⚔️Super Item System

The modular equipment system of the Animal Controller

Overview

The Super Item System is the modular equipment system of the Animal Controller. It replaces the older Weapon Manager with a data-driven design where an item is not "a sword" or "a rifle" — it is a GameObject that owns a list of Actions, and every action owns a list of Processors that do the actual work.

That inversion is the whole point. A sword swings because it has a Play Mode processor. A rifle fires because it has a Projectile - Fire processor. A shield blocks because it has a Play Mode processor plus a Damageable processor. There is no MSword class, no MRifle class, and no code to write when you invent a new weapon — you assemble it from processors in the Inspector.

The system also covers everything around the item: picking it up, storing it in a holster, drawing it with an animation, parenting it to the right bone with the right offset, blocking actions while another item is in use, ammo pooling, dual wielding, and IK.

Coming from the Weapon Manager? Read Migrating from the Weapon Manager first. The concepts map almost one to one, but nearly everything was renamed.

Start here

Requirements How it works Create a Melee Weapon

How it works

Two components carry the system.

On the character — Super Item Manager. It owns the Equip Points (where items are held), the Holsters (where items are stored), the input routing, and the offsets table. It listens to the MAnimal for State, Mode and Stance changes and forwards them to every held item.

On the item — Super Item. It owns the item's identity (Item Type, Equip Point, Holster), its physics behaviour, and its Action Sets.

SuperItemManager  (character)
├── Equip Points     ── where items are held      (Right Hand, Left Hand, Head…)
├── Holsters         ── where items are stored    (Left Holster, Right Holster…)
├── Item Offsets     ── SuperItemOffsets asset: every offset for this character
├── Actions Input    ── ItemActionID → input name
├── Pouch Manager    ── pooled projectile ammo
└── IK Manager       ── drives the Action Set IK profiles

SuperItem  (item GameObject)
├── Item Type          (SuperItemID)
├── Equip Point        (EquipPointID)   + optional Secondary Equip Point for dual wielding
├── Holster            (HolsterID)
├── Stats              (optional: Attack, Chamber, Charge, Durability…)
└── Action Sets  ── List<ItemActionSet>
      └── Actions      ── List<ItemAction>       one per input (Attack, Aim, Reload…)
            └── Processors ── ItemProcessor[]    the behaviour of the action

The full runtime flow — pick up, equip, action, interruption, unequip — is in How it works.

The four concepts

Item Type, Equip Points and Holsters

An item declares what it is (Item Type), where it is held (Equip Point) and where it is stored (Holster). All three are ID assets shared between the item and the character, so an item never references a Transform directly — the character resolves it.

See Equip Points and Holsters.

Action Sets

An Action Set is a named configuration of the item. A shield alone behaves differently from a shield paired with a sword; a rifle hip-fires differently from a rifle that is aiming. Instead of branching in code, you author one Action Set per situation and let the system swap between them — manually, by Reaction, or automatically through the set's Auto Activation conditions.

Actions

An Action is one thing the item can do in response to one input: Attack, Aim, Reload, Parry, Interact. Actions have a cooldown (Rate), a Duration, a Priority, optional Conditions, and an optional Master Action — a dependency that makes an action only available while another one is playing (fire an arrow only while aiming).

Processors

A Processor is the smallest unit of behaviour. Each one does one job — play a Mode, fire a projectile, apply damage on a trigger hit, play a sound, block another action. An Action executes its processors in order, and each processor decides when it runs through its Execute flags.

There are 23 built-in processors, and adding your own is a single class.

Where the data lives

This is the part that most often trips up people who used the Weapon Manager, so it is worth stating plainly.

Data

Lives on

Why

Offsets (equip point, holster), Holster Slot, Animator overrides

The Item Offsets asset on the character

The same sword sits differently in a human hand and an orc hand. Offsets are per character, not per item.

Damage, ammo in the magazine, charge, durability

A Stats component next to the SuperItem

Stats give you upgrades, buffs, UI bars and Conditions for free, with no extra fields.

Ammo reserve and projectile pools

The Pouch Manager on the character

Ammo belongs to the character, not to the gun.

Which input fires which action

The Super Item Manager Actions Input list

One mapping for every item the character can hold.

Reference

ID Assets Conditions Reactions

Demo content

What

Where

Test scene

Animal Controller/Super Item (Alpha)/Super Item.unity

Example items

Super Item (Alpha)/Super Items/ — Axe, Bow, Pistol, Shield, Sword

ID assets

Common/Scriptable Assets/IDs/Super Item ID/

Equip Point IDs

Common/Scripts/Super Item/Equip Points/ — Right Hand, Left Hand, Head, Left Forearm

Item Action IDs

Common/Scripts/Super Item/Item Actions/ — Attack, Attack Light, Attack Heavy, Aim, Parry, Reload, Interact

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