Manual›How a character works›Modes, actions and transitions

Modes, actions and transitions

Every piece of a character has one name and one meaning, so a design discussion and the Inspector use the same words.

Term	What it is	Examples
Mode	How the character moves where it is. Exactly one at a time; it never ends by itself.	Walking, Falling, Swimming, Climbing
Action	Something the character does. Triggered, it runs for a while and ends by itself.	Crouch, Roll, Skid, Ground Pound
Transition	The change from one mode to another, reported as an event so sound and animation can answer it.	Landing, Grab, Let-go
Modifier	Changes how a mode, an action or a transition behaves, or when it may happen.	Coyote Time, Held Jump

Modes and actions are states: the motor runs one of them at a time. A jump is an action that takes the character from Walking to Falling; a double jump, a long jump or a backflip is not another action but a shape of the jump, chosen when it starts.

Icons

Each mode, action and transition has an icon, shown in the Inspector and in the Character Motor's Controller overview. The character is an orange capsule; one line shows where it is: ground ─, water ~, a wall │, nothing in the air.