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August 13, 2025

Updated Stack-O-Bot for Unreal Engine 5.6—available now

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Stack-O-Bot

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Unreal Engine 5.6

We’re excited to bring you a major update to our Stack-O-Bot puzzle platformer sample game, completely rebuilt for Unreal Engine 5.6.
 
Stack-O-Bot is designed to make it easy to explore engine features, so it’s ideal for new Unreal Engine developers. It also provides a fully featured example of a complete game, with a full level gameplay loop, that you can use as a starting point for your own project—think of it as a template on steroids!
 
The sample uses Blueprint visual scripting, so you can customize it to your heart’s content without writing a single line of code, and features detailed comment bubbles so you can get direct insights from our developers. Its protagonist is a fully rigged third-person character that can move, jump, and interact with the world.
In this update, we’re introducing a host of new gameplay features, including Dynamic Cameras and NPCs with intelligent behaviors driven by StateTree, and extending the sample with advanced systems like Procedural Content Generation (PCG) and Chaos Physics and Destruction. With Stack-O-Bot 2.0 and UE 5.6, you can create a really cool game of your own—even if you’re just getting started with Unreal Engine.

Key features to explore

Bigger, better worlds in less time

From floating islands and foliage generation to the platforms and domes that intelligently build themselves based on inputs you set, Stack-O-Bot leverages the Procedural Content Generation framework (PCG) to populate the level without building everything from scratch. Check out how splines are used to generate the fences and posts, endcaps, and so on—wherever you want them to be.
Stack-O-Bot also makes use of Level Instances to create reusable modular world segments—such as the variants of floating islands—that can be easily used to build playable spaces without having to create unique content per area. And with Hierarchical Level of Detail (HLOD), complex distant geometry is automatically replaced with optimized versions, allowing for incredibly large worlds.

In addition, the sample demonstrates the use of smart UV-less materials, making it faster and easier to apply high-quality textures. Simply bake vertex color information into the mesh using the provided modeling tools, and these materials will handle the rest. You can check out these materials on everything in the level with a concrete, metal, or painted surface, such as the floating platforms, the metal cylinders, and the metal parts of the bio dome structure.

Let’s get physical!

Stack-O-Bot integrates a range of physics components that let players push, pull, destroy, and generally interact with their world in more engaging ways. From bounce pads and jet packs to stackable crates and destructible roofs, Unreal Engine’s Chaos Physics and Destruction systems can be examined in action throughout the level.
 
And how about a telekinetic physics grab? It’s pretty handy for grabbing stuff and carrying it around with you while keeping your hands free; shame we can’t transfer that one to the real world!
While we’re on the subject of physicality and destruction, previous visitors to Stack-O-Bot are in for some new company. We’ve added a whole bunch of AI-driven NPCs that can wander into local areas and bump into the player, knocking them back; not to worry if they get too annoying, though—you can destroy them by jumping on their heads. It’s all set up with Unreal Engine’s new StateTree system, implemented entirely via Blueprint visual scripting.

Engaging gameplay

Stack-O-Bot demonstrates lots of different ways to keep your players engaged. First up, there are collectible coins to give a secondary goal and help guide the player, as well as an Objective Handler that enables you to easily add objectives and interactions to the game. Objectives are tracked by the Game Mode and displayed in the game UI, giving players clear goals to complete.

Then there’s a new custom Player Camera Manager that can freely transition between three different camera styles—shifting from over-the-shoulder views to sweeping top-down angles, or pulling back to reveal stunning vistas and side-scrolling action during key set pieces. It’s designed to keep things interesting for the player.
And the game opens and closes with cinematic sequences powered by Unreal Engine's Sequencer, showcasing dynamic camera work and animated assets to deliver a polished, story-driven experience.


Cross-platform optimization

Stack-O-Bot is optimized to run smoothly across everything from current-gen consoles to mobile devices, offering your players a great experience wherever they’re playing. It automatically scales performance to suit each platform, and adapts input on the fly—supporting intuitive touch controls on mobile or full controller support when plugged in. 

So that’s a quick roundup of what to expect from the all-new Stack-O-Bot. Dive in and start exploring.

Start creating with Stack-O-Bot today

What are you waiting for? Download Stack-O-Bot 2.0 today and give your game development journey a boost. Have fun!
Get Stack-O-Bot on FabRead the documentation

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