iStep - Premium Foot Placement Solution

Hello everyone!
My name is Kreshnik Halili and I am the founder of Hoax Games. Hoax Games is an up-and-coming indie game studio that develops tools for game developers in addition to creative games. With iStep we are presenting our first product for game developers - a groundbreaking AAA-quality footstep solution for Unity 3D.


Check out the new WebGL showcase demo: https://istepunity.web.app/starter/

Get iStep on the Unity Asset Store: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/slug/215843

iStep is the ideal footplacement solution for Unity 3D. Make your characters come to life with iStep!

Main Features

  • Drag & Drop integration
  • Smooth foot placement
  • Robust body placement
  • 360° Support
  • Realistic leaning behaviour
  • Clear interface for footstep events
  • Integrated effects player
  • Fully extendable
  • Demo scenes for HDRP, URP and Build-In renderpipeline
  • Buffed Starter Assets Third Person Controller included within the demo scenes

Integration made Simple

Drag & Drop the corresponding iStep script on your Character and it’s done. That’s all that’s required to get iStep up-and-running. It works for the Player as well as for any Enemy AI. You are an artist and don’t like coding? No problem, iStep includes an effects player with which you can get any footstep effects, be it sound, particles or decals, up-and-running without the need of writing a single line of code. You are a coder and your Game requires specific behaviours where you need direct access to the scripts? No problem, iStep offers fully extendable scripts making full use of polymorphism as well as superb clear interfaces.

A big step towards AAA quality

iStep offers one of the easiest and most solid experiences to bring your developed games to triple-A quality standards. Built specifically for Unity 3D, iStep offers exceptional performance with tons of features. Take your characters behavior to the next level and bring them to life with iStep.

Check out iStep on the Unity Asset Store: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/slug/215843

Try the WebGL Demo: https://istepunity.web.app/starter/

Get more info about iStep on our website: https://hoax-games.web.app/








2 Likes

Try out the newest Web GL Demo iteration showcasing 360° footplacement support: https://istepunity.web.app/starter/

Get the latest Manual iteration here: https://hoax-games.web.app/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Manual.pdf

Integrating iStep to your custom character controller is as easy as:

  1. add the FootIK script to the Gameobject holding the Animator component
  2. activate the IK pass for your AnimatorControllers Base Layer settings.

and you are ready to go!

This seems fantastic!

I’m grateful for the tutorial videos, and I like I appreciate that the system defaults to a minimal installation.

1 Like

Thanks a lot for the positive feedback!
It makes me happy and boosts my motivation by a ton!
Simplicity and easy integration were key points in the development of iStep.
Since iSteps only requirement is the use of a humanoid character with an Animator component attached, it should work out of the box with any custom character controller or AI controller.

For the ones who are interested and haven’t checked out the WebGL demo yet, check it out from here: https://istepunity.web.app/starter/
Or better yet, get iStep at -50% from the Unity Asset Store while the sales promotion lasts ;): https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/slug/215843

1 Like

I bought iStep and it seems very nice! Great work!

Is there any way to detect which terrain surface or physics material the feet step on? I want to spawn different sounds, dust and footprints based on surface. I read through the manual and skimmed through the code but it doesn’t appear to give rich formation.

1 Like

At the moment iSteps support for triggering events is handeled by the IKResult and GroundedResult datastructures.
This datastructures contain information about the hit and hit-target.
In combination with the EffectsPlayer script you can trigger various effects like footstep decals and footstep sounds depending on the tag of the hit-target. Please check out the demo scene to see how the EffectsPlayer was used and set-up to configure the effects shown in the WebGL demo.

Regarding the mentioned feature about PhysicsMaterials and in the case that you want to integrate your custom interface:
From the UnityEvents member variables of the FootIK script there are events which can invoke functions with either IKResult or GroundedResult as parameters. You can register to one of these events with your custom script or extend the EffectsPlayer script and call either:

  • PhysicMaterial physicsMat = groundedResult.groundedTransform.GetComponent().material;
  • PhysicMaterial physicsMat = ikResult.primaryHitTransform.GetComponent().material;

(depending on which event you register to)
This is if you want to code your own features and behaviours using the provided interfaces on top of what is included with iStep.

However!
iStep version 1.2 is planned to include more options on top of the currently provided tags-functionality, to set-up event-trigger behaviors using the EffectsPlayer (like the aforementioned PhysicsMaterial and terrain texture functionality).

Also two more video tutorials are going to be released soon regarding:
- How-To: Optimizing the default settings for your custom character
- How-To: Using the EffectsPlayer for playing sounds and instantiating decals

I hope you are somewhat happy with the answer :).

Edit: One last thing that should be mentioned: the recommended Unity version to get started with the included demo scene is 2021 (especially for URP and HDRP).

Best regards,
Kreshi

iStep version 1.1 has been released with the following main changes:

  • Added the posibility to set how iStep should react to Trigger-Collision-Interactions
  • Improved the stability of some settings
  • Fixed two issues regarding Unity 2019

Does this asset work with UMA?

