There are a few things this system needed to check for and do to meet the conditions I wanted. It needed a certain amount of information displayed to the payer. Some of this information I only wanted showing when the player is hovering over the passive icon. Finally, quite a few different things needed to be checked when the player clicks to ensure the player should even be permitted to buy the passive.

Display

• Clickable icon
• Name
• Current points
• Current Level
• Max Level

On Mouse Enter

• Display description of the passive

On Click

• Check if they have enough points to even afford to get the passive
• Check if the passive can even be increase by another level
• Check to see if the player meets prerequisites
• Spend the point
• Run the individual passive skill
• Update character stats
• Update points spent
• Update current level displayed

This was quite the laundry list of things I wanted and for the most part is a bit of a mess at the moment. Some of it works great. Other parts not so much. I suspect this will be something I’ll be doing some major rework on in the future one day once I understand further how to do it better if I’m not happy with a rework over the weekend.

Even more so since it’s a bit ineffective in how things are going. I have several higher memory cost actions going on such as casting, events, and dispatchers. Some things I might end up collapsing down into a function to clean things up.

I also need to go in and better label things with notes on what is doing what. As I’m more than sure I’ll forget and just having a small hint will be enough to get me up to par with things in the future when I dig through this system or need to interact with it.

Early on I even set up a structure to hold a number of the variables I would need to be accessing and using. While I am tempted to increase this out further to include more information or remove it and redo some stuff. For now, I’m going to keep it in for this version of the passive skill tree.

I also heavily used creating a parent skill point and making the 40 passives I have (10 for each class) children so when I do need to make changes to the system it should at least be easier to carry out. As changes made to the parent will effect on the children blueprints.

Each child actor blueprint might need some rework done depending on what changes I make. It should at least not be a total nightmare. Only time will tell.

Some of what was done at the start I have found that I did not use it. While others I’ve added along the way. I do need to go individually through each passive and make sure I have the more general data all set up properly now.

For the most part, a lot of the passives are quite simple in what they do. For developer purposes, I had print strings on everything as I was going through and verifying things were working.

The more advanced passives such as the ninth one for each class are going be handle more on the individual spells they have an impact on if any.

As far as the player acquiring the points needed they will earn them in two different ways. The first will be from leveling up. The second will be doing some main quests. In the end the player will have enough points to buy everything.

Down below are at least for now the current passives for each class. Things are more than likely to change once I’m further along and I go through a balancing phase when being tested with a lot of other things at a future time. Some might be boosted or reduced. While others could require an entire rewrite and a different passive. For now, they are good enough.

All the icons used are from the Humble Bundle Icon pack I bought a while ago. Having 7k icons at my disposal is quite crazy and works great for times like these. Still the best $20 I’ve spent so far for the things I’ve spent money on.

Paladin Passive Skill Tree

Name	Stat	Description
Might	Strength	Each level of Might increases strength by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Fitness	Health	Each level of Fitness increases health by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Might	Strength	Each level of Might increases strength by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Fitness	Health	Each level of Fitness increases health by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Combat Training	Damage	Each level of Combat Training increases damage by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Bulwark	Armor	Each level of Bulwark increases armor by 10. Cost is 2 points per level.
Shattered Shield	Reduced Armor	Each level of Shattered Shield increase the amount of armor you are able to bypass on an enemy. Cost is 2 points per level.
Runic Blade	Damage	Each level of Runic Blade increases damage by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Runic Armor	Armor	Each level of Runic Armor increases armor by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Purify	Damage	Each level of Purify increases damage by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Holy Light	Damages Enemies that Attack	Each level of Holy Light increases the amount enemies are burned for each hit. Cost is 2 points per level.
Crusader's Rally	increased armor and health	Crusader's Rally increases armor and health by 250. Cost is 5 points.

Sorcerer Passive Skill Tree

Name	Increase	Description
Knowledge	Intelligence	Each level of Knowledge increases intelligence by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Health	Health	Each level of Health increases health by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Combustion	Damage	Each level of Combustion increases damage by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Spell Weaved	Armor	Each level of Spell Weaved increases armor by 10. Cost is 2 points per level.
Intensification	Critical Hit	Each level of Intensification increases critical hit by 10. Cost is 2 points per level.
Fallacy	damage	Each level of Fallacy increases damage by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Void Walker	Movement Speed	Each level of Void Walker increases movement speed by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Inferno Rage	Critical Hit	Each level of Inferno Rage increases critical hit by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Metroid Strike	Chance to triple strike	Each level of Metroid Strike increases the chances of doing triple the damage. Cost is 2 points per level.
Eruption	Damage	Eruption increases damage by 250. Cost is 5 points.

Assassin Passive Skill Tree

Name	Increase	Description
Quickness	Agility	Each level of Quickness increases agility by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Suitability	Health	Each level of Suitability increases health by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Sharpened Dagger	Damage	Each level of Sharpened Dagger increases health by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Scathing Hit	Critical Hit	Each level of Scathing Hit increases critical hit by 10. Cost is 2 points per level.
Weakness	Reduced Health	Each level of Weakness increases your chances of bypassing an enemy’s armor. Cost is 2 points per level.
Wayfarer	Movement Speed	Each level of Wayfarer increases movement speed by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Pinpoint	Damage	Each level of Pinpoint increases damage by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Convulsive Strike	Critical Hit	Each level of Convulsive Strike increases critical hit by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Lethal Blow	Chance to kill a severely injured enemy	Each level of Lethal Blow increases the chances of killing a severely injured enemy. Cost is 2 points per level.
Backstab	Damage	Backstab increases damage by 250. Cost is 5 points.

Necromancer Passive Skill Tree

Name	Increase	Description
Acumen	Intelligence	Each level of Acumen increases intelligence by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Salutary	Health	Each level of Salutary increases health by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Increased Toxicity	Damage	Each level of Increased Toxicity increases damage by 10. Cost is 1 point per level.
Bone Armor	Armor	Each level of Bone Armor increases armor by 10. Cost is 2 points per level.
Bone Chips	Minion Armor and health	Each level of Bone Chips increases minion armor and health by 10. Cost is 2 points per level.
Dark Magic	Damage	Each level of Dark Magic increases damage by 10. Cost is 2 points per level.
Sharpened Teeth	Minion Damage	Each level of Sharpened Teeth increases minion damage by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
Calcified Minion	Minion Armor	Each level of Calcified Minion increases minion armor by 50. Cost is 2 points per level.
From The Grave	Increased minion limit	Each level of From The Grave increases minion limit by 1. Cost is 2 points per level.
Parasitic Nature	minion armor, health, and damage	Parasitic Nature increases minion armor, health, and damage by 250. Cost is 5 points.

Final Thoughts

In my roadmap I now consider this part to be meeting what I was looking for as getting in a base system to build further from. This is by no means near polished and ready to go.

The UI for the passive tree is quite ugly. It is at least on par with a lot of my other UI’s and the color scheme I’ve been using. Something to work on improving for another day.

Over the weekend I am going to try taking another attempt at this and creating in a different passive skill system. I suspect I’m going be reworking this at some point and I have the time now to make another attempt at it.

Other Posts:

• 28. Scalability And Other Issues
• 29. Main Town Part 3
• 30. File Size, Spells, And More

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar. Screenshots are from Unreal Engine 4.