State Machine

A graph of animation states connected by transitions. Each state plays a sequence/blend; transitions fire on rule conditions.

State machine pattern using enum variable and switch

Variables: CurrentState (your EState enum: Idle, Patrol, Chase, Attack, Dead). EventTick or custom Update event → Switch on EState(CurrentState) → Idle: [idle logic] → Patrol: [patrol logic] → Chase: [chase logic] etc. State transitions via custom events: OnEnemySpotted → SetVariable(CurrentState=EState::Chase). OnEnemyLost → SetVariable(CurrentState=EState::Patrol). OnDamaged → Branch(Health<=0) → True: SetVariable(CurrentState=EState::Dead). Key: Switch On Enum node — connect enum variable to the input, each value gets an exec output pin.

GetGameState — get current game state

GameState

Replicated state shared across all clients (e.g. match time, team scores). Read-only from clients.

PlayerState

Replicated per-player state (name, score). Lives on the server and replicates to all clients.

Gate — pass or block execution based on open/closed state

Authority

The machine that's authoritative for an actor — usually the server. Check HasAuthority before mutating replicated state.

Animation Blueprint

An AnimBP — drives Skeletal Mesh animation via a state machine + transition rules. Set AnimClass on the Skeletal Mesh Component.

Pure Function

A function with no exec pins — returns values based only on inputs, never mutates state. Re-evaluated on every connected use.

GetGameState — get the current GameState

Pure node. Cast to your AGameState subclass to access custom replicated data.