I haven’t used UMA in production yet however in my quick test integrating iStep with UMA was fairly easy and worked pretty well.

Check out the UMA integration video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd8y1vlLfoY

I didn’t go into too much details in the integration test but i guess it shows that it works.

(UMA version used: UMA 2)

1 Like

Thank you for the fast and helpful response. You just made a sale. Great job on this product!

1 Like

Thanks a lot for the support and positive feedback! :slight_smile:

Because of the Starter Assets Third Person Controller getting an update to version 1.1 and other factors, I made the decision to release iStep version 1.1.5 in-between iStep version 1.1 and 1.2.

iStep v 1.1.5 will include the following features:

- slope based spine bending behaviour (this feature was suggested and requested)
- updated to Starter Assets Third Person Controller version 1.1 (subset)
- improved sliding down steep-slopes behaviour in comparison to the previous version (this feature is added in addition to the default Starter Assets Third Person Controller feature set)
- code improvements & small bug fixes

You can have a look at the next release with the WebGL demo below :):
WebGL Demo iStep v 1.1.5: https://istepunity.web.app/starter/

The release is expected to be tomorrow ;).

Best regards,
Kreshi

Brief Notification:

iStep -50% new release discount ends today so if you are still undecided, this may be the last chance to take advantage from the discount.

Last chance - get iStep from the Unity Asset Store at -50% today!

Current release state:
iStep is currently at version 1.1.6 with improved slope-bending functionality.
The release from the Unity Asset Store point of view is still at 1.1 but you should be able to update to 1.1.6 shortly.

Meanwhile check out the next iteration of iStep 1.1.6 by trying out the WebGL demo.

Play iStep 1.1.6 WebGL demo

iStep version 1.1.7 has been released including the following upgrade:

Added a crouch-specific behaviour that can be triggered in case your custom character crouches (significant visual and logical improvement for characters that can crouch).
How-to:
Add your animation state name to the “Force Activate Crouching Behaviour” list in the FootIK inspector. (optionally the crouching behaviour can also be activated by script)

@dock now that the basement has been significantly improved, I should be able to move-on for implementing your requested EffectsPlayer features next :).

Regarding the state of the tutorials: The next video tutorial will show how to set-up and optimize your custom character + explaining all the available settings, what they do and to which results they lead :).

Best regards,
Kreshi

1 Like

iStep version 1.1.9 has been released with improved algorithms making IK transitions even smoother than before!

Check out the new showcase video:

Check out the new WebGL showcase demo: https://istepunity.web.app/starter/

Get iStep on the Unity Asset Store: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/slug/215843

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These improvements look great! Looking forward to the improvements to Effects Player.

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Any plans for IStep asset for 4 legs animals etc ? :).

Btw this asset is fantastic like virtually one click solution, and it works out of the box super nice. I recommended it to ppl in the discords I am in, so hope u get some influx of that sweet sweet cash :).

For this price its a steal :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Hi Rastapastor,
first of all thank you very much for the positive feedback and recommendation!

I am concidering to develop a generic, non-humanoid version of iStep for animals and the likes. However this might take a while. Priority number 1 is still to improve iStep even more :).

I checked the sales stats and you are right your recommendation managed to sell 2 units yesterday, thank you very much! There is no better advertising than word of mouth :).

If anyone is interested in Asset Store sale statistics, how well iStep did in the first 2 weeks (-50%) and how ordinary it did since after, let me know :).

NEWS
Additionally I have some good news regarding the next update of iStep!
iStep v1.2 is going to be released soon, including a lot of algorithmic improvements and edge-case handling.
This update is going to improve the precision and visual robustness of iStep for chaoticly created scenes with unflattering mesh-collider displacement big time!
The update is most likely going to be released tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Because of that, the new Effects Player features aren’t going to make it in the release of iStep 1.2.
Focusing on the core of iStep and adding major algorithmic-improvements had to be preponed :).

I am also working on a new video tutorial focusing on the integration of a custom character in a custom scene with the included character controller + iStep integration, customization and parameter explainations.
The video is going to be helpful for anyone who wants to use the included Buffed Starter Assets Third Person Controller, so there will be something for anyone!

Check out the videos below, showcasing what will be achieved in the next video tutorial using iStep v1.2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJv_qr_O54Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlOiyG1CD3M

Ofc, firstly finalize and mature Your current product. I am happy that You at least consider stuff for animals and custom monsters with legs (spiders would be mental with this applied :slight_smile: ).

1 Like

iStep v1.2 has been released!

Change Log:

  • Major update and improvements on the core algorithms
  • Significantly more complete edge-case handling
  • Improved precision and robustness
  • Updated the demo scenes
  • Minor bug fixes

Get iStep on the Untiy Asset Store: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/slug/215843

I hope you all enjoy the new iteration :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Hello everyone,

have a look at the upcoming iStep 1.2.2 demonstration video :slight_smile: (video integrates external content from MK4 and Maksim Bugrimov).

Try the upcoming iteration of iStep on the WebGL demo: https://istepunity.web.app/starter/
Or better yet - get iStep from the Unity Asset Store: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/slug/215843