Time) after 'Ability Combo' activates using Mouse 0 to press Mouse 0 again for "Ability Combo II" to activate

Ability Combo II can be seen below and like the above has 2 seconds for the user to activate Mouse 0 again to activate 'Attack Combo III'. If the user presses Mouse 0 after 2 seconds it will reset back to activating the first ability in the combo chain 'Ability Combo'

If an ability with the same activation trigger is not marked as a combo or an ability with a different activation trigger is activated mid combo then the combo chain will break and reset, starting from the first ability in the combo on next activation.

The only exception is if the ability with the different activation trigger has “Never Reset Other Combos” enabled. A setting can also be enabled to only continue the combo if the previous combo ability hit an entity.

Activation Interval Temporary Adjustment

This setting is very important in providing breathing space for an attack to end before the next attack starts. On activation of the ability this setting will temporarily modify the global wait between ability activations.

Any time entered in here positive or negative will be added on to the Ability Activation Interval (The interval between abilities being able to activate). The adjustment is reset after the activation interval has passed, so is a one time adjustment.

If the ability is for example a slow weapon attack then you may want to add some extra interval to ability activations to allow for the character to 'recover' from swinging a big sword around.

This may be used for reasons like the ability used up a lot of physical energy after swinging a big sword around which requires the character to recover after. This means breathing space is needed by adding on to the global interval as the character is not yet ready to activate abilities at the normal rate.

If 0 (the default) is entered then no adjustments will be made.

Notable Settings

Setting	Description
Additional Input	If ticked then a second trigger input is required to activate the ability. Use this for circumstances where a user might need to hold down one key and press another to activate a dodge where just pressing the key without the additional input will instead of dodge just perform another ability/attack. It is important to place this type of ability above any ability with the same trigger which doesn't require an additional one so it's checked for first. More information on ability list ordering can be found here
Require Override Crosshair	Ticking this box will only allow the ability to activate if the Override Crosshair has been triggered and is present on screen. The override crosshair is used for when aiming or focusing in TPS/FPS type of games.
Combo Hit Required	If ticked then the next ability in the combo chain will only activate if the ability hits a target (and input has still be pressed within the combo next time).
Never Reset Other Combos	If enabled then activating this ability will not reset any combo chains currently in progress. This can be enabled even if the ability is not marked as an “Ability Combo”. If disabled then activating this ability will reset all combos, unless this ability is part of a combo in progress
Enable After Event	If enabled then 2 different events can be setup which when occurs will enable the ability. The 2 different events are abilities activation and abilities collision. For example a defined ability activates or a defined ability collides then enable this ability. This can be used to enable special attacks after the ability define collides.
Enable Ability Activation Links	This configuration will allow for the ability to set up activation links. Any abilities linked will activate at the same time as this ability. If the initial ability does not activate due to restrictions then the linked abilities will also not activate. If one linked ability can’t activate this will not stop the activation of the master ability or other linked abilities.

It is highly recommended to read the tooltips in the blue boxes for a full description on what each setting does